Healthy gluten-free turmeric spice blondies! These babes are vegan, nut-free, soy-free, refined sugar-free & wildly delicious. They taste like pumpkin pie and remind me of Fall. I know it’s Summer, but they are so good I had to post them now!
If the idea of putting Turmeric in a Blondie scares you, let me tell you that I won my dad and my whole extended family over the moon with these sweet blondies! And let’s just say gluten-free, plant-based and whole foods are not buzz words on their radar! So I knew these were a hit! Heck I knew when I tasted them myself, but I had to be sure, so I brought a batch to Father’s Day and well the brownies were history.
In case you are unfamiliar with Turmeric (the best spice ever with amazing benefits!), let me tell you a little about it.
Turmeric is a powerful herb that comes from the Ginger family. It is commonly used to treat and prevent inflammation & chronic inflammation. I consider it a super-herb because of it’s strong anti-inflammatory properties. A little goes a LONG way.
To name a few, Turmeric is often used as a plant-based pain reliever (taken internally instead of Advil), arthritis & joint pain reducer/eliminator, fights chronic inflammation, reduces blood-sugar levels, helps to reverse insulin resistance, reduces IBS symptoms, aids in healing the gut lining, lowers cholesterol levels and even helps hyper-pigmentation from inflammatory acne (hello Turmeric Face Mask!)! Overall, Turmeric helps lower Oxidative stress in the body and chronic inflammation. This is HUGE!
This yellow color herb can make a world of difference in your health. It’s an herb you want in your diet!
Right now, Turmeric has the spotlight in the wellness & health community. Everyone is talking about this herb and it’s showing up in all types of recipes around the world! It’s commonly used in Indian & Asian Cuisine, curry, savory dishes, almond milk lattes and puddings. I personally love this herb in smoothies and desserts because you can’t taste it but you are receiving all the amazing benefits. Just 1/2 – 1 teaspoon is all you need.
Plus it’s an awesome natural food dye. Just a little and you have the color yellow in your baked goods! How cool is that?!
Did I mention this is a bean brownie? Oh yeah baby! Protein all the way! I got hooked pretty quickly on bean brownies after tasting Pure Genius Provisions Bean Brownie at the Gluten-Free Allergy-Free Expo back in October 2015. I was forever changed. From there I began to develop my own chickpea and black bean brownies that I have to say are out of this world! But this blondie was going to be different. I wanted a sweet and lighter taste. And so begins the story behind the bean choice.
I was at Le Pain Quotidien eating lunch on a busy day and they had just switched over to their Summer menu. I found a delightful Proscuitto & White Bean Salad with Arugula that I fancied. Yum and easy! With most salads anywhere, I’m always doing a ton of revisions and eliminations due to my gluten-free lifestyle and zillion food sensitivities. But with THIS salad, I only had to eliminate the dairy and the croutons. It was so easy! And God I love easy! Therefore becoming one of my favorite salads. I also never had these white beans before. They were softer and sweeter and that birthed the idea for these Blondies. Totally random right? I wasn’t even thinking dessert when I ate it, but out the idea came.
So I went to Whole Foods on a mission to find these “white beans”, not realizing that there are many types of white beans. (Duh me). Out of all the white beans I saw, the Navy Beans made eye contact with me. And I thought to myself, “this is it! These are the ones!”. So I bought them and went home to create my first ever Blondie recipe.
There were a few things I was sure:
- I was going to use dark chocolate chips
- Pure maple syrup was a no-brainer
- Gluten-Free oats were going to be used
- Vanilla was out due to a 2 year long “red zone” food sensitivity, so I was going to have to improvise on flavor
I know that Turmeric is the main attraction in this dessert, but I didn’t originally think Turmeric Spice Blondies at all. I thought about spices, to which I grabbed cinnamon and cloves and that was it! The Turmeric was the simple, no fuss add at the end. A why not add. And look what got created? Anti-inflammatory, protein & plant-powered deliciousness. Seriously sweet, nourishing deliciousness.
So, are you ready to make beautiful music together?
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:
1 can Navy Beans, rinsed (I use Eden brand / Organic / BPA free lining)
1/3 cup pure maple syrup or gluten-free organic rice syrup
1/3 cup grapeseed oil
1/2 cup + 3 Tablespoons Quick Cooking Gluten-Free Oats
1/2 cup + small handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 heaping tablespoon ground flax
1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon Turmeric
1/4 teaspoon pink himalayan salt (can sub in any sea salt)
DIRECTIONS:
In a food processor pulse the gluten-free oats and the ground flax till it’s a fine blend (but not superfine).
Then add rinsed Navy Beans, pure maple syrup, grapeseed oil, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and cloves and blend really well. Blend until all particles are mixed in and smooth.
Then add Turmeric and blend again until the color turns a golden yellow. The food processor may get hot, but that’s totally ok. Keep blending.
Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
Once blended, transfer the mixture to a medium size mixing bowl and put in the fridge for 15-30 minutes or until completely cooled. If the mixture is not warm from the food processor you can skip this step. The reason for this step is when the batter is warm and the chocolate chips are added in, they melt making the blondies brown. There is nothing wrong with that for flavor, but your blondies will not turn out yellow. Therefore cooling down the batter before adding the chocolate chips serves an important purpose only if your batter is warm.
Once the batter is cooled fold in the chocolate chips.
Spread the batter into a 8×8 greased brownie pan (glass preferred, but not a deal breaker) and put into the middle rack of the oven for 15-17 minutes nothing more.
Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes or they will break apart.
Store in the fridge when not eating. I have found these brownies to be best at room temperature. So when ready to serve simply remove them from the fridge and let sit for 15 minutes to a 1/2 hour before eating. They are delicious cold too, but taste like fall when at room temperature.
Store for about 1 week in the fridge.
Makes 9 blondies
TIPS:
-If you can find it at your market, it is best to use Pink Himalayan salt for all recipes because Pink Himalayan salt is pure, and untouched by many of the toxins that sea salt comes into contact with. It also has over 80 minerals in it that your body wants. It’s minerals are tiny enough for our cells in our body to absorb them, unlike sea salts which can strip you of your minerals and iodine in the body. So when I found this out from my Integrative Functional Doctor, I made the switch. It’s something to consider, but if you don’t want to use it that’s ok too. It will not affect the taste of the recipe.
-Using pure grade maple syrup is always best. Using a processed form of maple syrup will increase the sugar levels in this recipe. Because a processed form is not natural, it will have trouble absorbing correctly in the body. Do not use artificial version of maple syrup.
-The reason I use Enjoy Life chocolate chips is because they are Top 8 Allergen-Free. They are dairy, wheat, tree-nut, peanut, sesame, shellfish, soy, egg-free! They are certified gluten-free. I feel safer using this brand.
- 1 can Navy Beans, rinsed (I use Eden brand / Organic / BPA free lining)
- ⅓ cup pure maple syrup or organic brown rice syrup (gluten-free)
- ⅓ cup grapeseed oil
- ½ cup + 3 Tablespoons Quick Cooking Gluten-Free Oats
- ½ cup + small handful of semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used Enjoy Life)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon ground flax
- 1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 teaspoon Turmeric
- ¼ teaspoon pink himalayan salt (can sub in any sea salt)
- In a food processor pulse the gluten-free oats and the ground flax till it's a fine blend (but not superfine).
- Then add rinsed Navy Beans, pure maple syrup, grapeseed oil, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and cloves and blend really well. Blend until all particles are mixed in and smooth.
- Then add Turmeric and blend again until the color turns a golden yellow. The food processor may get hot, but that's totally ok. Keep blending.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees.
- Once blended, transfer the mixture to a medium size mixing bowl and put in the fridge for 15-30 minutes or until completely cooled. If the mixture is not warm from the food processor you can skip this step. The reason for this step is when the batter is warm and the chocolate chips are added in, they melt making the blondies brown. There is nothing wrong with that for flavor, but your blondies will not turn out yellow. Therefore cooling down the batter before adding the chocolate chips serves an important purpose.
- Once the batter is cooled fold in the chocolate chips.
- Spread the batter into a 8x8 greased brownie pan (glass preferred, but not a deal breaker) and put into the middle rack of the oven for 15-17 minutes nothing more.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes or they will break apart.
- Store in the fridge when not eating. I have found these brownies to be best at room temperature. So when ready to serve simply remove them from the fridge and let sit for 15 minutes to a ½ hour before eating. They are delicious cold too, but taste like fall when at room temperature.
- Store for about 1 week in the fridge.
2. Using pure grade maple syrup is always best. Do not use artificial version of maple syrup.
3. The reason I use Enjoy Life chocolate chips is because they are Top 8 Allergen-Free. They are dairy, wheat, tree-nut, peanut, sesame, shellfish, soy, egg-free! They are certified gluten-free. I feel safer using this brand.
Love, Turmeric & Spice Deliciousness!
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