“I’d rather be a stromboli.”

My son loves pizza, and if he had his way, he’d eat pizza morning, noon, and night, seven days a week. His great sadness in life is that he only gets pizza every couple of months. The nice thing is that he doesn’t care what type of pizza it is – whether it’s frozen from the grocery store or fresh from a pizza parlor or homemade; so occasionally I’ll also make a pizza stromboli where I roll the dough like a cinnamon bun with the tomato sauce and cheese and filling wrapped up inside.

The other day I was teasing him that he’d turn into a pizza if he wasn’t careful, and he responded by saying that he’d rather be a stromboli because it’s neater, easier to pack for his lunches at school, and that people ask questions about it.

As I thought about our conversation, I started thinking about blondies. Blondies are to brownies what stromboli is to pizza. It’s similar but different enough that people don’t often associate the two. Simply put, blondies are brownies which aren’t chocolate. They have the same fudgy texture and are made just like brownies, and if you’re feeling like something just a little bit different, these are just the thing.

My family loves them, and when I make them for company, they love them, too. When it came to revamping a recipe, though, it took a little bit of creativity because blondies usually get their rich, caramel and butter taste from butter and sugar, both of which we don’t use, plus we were making them gluten and egg free. We found a recipe on the back of an Enjoy Life package, and after tweaking it a bit, we were able to create a recipe that is quick and easy to make and delicious.

Blondies

Ingredients:

1/4 cup ground golden flaxseed

3/4 cup water

2/3 cup safflower oil

1 tbsp gluten free vanilla

2 cups coconut sugar

1 cup Gluten Free flour blend (we use Authentic Foods brown rice version)

1 cup sorghum flour

1/4 cup gluten free oat flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups allergen free chocolate chunks (we use Enjoy Life)

Baking Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease an 11 x 15 pan. (Can use whatever you prefer.)

2.  Mix the flaxseed with the water and let it sit while mixing the other ingredients.

3. Mix the oil, vanilla and coconut sugar. Stir the flaxseed mixture to be sure it’s thickened and looks like beaten eggs, and add it to the we ingredients.

4. Whisk together the gluten free flour blend, the sorghum flour, the oat flour, the baking soda, the baking powder, and the salt.

5. Add the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, along with the chocolate chunks, and mix quickly until the batter is well mixed.

6. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until the blondies are a golden brown. The batter will have puffed and be slightly firm to the touch.

7. Cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into pieces to be eaten. (You can certainly cut them while warm, but like brownies they won’t cut as well.)