Healthy Almond Butter Mochi Blondies (Gluten-Free)

These healthy almond butter mochi blondies are so easy to make and can be enjoyed any time of the year! Unlike traditional baked mochi, there's an addition of almond butter and ground up oats that help make these blondies extra thick, nutty, and so much better for you. Naturally gluten-free, just the right amount of sweet rice flour is added to provide the chewy texture that all mochi-lovers crave.

Ingredients used to make this

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• Glutinous Rice Flour - this goes by many names. You'll see Glutinous Rice Flour and Mochiko Flour (my favorite) in Asian grocery stores, and Sweet White Rice Flour in most other stores. ***Please note that regular white rice flour or brown rice flour is NOT the same thing as glutinous rice flour!!!
• Oatmeal - Oatmeal is a great addition to this recipe since it adds a satisfying chew! You can use old-fashioned (rolled) or quick-cooking oats, but I wouldn't recommend using steel cut for this recipe. If you want to keep this strictly gluten-free (some oats are produced in the same facility as wheat), be sure to buy the one with the GF label like this one.
• Almond Butter - like this one. You can also use other natural nut butters like pecan butter, walnut butter, cashew butter, mixed nut butter, or even seed butter like sunflower. So many choices!
• Eggs – I used regular large eggs. I haven't tried using egg replacements like flax or chia yet, so you might not get the same results if you decide to substitute.
• Salt – Pink Himalayan salt is what I have at home, so it’s what I use, but you can use any kind for this recipe.
• Coconut Sugar – You can use any granulated sugar of your choice, but coconut, date and maple sugars are less processed sugars I would recommend. Honey and maple syrup should also work, but I have not yet tried. For keto options, you could also use stevia (but be sure to convert according to package instructions).

More Recipes Using Nut Butters (HERE)

How to Make

For the Add-Ins I used

• Semi-sweet chocolate chips - chocolate chips

Recipe Variations and Optional Add Ins:

• You don’t have to keep this plain. Add some nuts, dried fruits or white chocolate chips to keep this mochi recipe interesting.
• Love coffee or mocha? Add either a teaspoon of coffee extract or espresso powder into the batter.
• With natural flavoring / extracts. Feel free to add a teaspoon of vanilla extract (I didn’t feel like it was essential so I left it out in this recipe), or other flavorings or extracts, such as such as caramel flavoring, hazelnut extract or almond extract.
• Feel free to experiment on using different nut butter. Instead of almond butter you can also use pecan butter, walnut butter, cashew butter, mixed nut butter, or seed butter like sunflower or pumpkin seed butter.
• You can also bake this in a muffin pan instead of a cake pan.

How to Make this Healthier

• Make this even healthier by adding a handful of nuts, seeds and old-fashioned oats to add texture and nutrition.
• Want to increase fiber? Add a Tablespoon of ground flaxseed or coconut flour.
• You can also reduce the sugar by half (to make this less sweet), or substitute the sugar with a sugar-free substitute.

What are some ways you can eat these?

• Plain and warm
• With a scoop of vanilla icecream on top!
• Frosted with my 2-Ingredient Almond Butter Frosting , or this Healthy Powdered Peanut Butter Chocolate Frosting
• Drizzled with honey, maple syrup, caramel or chocolate syrup
• Dusted with powdered sugar or sugar-free powdered sugar. Just make sure you use a sieve to sift the sugar on top!

How to Store

• You can store this mochi covered at room temperature for up to 24 hours. For longer storage, I would freeze the slices in a plastic freezer storage bag or an airtight container, then defrost them at room temperature or microwave before eating.
• The reason I don’t recommend storing them in the fridge is that mochi (most rice flours) tend to develop a weird waxy, hard texture when stored in the fridge. A bit like how cold, refrigerated rice tastes like?

More Brownie / Blondie Recipes

Final Tips

• Be sure to use a microwave-safe bowl (preferably glass, like this one) when melting the almond butter.
• Baking time (as well as serving size) will vary based on the size of your cake pan, and the material (silicone vs metal) of the pan. Bake the mochi until the color is golden-brown on the top, or until a toothpick comes out clean/dry when poked into the middle.