These gooey orange caramel blondies are the perfect blend of sweet caramel and citrus! Chewy orange blondies are swirled with orange infused dairy-free caramel for a fun twist on a favorite dessert. They’re gluten-free, paleo, dairy-free, and refined sugar free.
Spring just screams citrus for me and I NEED to incorporate it in all ways. Especially in baking!
I can’t remember exactly where I got the idea to do something orange-caramel, but after seeing it I immediately wrote it down to save for a rainy day.
I mean really – orange is perfect to brighten up any rainy day, don’t you think? And it’s been entirely too long since I made a good paleo caramel sauce. I used to be obsessed with making caramel everything (you know – tarts, banana bread, ice cream, etc.) and really miss it now.
These base for the blondie recipe is adapted from my paleo + vegan chocolate chip blondies. Except I decided to NOT make these vegan. If you would like to make a vegan version, a flax egg should sub in well here!
Of course there’s no chocolate at all in this one, but, I’m actually quite fine with that. Although definitely nothing against the chocolate-orange combo – the wheels are already spinning as I’m dreaming of it!
But really, the orange caramel combo is just as good as it sounds! I used mainly grated orange zest to flavor both the blondies themselves and the caramel sauce. There’s a little bit of fresh orange juice in the blondies too for that “extra” we all crave.
The caramel is just the same as most of the caramels I make – a combination of coconut milk and coconut sugar, cooked into a dreamy caramel sauce. Vanilla, salt, and orange zest give it lots of flavor.
I decided to swirl about half the caramel into the batter itself right before baking, and save the rest to drizzle over the top to serve.
After coming out of the oven, they’ll be super warm, soft, and gooey so you’ll want to cool them completely before cutting. I find that chilling the pan creates the perfect texture to cut them into nice clean squares.
To conclude, you’ll definitely want to make these orange caramel blondies ASAP! They’re definitely a treat – sweet, gooey, addicting deliciousness!
Start making your caramel sauce and get your oven preheated because it’s time to begin – let’s go!
Orange Caramel Blondies {Paleo, GF, DF}
Orange Caramel Blondies {Paleo, DF, GF}
These gooey orange caramel blondies are the perfect blend of sweet caramel and citrus! Chewy orange blondies are swirled with orange infused dairy-free caramel for a fun twist on a favorite dessert. They're gluten-free, paleo, dairy-free, and refined sugar free.
Ingredients
Caramel:
- 2/3 cup coconut milk
- 1/4 organic coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- zest of 1 small orange grated
- 1/8-1/4 tsp sea salt
Blondies
- 1/2 cup organic coconut oil refined, melted
- 2/3 cup organic coconut sugar
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp orange juice
- zest of 1 orange grated
- 1 large egg
- 1 2/3 cups blanched almond flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Instructions
Make the Caramel:
- Combine the coconut milk with the coconut sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and whisk, bringing to a boil. Once boiling, continue to whisk and cook over med heat for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is reduced, thickened and a deep caramel color. Make sure you continue to whisk while cooking to avoid burning.
- Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla, orange zest, and salt. Set aside to cool a bit until ready to use.
Prepare Blondies:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and line an 8 x 8" square metal baking dish with parchment paper.
- Combine almond flour, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl, set aside.
- Whisk together coconut oil and coconut sugar, vanilla, orange juice and zest until smooth. Whisk in egg until smooth, then stir in dry ingredients. Stir well until smooth and combined.
- Transfer to prepared baking dish and swirl about 1/2 the caramel into the batter, saving the rest for after baking. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes or until browning around the edges and set in the center - it will look very soft but will firm up while cooling.
- Cool completely on a wire rack, then drizzle remaining caramel over the top to serve. Chilling them prior to cutting helps create clean lines. Makes 16 blondies.
Nutrition
Shop Products and Ingredients:
Want More Paleo Blondies, Brownies, and Bars? Try One of These Recipes!
Paleo + Vegan Fudgy Chocolate Chip Blondies
Triple Chocolate Paleo and Vegan Brownies
Triple Chocolate Sweet Potato Brownies
Lemon Raspberry Cookie Crumb Bars
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These blondies look perfect! I love that dense texture on the inside – such a great treat with a cup of coffee ♥
Do you think these would freeze well? Caramel sauce would be drizzled on top after thawing?
Is it possible to make these sugar free? Replace the coconut sugar with something else do you think?
Ummm…what?! These are both my absolute favorite flavors ever. Together in a Paleo treat? Amazing!!
I made this last night for dinner and it was simple and very delicious!
I replaced mine with Erythritol and it came out really well.used half the quantity and it was still sweet.
Loved the texture of the cake….feel really cool with myself ✔️
So, the squares along the edges of the pan are fine, but the ones in the middle are too gooey — they don’t firm up even after chilling.
That said, I don’t think I could have left the pan in the oven much longer — the edges were brown and had pulled away from the pan. I was afraid this might happen.