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Flourless Brownies

July 19, 2009 by Erica 33 Comments

Brownie heaven

Brownies are definitely not seasonal. I can eat them any time of year. So you might be thinking, how does one turn a brownie into something healthy? It’s not hard, and, for a treat, this recipe provides a great shot of protein and nutrients.

You can make it with almond butter, or another nut butter (such as hazelnut butter, or cashew butter). Chocolate contains antioxidants, and better chocolate contains cocoa butter, a healthy source of fat, so go for the best chocolate you can afford (or find). And on rare occasions, better chocolate doesn’t contain soy lecithin.

Today rounded out the 15th stage of the Tour de France, and it’s getting exciting. Even if you’ve never watched before, it’s worth a peek. And there is an interesting article in the New York Times as well: Five-Star Tour Cuisine for Guys Who Eat and Ride, with one of the chefs who cooks for one of the teams.

From the article: Almond butter is better than peanut butter because, as Lim said, “it’s just a better nut”. What’s even more interesting is that they eat primarily gluten-free while racing. It’s just easier to digest gluten-free food. My sentiments exactly.

For raspberry brownies, replace 1/2 cup of honey with raspberry syrup. You can refrigerate your brownies or store them in a sealed container at room temperature for a few days.

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5 from 8 votes

Flourless Brownies

This recipe makes a lot of brownies, but you can easily reduce the ingredients in half and bake in a smaller dish.
To make it egg free, replace the 2 eggs with flaxseed eggs.
To make flaxseed eggs: Mix one tablespoon of ground flaxseed meal with three tablespoons of water. Let sit for 15 minutes to thicken.
Servings: 24 brownies
Calories: 216kcal

Ingredients

  • 1.5 cups honey or maple syrup
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder or cacao powder
  • 2 large eggs
  • 16 ounces almond butter or other nut or seed butter
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla
  • 4 ounces unsweetened dark chocolate melted
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
US Customary - Metric

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
  • On a slow-speed mix, or by hand, combine the almond butter, eggs, honey, baking soda, sea salt, and vanilla. Mix until completely blended.
  • Add the cocoa powder and melted chocolate, and combine both into the mixture slowly, to avoid the development of a brown cloud of chocolate above your mixture.
  • Add the batter to a 9 inches by 12 inches baking dish and spread it with a flexible spatula to distribute the batter evenly. The mixture is gooey, which is great for those who like to lick the bowl. 
  • Bake for 40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes to see if a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.
  • Cool and enjoy!

Nutrition

Calories: 216kcal | Carbohydrates: 24g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 16mg | Sodium: 81mg | Potassium: 225mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 18g | Vitamin A: 23IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 76mg | Iron: 2mg
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Filed Under: Dairy Free, Desserts, Gluten-Free, Lactose Free, Paleo, Snacks, Vegetarian Tagged With: almond butter, chocolate, cocoa powder

Previous Post: « Raspberry Syrup
Next Post: Cherry Pie {grain free} »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Shannon

    January 3, 2021 at 1:19 pm

    5 stars
    These are my go-to brownies and have been a party hit for years! People tend to hang out by the dish when I make them 🙂 I’m about to make these again and don’t see the salt measurement, is it 1/2 tsp?

    Reply
    • Erica

      January 3, 2021 at 1:32 pm

      Yes! Ugh, thanks for calling that out. Got lost in the conversion. It’s been added. 🙂

      Reply
  2. lisa

    April 29, 2013 at 11:43 am

    5 stars
    These are AMAZING! Just made my second batch today (first batch yesterday!) I would like to find a way to add less sweetener. Thank you!

    Reply
  3. Lindsay Campbell

    January 7, 2013 at 5:40 pm

    5 stars
    Hi,

    I just wanted to let you know that I made a batch of these and they were FAB!!!

    I found my honey a little over powering( but every batch of honey is a little different depending on what the bees have around them). I was wondering if anybody has tried making them with maple syrup or brown rice syrup? And if so did you use the same amount as called for the honey?

    Lindsau

    Reply
    • Erica

      January 8, 2013 at 1:02 am

      Yes, I find it’s best to bake with mild-flavored honey if possible, unless you’re purposely trying to affect the flavor. I tend to use maple syrup with chocolate recipes and it works well. I usually add the same amount of honey and maple syrup, but sometimes a little less maple syrup works as well.

      Reply
      • Lindsay Campbell

        January 11, 2013 at 12:37 pm

        I’ll make another batch this weekend with maple syrup then and let you know how delish it is!!

        Reply
        • Lindsay Campbell

          January 14, 2013 at 1:47 pm

          5 stars
          Yep, maple syrup was perfect!! I used 1 cup of maple syrup, 1 cup roasted almond butter,1/2 c. roasted haszelnut butter and 1/2 c macadamia nut butter and 2 tsp. of chocolate extract and a 100gr 71% bittersweet chocolate bar to make brownie heaven!!!

          Reply
          • Erica

            January 14, 2013 at 2:50 pm

            awesome – yum!

            Reply
  4. shab

    August 20, 2012 at 12:32 am

    Any idea on how many calories are in this?

    Reply
    • Erica

      August 20, 2012 at 9:02 pm

      sorry, I don’t.

      Reply
    • Erica

      January 3, 2021 at 1:40 pm

      Finally updated the recipe format to show nutritional info. Whew, better late than…

      Reply
  5. Wendy

    August 4, 2012 at 5:21 pm

    5 stars
    This was lovely! I added a cup of roasted cocoa nibs, and the little bit of crunch with the gooeyness was fabulous! I think I’ll make a batch of these to keep in the freezer for when the kids are invited to parties. Who could miss cake when there’s a brownie like this to be had?!

    Reply
    • Erica

      August 5, 2012 at 9:19 am

      great idea, using nibs.

      Reply
  6. Debbie

    February 20, 2011 at 2:36 pm

    I usually use coconut flour for my brownies, these were even better! Love gooey brownies! I used cashew butter and 1 cup of honey with 1/2 cup erythritol (which probably made them a little less gooey, but that’s alot of honey to me). Fantastic!

    Reply
  7. Amy

    January 9, 2011 at 7:53 pm

    5 stars
    OMG! These were the fudgiest most delicious brownies we have had in a long time! Oh, wait! I take that back! I think the last time I had a brownie this good was at my favorite 5-star restaurant! No JOKE! These were soooooo good! I missed the instruction of where to add the melted chocolate, but added it in after mixing in the cocoa. These were so yummy warm out of the oven! Thank you for sharing! My 9 yr. old son is now asking for more. 😉

    Reply
    • Erica

      January 9, 2011 at 10:19 pm

      Wow – thanks for tipping me off to the missing ingredient in the instructions – and the most important ingredient! Glad they worked out!

      Reply
      • Amy

        January 10, 2011 at 12:32 pm

        No problem, Erica! I had made similar brownies before, but I’ve never been able to get them as fudgy and tasty as these are! 🙂 I’ve been having fun trying all the yummy recipes on your blog here! We also love your eggplant parm! My son and I have food allergies (Wheat, Rye, Soy, Yeast, Corn, Mushrooms, Pecans) and follow an antifungal diet. Your recipes are a godsend! Thank you again for sharing! 🙂

        Reply
  8. Sophie

    November 1, 2010 at 2:40 am

    Waw!! Your alternative almond butter brownies look just perfect & absolutely fabulous too!

    I must try them!! Thanks so much for sharing!

    Reply
  9. Erica

    September 28, 2010 at 7:04 am

    Great to know – thanks Ann!

    Reply
  10. Ann

    September 27, 2010 at 7:32 pm

    5 stars
    We tried your recipe substituting carob powder for cocoa powder, leaving out the chocolate and using 1 cup carob chips and it turned out delicious. We used half natural peanut butter and half raw cashew butter due to almond issues and it was delicious!!! Just wanted you to know. Thanks again for your great recipes. Just wanted to pass on for othes with chocolate sensitivities.

    Reply
  11. Erica

    December 14, 2009 at 10:31 pm

    Brandi, I use honey – not sure if that makes a difference, but whatever works for you – cheers!

    Reply
  12. Brandi

    December 14, 2009 at 9:05 pm

    I think it’s interesting that you thought Elana’s recipe was cake like. When I made it mine came out VERY fudgy- in fact, it was almost gooey. And while it was good the first day, it was even better the next!

    Reply
  13. Erica

    December 3, 2009 at 6:32 pm

    Michelle, great idea. Thanks for sharing this!

    Reply
  14. Michelle

    December 3, 2009 at 8:08 am

    These are delicious. We made them last pm and substituted Bakers’s unsweetened chocolate for bittersweet chocolate, adding two dropperfuls of liquid sweetleaf stevia clear. Also baked a few minutes longer, almost all of it is gone!!This way, we avoided any sugar.

    Reply
    • Michelle

      June 6, 2011 at 4:04 am

      Michelle-
      When you added the stevia, did you also need to add any other liquid? If you are substituting 2 dropperfuls of stevia for 1 1/2 cups of honey, it seems you’d need some other liquid to make up for the amount of honey vs. the amount of stevia?
      Thanks for posting that variation…I was hoping to be able to substitute stevia, as I have sugar issues…I’m so glad you’ve already tried it:)

      Reply
  15. Erica

    October 18, 2009 at 9:30 am

    Hi Nida,
    Yes, optionally, you can shave or chop chocolate into small pieces and add it to the batter instead of adding chips. I don’t always add chips because I try to keep the sugar content a bit lower (and I avoid cane sugar as often as possible).

    Reply
  16. Nida

    October 18, 2009 at 8:48 am

    can we use cooking chocolate in place of chocolate chips?

    Reply
  17. Erica

    August 4, 2009 at 10:13 pm

    M, I adjusted the honey to account for the addition of unsweetened chocolate as well as my desire to have a fudgy, slightly sweeter brownier.

    Reply
  18. ~M

    August 4, 2009 at 3:58 pm

    I would rather use honey than agave, but am curious why you use more honey than Elana’s original, agave-containing recipe? I thought the substitution was 1:1. Thanks for the cake and fudge like versions!

    Reply
  19. Erica

    July 24, 2009 at 8:01 am

    Glad they worked out 🙂

    Reply
  20. Karen

    July 23, 2009 at 10:51 pm

    5 stars
    I tried these today and they were fabulous! The best brownie I have had in years! Thanks so much for the recipe.

    Reply
  21. Erica

    July 21, 2009 at 1:43 pm

    I know what you mean. I personally like a lighter brownie, but a rich, chocolatey brownie with some ice cream on top is so decadent. This can be made even richer by adding more melted chocolate and some butter or oil. I’ll stop now though 🙂

    Reply
  22. Karen

    July 20, 2009 at 9:57 am

    These look great and I can’t wait to try them, personally I think a brownie should be fudgy, I mean if it’s cake like isn’t it cake?
    Thanks for the recipe.

    Reply

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Measurement equivalents

1 tablespoon 3 teaspoons
1/4 cup 4 tablespoons
1 cup 8 ounces
1 teaspoon 5 ml
1 tablespoon 15 ml

Temperature conversions

Gas Mark Fahrenheit Celsius
  1/4  225  110
  1/2  250  130
    1  275  140
    2  300  150
    3  325  170
    4  350  180
    5  375  190
    6  400  200
    7  425  220
    8  450  230
    9  475  240

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I create recipes using simple, nutrient-dense ingredients, staying as close to the earth as possible.

One of my boys was diagnosed with Crohn’s, which inspired me to start Comfy Belly, and create recipes to share my love of good, healthy food. Read More →

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