Vegan Gluten Free Double Chocolate Brownies
74My profound apologies for feedburner's transfer meltdown that has resulted in email diarrhoea spewing many repetitive email feed outs, that I fear have not been as palatable the fifth time around as they were the first! This is a food blogger's nightmare! Those of you who have patiently clicked through would have noticed that this malfunction is due to my redesign launch. I can only liken this transfer experience (one year in the making) to a baby getting her first tooth -- a little painful as the tooth breaks through the skin, but then so satisfying when you realise what you can now sink those teeth into!
Well I have a lot to chomp down on at the moment, and even more to digest. I just hope I haven't bitten off more than I can chew! But if you can just bite your tongues for right now and bear with me over the next month or so; as I add more features, more information, and a lot more fun. I hope you will share in this new pie, that is even sweeter than before: a new How To section, Cooking Glossary, Piggy Glossary, Piggy Favourites, and Piggy Store. But the piece de resistance is the new Piggy Converter, located to the side of every recipe that with one click of the button converts metric to imperial; cups to spoons; and everything in between. A little piece of piggy magic! I am really excited about the new design and would appreciate any feedback (good and bad) that you have. Please be patient with me as I add all of the new content that I have been writing for the past year, and iron out the glitches that go along with such a major overhaul. Oh! the life of a food blogger!
As much as I loved wordpress, Max, my web designer, convinced me to switch to the expression engine platform in order to allow for the customization that the little pig in me craved. I knew exactly how I wanted this piggy world to look, and handed Max a twenty page design manifesto. At first he resisted my already existing piggy fetish theme; but then jumped on board with a perfectionistic enthusiasm that has me now affectionately referring to him as my "partner in piggy crime". His design genius and creativity have made the piggy ideas look even better in this new design. I am so grateful to him. From our first meeting back in March, I knew he was the right design pig for me, and I hope our creative partnership will endure through my next projects! Thanks Max! You are pigtastic!
I am really happy with the new expression engine software. However, some of my previous piggy plug-ins did not share my enthusiasm for change. They did not find the new design as palatable as I did and developed unfortunate "new design" allergies, causing some sections to have seizures. The most unfortunate glitch was that I lost all of my post comments in the transfer. So if you see most of the older posts without comments - this is why. But I am excited about all of the new comments that will hopefully come my way! Hint hint.....
The other post traumatic stress wig out, which I am choosing, in my new-found piggy zen state to politely call, "email subscription disorder" gives a whole new meaning to the name "feed BURNER". However, a quick google search has shown feedburner "crapping itself" is quite common with transfers. The good news is that this separation anxiety only lasts a couple of weeks. Once its sensitive little stomach digests the new food on the table, it finds it quite tantalising and joins the party. It seems that a tasty new post seems to do the trick. We can only hope! So today for my first redesign post (which should rectify the problem) I have decided to bribe you AND feedburner with the most valuable piggy currency I have -- guilt free chocolate. I hopes you will all jump into new-look piggy world with as much enthusiasm as we had creating it!
For this is not just guilt free chocolate. It is double guilt free allergy free chocolate! And not just double chocolate; but double gluten free chocolate brownies. But wait! It gets better. Would you believe these vegan chocolate brownies are allergy friendly? Yes! For those of you looking for allergy free recipes, gluten and dairy free recipes, nut free recipes, soy free recipes and sugar free recipes, these vegan chocolate brownies are gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut free AND soy free. The response when I say that to people is "What the hell is in them"? "What holds them together"? My simple answer to both questions is "piggilicious magic"! No seriously, this vegan recipe is very simple. It is just mashed bananas, mashed apples, dates, vegan chocolate chips, cocoa, vanilla, agave, buckwheat flour and rice flour. In other words, a list of delicious natural ingredients that are safe for most people. You could almost eat them raw. I am so excited to make these yummy allergy free treats for my gorgeous little niece (who suffers from multiple food allergies) when I fly back to Australia in a few weeks.
Another reason I am choosing this allergy free gluten free vegan recipe for my first expression engine post is in honour of Ashley -- one of my favourite readers. This lovely piggy lives in Springfield, Missouri; and although we have yet to meet, we have bonded over our shared love of chocolate and healthy gluten free vegetarian recipes through many emotive emails. With both of us being patients of Dr Carter's; and lovers of whole foods and natural flavourings and sweeteners, we have celebrated the allergy free vegan chocoholic experience. Ashley sent me a pumpkin chocolate brownie recipe last week and asked if I could modify it to make it gluten free. The original recipe contained mashed pumpkin and honey. I wasn't really a fan of this combination after my first-round trial. My friends Kris and Emily were with me in the kitchen, and we all agreed that they had a bitter aftertaste and not enough sweetness for a "post-worthy" self respecting brownie. As a conscientious food blogger, I decided to wipe the slate clean and go down a different road. I created a whole other vegan blend, and hit the allergy free jackpot!
These vegan chocolate brownies are sweet and chocolatey, with a moist texture that is divine. Best of all, they are super easy! I just threw everything in my Kitchen Aid Stand Mixer and baked! In under half an hour you will be in double chocolate piggilicious heaven.
Welcome to the new world order where there are gluten free chocolate brownies for all! More vegan chocolate next week……
Vegan Gluten Free Double Chocolate Brownies
- 2/3 cup (about 2 small 6 inch) mashed banana
- 2/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup chopped pitted dates
- 1 cup raw agave nectar
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup 73% cocoa dark vegan chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup 73% cocoa dark vegan chocolate chips for topping
- 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
- 1/2 cup brown rice flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp gluten free baking powder
- 1 tsp xanthan
- 1/4 tsp Celtic sea salt or Himalayan salt
- Preheat oven to 180 C / 350 F.
- Lightly grease a square 8-by-8-inch baking pan.
- Sift together the cocoa powder, flours, baking powder, xanthan and salt into the bowl of your stand mixer (or use a mixing bowl and an electric beater or spoon)
- Gently heat on a low flame one cup of the chocolate chips and agave until just melted and then stir in vanilla.
- Pour this mixture into the dry ingredients and mix gently until well combined.
- Mix together mashed banana and apple sauce. Fold in this mixture into the chocolate batter.
- Fold in chopped dates.
- Spoon mixture into pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for 20 minutes and then sprinkle the extra 1/2 cup chocolate chips over the mix.
- Place back in the oven for another 15-20 minutes.
- The brownies are done when an inserted skewer comes out clean. Let cool at room temperature before serving.
Serves 8 - 12
Piggy Cooking Tips
Neatly cutting brownies and slices
Cutting the perfect square pieces of brownies and slices and getting them to look perfect without breaks and crumbs can be challenging. A quick easy way to “slice slices” is to use a plastic knife that glides through and doesn’t collect the crumbs.
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Piggy Grunts!
Add Your GruntThese brownies really are tasty - allergy-friendly or not.
I made these for my family and we ate the whole batch. This will be one of our staple treats now.
Thanks Isabella.
I am glad you enjoyed these treats :)
These are SO good! They are not too sweet and have a fantastic texture. I am going to try and make more of my baking egg-free after tasting these.
Thanks Alex. Yes, it is hard to believe these are completely allergy-friendly. The more you bake without eggs, the better you get at it :)
Dates in brownies?? Seriously! But they work! :) Love the chips on the top! How extra good would they be mixed in? Maybe on the next batch….
Wow! no eggs, no dairy, no gluten, no nuts, no soy. I couldn’t believe how good these were. I took them to work for my “allergic to everything” friend and she was so grateful.
These are amazing! So good with a glass of soymilk! Thanks a piggy tail worth!!!!
You are SO welcome Ashley. I am really pleased you think they as yummy as I do. Now…onto our next chocolate triumph! LOL
Oh Wow! These are so incredible. I cannot believe they are gluten free, egg free and dairy free. I am on my third batch. Thankyou so much. Your site is so fantastic.
As soon as this one appeared in Super Living magazine I went out and bought the ingredients. These are just fantastic. I can’t stop eating them.
Oh Great Melissa!
Super Living is great and I am glad you found me there :)
YUM YUM YUM YUM. My daughter will love you forever with an allergy friendly brownie….... now she doesn’t have to miss out on delicious treats when everyone else indulges. YAY!
Hi Tess,
I am putting together a raw chocolate recipe book & I want to use your Raw Vegan Chocolate Fruit Balls recipe.
It is in a pdf format & I will put who they are from & have a link to your website below the recipe & on the link page.
Please let me know as soon as possible.
Thanks & Regards,
Barry
Barry
I would be thrilled if you would include my recipe in your book. I have sent you an email.
Cheers
Tess
Never again will i make a GF brownie from any other recipe but this one! The Blender Girl Rocks!
This brownie was very tasty with a nice moist texture. I like the combination of the dates, apple and chocolate. Thankyou for this recipe. There were smiles all around when I made these for my daughter “from scratch and everything daddy”!
OH…..That is SOOOO cute!
I am so glad you enjoyed these :)
My whole family loves these. We couldn’t believe they could taste so good without any of the usual ingredients. I have a niece who is allergic to dairy and eggs. This is my treat for her now. Thankyou Tess
Oh, that is wonderful Katie.
Thanks for taking the time to comment.
I made these for our gluten intolerant school police officer for his birthday treat, and I think he ate half the pan before the day was over. I’m not a brownie person myself, but everyone said they were delightful, and no one could believe they were so “free.” and that they were from scratch. I call that a winner in my book!
Oh, that is FANTASTIC!
Thanks for sharing your experience :)
Hey Jill! Welcome to the healthy piggy world! Yes - you can use conventional sugar in this recipe. Just add 1-2 Tbsp filtered water to the mix. Oink Oink :)
Made this recipe and my husband would not believe it wasn’t fattening..He scoffed the whole cake..lol
Definitely a crowd pleaser..
Great Jill! It should work with conventional sugar. Can’t wait to hear :)
OK these were much better. I do want to try it with the other sweetener. My soon just absolutely loved them. We used butterscotch chips instead of chocolate chips for the topping.
These look so amazing, I’m beyond excited to try this recipe! SO glad I stumbled upon your site =)
I must have done something wrong. They did not turn out as I expected although my son likes them. I cooked them 30minutes longer (in my horribly ancient oven) and the toothpick never came out clean. It also didn’t rise as much as the photo. Maybe it was my oven? I have never had any luck with allergy free baking and I am trying to make something edible for his 5th birthday party in August. Should I have blended the banana/applesauce mix? I would appreciate any tips!
Hey Lindsey. I am sorry you had some problems with this recipe. Let me see if I can make some suggestions because I have made these many times and never had any problems. Firstly, the photo may be deceptive. They don’t rise very much at all. They are also very moist. I am not familiar with the personality of your oven, so I can’t comment on the cooking time. Just make sure you measure the ingredients exactly (particularly the wet ones). I didn’t blend the bananas and apple sauce. Also, let the pan sit and cool completely and solidify a bit more before cutting. This will help too. Feel free to email me at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) if this doesn’t work. I have some vegan allergy-friendly frosting recipes and cupcakes that might also work for the party :)
I can’t wait to try these - I’ve been looking for healthier brownies and these sound DELICIOUS!!! Thanks!
I am so impressed. I’m not vegan myself but I might become soon if I keep making tess’s awesome recipes! These are so tasty.
I tagged these brownies on Food.com. They are absolutely wonderful. They are moist, chewy and sinfully delicious. I did cut them quite a bit smaller because a little goes a long way. These will become a go to recipe for a chocolate craving.
Hey Paula!
Thankyou for all of your lovely reviews of my recipes on Food.Com.
I really appreciate your support.
I really love these brownies…and yes! A little does go a long way. Oink Oink!
Could you tell me what the xanthan is for and if something else could be substituted?
Also, have you tried making the brownies with all buckwheat or all rice flour or is that combination of the two going to work best? (I only have rice flour at the moment.)
Thanks!
Hey Sheindal,
The xanthan is for replicating the texture and elasticity of glutinous flours. You can use guar gum instead. You can also use all rice flours to make these brownies too and they taste delicious.
OK, thanks! Not going to be near any shops that sell either guar or xanthan in the very near future, but baking for someone not gluten intolerant so I’ll replace both flours and xanthan with normal plain flour instead and try the gluten free version another time. Or perhaps experiment with flax seed. Hmm… :-)
Yes, you could try a flaxmeal paste which would act as a gel. But I have not tried it personally with this recipe. Please let me know how you go. I would be very interested.
I have never tried flax as a binder in gf but I have successfully used chia seeds quite successfully.
Thanks for sharing your experience Paula.
I really appreciate it.
Can you elaborate more about how you used Chia seeds and in what?
Chia seeds form a glutinous gel when mixed with water. I have added the seeds in muffins and breads. Chia flour is ground from the seeds and can be used as a 1 for 1 exchange for gluten flour. I Did make muffins recently that were all chia flour. I really like the texture the seeds give the bread.
I love Chia seeds and I love hearing about how people use them. I would love to get your recipe for chia muffins! YUMMO!
I had a go with rice flour and flaxmeal - wanted to use up what I had left open but should probably have used a bit less than 3 teaspoons (+ x3 water) as it really was quite a stiff mixture once that was added (didn’t settle out level in the cake pan at all!) However it turned out ok, about the right depth and texture for something egg-free, though as I’m not used to GF baking I don’t know how it compares to other GF brownie recipes. I do think the dark choc is going to be too much for me and I’ll be awake all night but the lactose intolerant friend I made this for liked it. I don’t know how fine you chop your dates, but I didn’t fancy largeish lumps of date and at 10pm I was too tired to chop them by hand so used my stick blender mill. A tip if you do chop them like that, add a bit of rice flour with each (small amount) of dates as otherwise it just turns into a sticky mess that won’t chop. And if so perhaps reduce the rice flour in the mix itself as that extra might also have made it a bit thicker than it needed to be! I did read elsewhere that GF baking works ok without either xanthan or guar so I might continue experimenting with other alternatives such as flax which I have in the house anyway for egg-free baking.
Thanks for the advice :-)
Hey Sheindal,
Thanks for sharing your experience.
You made me laugh.
As much as I love my blend and food processor, you really need to chop the dates by hand.
If you try this recipe again chop the dates before hand when you have time and keep them in a sealed container until you want to use them. If you need to soften them, just soak them in a bit of filtered water.
My whole family - complicated dietary restrictions and all - devoured these and proclaimed them the best chocolate dessert they’d ever had! Love that they are so tasty with such healthy ingredients!
Thanks Juliet,
I am thrilled that you enjoyed these so much.
I think they are pretty delicious too.
You would just never know they were gluten free, dairy free, egg free, nut free and soy free.
I appreciate the lovely feedback. Oink Oink!
Made these for New Year’s Eve - YUM! There is room for improvement in my version, wish I’d read all the comments first DOH!! As I modified the ingredients a little to fit what was in the cupboard… But they were still great to eat while watching Sydney fireworks to see in 2012!!
Oh Tora,
You make me laugh!
Glad you were still able to enjoy your special blend on New Year’s Eve. Oink Oink :)
Being a new vegan (1 wk-1 day) & having horrible eating habits prior, especially sweets, I am really craving chocolate right now! Looks like a trip to grocery store is needed, these look so yummy & with all the rave reviews I have to try these. Hope I can find the xanthan & the vegan chocolate, any idea where I might be able to find them?
Hey!
You can find vegan chocolate and xanthan at health food stores and some grocers.
I can’t wait to hear what you think :)
Screw Valentine’s Day! I made these beauties TODAY! :) I had to do some “mental” work for a few hours today and felt a bit stretched and said, “I know what will make me feel better - make some of Tess’ brownies” - a new recipe for me. Holy chocolate crap! The batter alone is FABULOUS! Started feeling better after a few licks on the spoon (or three, or four). I topped mine with raw cacao nibs instead of choc. chips. These little gems came out WONDERFUL! I haven’t made these type of brownies in awhile and this recipe is by far THE BEST. Thank you, dear Tess!
LOL! Oh Kibby….you make me laugh!
THANKYOU for all of your lovely support.
You really are my number one fan!
I really appreciate you trying so many of the recipes and posting feedback all the time.
You absolutely ROCK!
Happy Valentine’s Day :)
Wow! These look fantastic. Do you use raw buckwheat flour? What brand of buckwheat flour do you use? Thanks so much!
Maddy,
I love the Authentic Foods organic buckwheat flour. It is fantastic to bake with. For raw recipes I always use raw ground buckwheat groats. But you don’t have to for this baked recipe.
Pleasure! Please let me know how you go. You will never believe these brownies are allergy-friendly.
THese are out of this world, I ate more than my 3 children combined.
LOL! I am glad you enjoyed them.