These raw brownies are impossibly fudgy and chocolatey! Made simply of walnuts, dates, and cocoa powder, they will rock your world.
Mmm, rich, chocolatey brownies. What if I told you that behind the rich and chocolatey taste, there was no sugar, no oil, no flour, no butter, and no eggs? What if I told you they were made only of things that were actually good for you? And what if I told you that they require no baking, and actually take only about 5 minutes to whip up? If you told me these things, I’d say you’d found the perfect dessert. Meet: Raw brownies. These raw brownies are vegan, gluten-free, refined sugar free, and 1,000% delicious. Keep reading for the recipe!
Related: 10 Brain Food Recipes to Boost Your Mood
How to make raw brownies
I was skeptical of raw brownies at first. The first raw brownies I tried were a recipe from My New Roots, and it claimed it would change my life. But after one taste of the chocolatey dough, I was a believer! What are raw brownies? Instead of making a traditional brownie dough with flour, sugar, and butter, these brownies are whipped together in a food processor. Raw brownies combine Medjool dates, walnuts, and cocoa powder into a fudge-y “brownie” that is just as satisfying as the real thing.
What are Medjool dates? These days, it’s likely you’ve had them even if you don’t know it! Medjool dates are large, chewy and sweet dates that are used to make natural sweets like Larabars (here’s a homemade version). It is important to find Medjool dates for this recipe, because they’re important for the texture: no substitutions! We were able to find them sold in bulk at our local grocery; they are also available for sale online.
Serving raw brownies
Now, if you can’t imagine a dessert without chocolate, you could add a few dark chocolate chips if you’d like. Or, you could top with a bit of sea salt if you prefer the sweet / salty combination. But these raw brownies are perfectly delicious as is. I eat them straight up, but my mom likes to serve them parfait style like in this Berry Brownie Yogurt Parfait. And of course crumbled over ice cream would be perfect too.
Once you’ve tried raw brownies yourself, test them out on your family and friends (and make them guess the magic ingredients)! We did, and they received rave reviews. So are they dessert perfection? Pretty darn close for us – not only do they make up for my lack of baking skills, they are all natural and thus totally guilt-free! Let us know if you too become a believer in this new kind of treat!
Looking for more healthy desserts?
Outside of these raw brownies, want other ideas for healthy desserts? Here are a few of our favorite healthy desserts:
- Amazing Gluten Free Chocolate Cake
- Berry Brownie Yogurt Parfait
- Maple Vegan Blondies
- Chocolate Tahini No Bake Vegan Cookies
- Blood Orange Granita Recipe
- All Natural Strawberry Yogurt Pie
- Chocolate Tahini Vegan No Bake Cookies
- Berry Banana Ice Cream
- Acai Bowl Popsicles
- Peanut Butter Frozen Yogurt Bites
- “Bliss Bites” Healthy No-Bake Cookies
- Blackberry Vegan Cheesecake Bites
This raw brownie recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten-free, vegan, plant-based, dairy-free, egg-free, refined sugar-free, naturally sweet
Print
Raw Brownies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 10 small brownies 1x
Description
These raw brownies are impossibly fudgy and chocolatey! Made simply of walnuts, dates, and cocoa powder, they will rock your world.
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups Medjool dates (about 12)*
- ¼ cup almonds (unsalted)
- 1 cup walnuts (unsalted)
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt
- Cinnamon
Instructions
- Remove the pits from the dates. Chop the almonds.
- Place the walnuts in the bowl of a food processor. Process on high until the nuts are finely ground.
- Add the cocoa powder and kosher salt. Pulse to combine.
- Turn on the food processor. As the processor is running, add the dates one at a time. Once all the dates have been added, the mixture should be crumbly but easily formable (it may form into a ball depending on how long you process it). Throw in the almonds and pulse a couple times to combine (if a ball has formed, you can also mix in the almonds in a bowl).
- Form the brownies: Line a small square dish with wax paper and press into the desired thickness (don’t worry if it does not fill the entire pan; the brownies are easy to shape). Alternatively, press the brownies into a mini-muffin tin or other mold. Place in the refrigerator or freezer for 5 to 10 minutes to firm up; they can easily be cut when cold.
- To serve, dust with cinnamon. (You also could add a bit of cinnamon to the brownie dough if desired.)
Notes
Adapted from My New Roots *Medjool dates are a type of date that is exceptionally large and sweet; it is important to find the real thing for this recipe. We were able to find them sold in bulk at our local grocery; they are also available for sale online. If you can’t imagine a dessert without chocolate, you could add a few dark chocolate chips if you’d like, or top with a bit of sea salt if you prefer the sweet / salty combination.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Blended
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: Raw brownies
YUM!! I don’t have a food processor but do have a vita-mix blender. Do you think I could use that?
I don’t know about a weaker blender, but I think the vitamix could probably handle it – but you may have to stir in almonds rather than adding them at the end. Good luck!
Per Kathy’s comment below, looks like this works in a blender! Let us know if you gave it a try with the vitamix… :)
Wow! Great, please report back if you try it in the blender. I also don’t have a food processor, but I am simply taken by this idea!
Can’t wait to try these!!
Sounds good! I recently tried some no-bake Peanut Butter Power Balls and loved them. When you are using figs or dates, there really is no need for sugar. http://www.flavorfulfork.com/2011/08/peanut-butter-power-bites/
Sounds wonderful. Yum!
I will freely admit I am skeptical of these. But would love to try them and see what I think. Just not sure where to get some of the ingredients.
After seeing your post yesterday, I was so intrigued that I had to give your recipe a try this morning. I used Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa which says that it is 100% Cacao. I have used this cocoa in other recipes, and it is not my favorite cocoa, but I thought I would try it since this recipe suggested the use of Cacao. I also have some Droste Cocoa which I prefer, and I think I will use that next time. Since the cocoa is the main flavor, I think it is really important that you use a good tasting cocoa in this recipe, so I think I would like it better with a different cocoa. I bought Medjool dates in the bulk bins at my grocery store, and I think my dates may have been on the dry side because my mixture was a bit crumbly. I am not sure how they are suppose to be though…this being my first experience with dates:) These were good, and I feel very good about the health benefits in the ingredients. I added some cinnamon to the “batter” and some ground green cardamom powder from the Indian food store. Thank you for introducing me to the world of raw foods. I saw this recipe when I was looking at raw recipes last night http://www.flavorfulfork.com/2011/08/peanut-butter-power-bites/ and I think that I may give it a try. My husband loves peanut butter, so I think he would enjoy these.
Thanks so much for sharing! I’m glad you enjoyed it – cardamom is a great idea for adding another hint of flavor!
Sorry to barge in here but I am rather skeptical about your “sugar-free” claim. You don’t add sugar but if you do some research on the sugar content of dates, you will find that it’s extremely high! (I just wanted to bring it up. Feel free to delete this comment if you don’t like it.)
Hi! We did not mean to confuse anyone about the presence of natural sugars in dried fruit. We simply believe that there are a lot of complex health benefits of eating a sweet made from whole fruits versus adding refined sugar to a recipe. Thanks for pointing it out!
They look delicious! And sound so simple!
You’re not serious, are you? Those are raw brownies?!
:-0 This one’s after my own heart!
Haha! So serious. You’ll have to try them out :)