With a delicious crumb and decadent flavor, these vegan dark chocolate brownies have your name written all over them. They’re only sweetened with fruit, and have any easy grain-free option – so they’re practically healthy, too!

With a delicious crumb and decadent flavor, these vegan dark chocolate brownies have your name written all over them. They're only sweetened with fruit, and have any easy grain-free option - so they're practically healthy, too! #vegan #darkchocolate #brownies #paleooption #refinedsugarfree #fruit #chocolate #healthytreats #glutenfree #dairyfree #eggfree

No rocket science necessary.

Believe it or not, there was a day when brownies weren’t my thing. Not necessarily because I didn’t like them (how could any chocolatier in their right mind not like brownies?). No, it was because I thought they were too complicated to make. And in my defense, there are some rather complicated brownie recipes out there. But does a good brownie really need to be complicated? 

No. Not at all.

In fact, in the past few years I discovered that most brownies are relatively simple to make. And that left me to enjoy their deliciousness freely, without having to spend an hour in the kitchen prepping my treat.

A pan of Vegan Dark Chocolate Brownies from raiasrecipes.com

All the brownies.

Since then I’ve come up with many a delicious brownie recipe…

and of course, these vegan dark chocolate brownies. As you can see, I’m really not too picky when it comes to my brownies, though fudgy is my preferred brownie texture.

A stack of Vegan Dark Chocolate Brownies from raiasrecipes.com

Vegan Dark Chocolate Brownies.

When I first came up with these dark chocolate brownies, they were as a treat for my kids. I didn’t want anything too sugary, so that my littles wouldn’t go completely berserk after enjoying their treat. So instead of using coconut sugar or honey, I just used some no-sugar-added fruit juice that I had on hand. And instead of eggs I used a banana. All the natural sweetness from the fruit combined with the cocoa powder for a decadent, dark chocolate treat.

Of course, I did use some dairy-free chocolate chips, which do have a little sugar in them. There are stevia-sweetened options, if you want, or you could use my delicious homemade chocolate chunks for a naturally dairy-free option! I usually sweetened them with honey, but you could try stevia or maple syrup, instead.

Another note on the sugar aspect is that – even though it’s natural sugar – most juice is pretty high in sugar. So if you want to cut the sugar content down even more, you can use coconut milk instead of the fruit juice. 

A single Vegan Dark Chocolate Brownie from raiasrecipes.com

Paleo options.

My first few batches of these brownies were made just regular ol’ gluten-free. But since then I’ve cut all grains out of my diet, so I worked on trying a paleo-safe version. Instead of rice flour and potato starch, I opted for almond flour and a little arrowroot. It’s an easy sub, though it does change the texture a tad. If you opt for the grain-free version the brownies will be a little more crumbly, since there are no eggs. I’ll post options for both below, so you can try them both if you want and see which version you enjoy best!

With a delicious crumb and decadent flavor, these vegan dark chocolate brownies have your name written all over them. They're only sweetened with fruit, and have any easy grain-free option - so they're practically healthy, too! #vegan #darkchocolate #brownies #paleooption #refinedsugarfree #fruit #chocolate #healthytreats #glutenfree #dairyfree #eggfree

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Vegan Dark Chocolate Brownies

Free from gluten, eggs, dairy, and sugar, with grain-free option.

Ingredients

Instructions

Preheat oven to 325 and grease a 9×9 inch baking dish, or line it with parchment paper.

Cream together banana, juice, vanilla, and applesauce.

In separate bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Pour over wet ingredients and mix well until no dry spots remain.

Stir in chocolate chips and bake for 15 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.

Try your very best to let the brownies cool as much as possible before serving. (This step is even more important if you’re making the paleo version!)

Note

For grain-free, sub 1/2 cup of almond flour for the rice flour. Please note that the texture will change!

Raias Recipes - https://raiasrecipes.com

Vegan Dark Chocolate Brownies from raiasrecipes.com