Spoonful of Sugar Free

Registered Dietitian

Love=Chocolate

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Not only is chocolate good for you, but it tastes good, too!

I finally created a healthy sugar-free brownie recipe, and it is just in time for Valentine’s Day!

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Grain-Free Fudge Brownies

Yield: 12 brownies

Calories per serving: 100 per brownie

Grain-Free Fudge Brownies

~These brownies are gluten-free (grain-free), dairy-free, nut-free, soy-free, and of course, sugar-free!

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup coconut flour
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 Tablespoons ground flax or chia (optional. I added it for extra nutrition)
  • 2 eggs
  • 5 dates
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla
  • 1/3 cup water or milk-substitute (I used unsweetened chocolate almond milk)
  • optional: 1/2 cup chopped nuts or chopped unsweetened chocolate.

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 375*.
  2. First, blend the dates into a paste.
  3. In a separate bowl combine all dry ingredients. Then add wet. Stir until well combined. A
  4. dd the date paste and mix very thoroughly to ensure there aren't any date chunks. The dates are the natural sweetness in the recipe. Feel free to add more dates if needed to suite your sweet tooth 😉
  5. Lightly grease a 8x8 baking dish (I used coconut oil). Pour batter into dish. The batter should be thick.
  6. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
https://www.spoonfulofsugarfree.com/2011/02/11/lovechocolate/

It is completely black because I used Hershey's Extra Dark cocoa powder....mmmmm...

Health Benefits (Yes! The brownie actually helps your body!)

  • Chocolate: Click HERE for a post I wrote earlier about the health benefits of chocolate.
  • Coconut: Coconut is widely misunderstood because of it’s high fat content; however, coconut’s saturated fat is made up of medium-chain fatty acids. These medium-chains are easy to absorb and digest, and are converted quickly into energy. This means that the body has no opportunity to store the medium-chain as fat. Coconut is also a great source of dietary fiber with a whopping 5 grams per oz.!
  • Dates: A laxative food with a high-fiber content, so it can help those suffering from constipation. They are digested quite easily and are great for when you need quick energy. Also, regular consumption of dates has been found to help the growth of friendly bacteria in the intestines.

Thought-provoking, mind-prodding question of the day:

When you went to Elementary school, did you have Valentine’s Day parties?

I had one every year at my school. I made a giant sweet-heart container to hold my Valentines. We always brought Valentine’s cards and candy for the whole class and dropped them into everyone’s containers, and then we had a party! When I got home from school, my sister and I would sort through our Valentine cards and candies 🙂 Then get sugar-high ;)Blech!

Reader Interactions

Comments

    • Hi Susan!

      You don’t actually need a blender if you aren’t afraid of getting your hands messy. When my family is sleeping and I don’t want to wake them with a blender, I simply mush the dates in my hands to make a paste. Or just chop them up really small.

      However, a banana probably would work. I would mash it. The brownies, however, might end up tasting like chocolate banana bars instead….Still yummy, but if you are looking for a decadent chocolate, I’d try the dates.

      Good Luck! Let me know how it goes!

      Alex

  5. This is the best healthy-chocolatey treat I have ever had! I would say that the texture is closer to that of a flour-less cake but this is way more healthy! So yummy!

  6. I went to jewish school, so for some reason we werent really allowed to celebrate V day (because its actually a christian holiday i guess). But now, I just think its gives way to cheesy jewelry ads. But chocolate! I’ll take any excuse for chocolate!

  8. So excited about this recipe Alex. Love brownies and will be making these soon. Yes, we always had Valentine’s Day parties..I am still traumatized by those little boxes of candy hearts. Blech. Why did I eat so many – they weren’t even any good.

    • I am making another batch as I speak. Only this time I am adding a a little apple cider vinegar to the coconut milk to make it fluffier. And I added more liquid. We’ll see if it turns out even better 🙂

      And I know! What was I thinking when I was a kid? They were nasty!

  9. Wow this recipe looks amazing!! Can’t wait to try it.

    OH, yes, the Valentine’s Day parties. I will never forget a card I got in 4th grade.

    “Roses are red, violets are blue, hop in bed with Fred, he likes you!”

    Did I mention I was in FOURTH grade? Seriously who writes a Valentine like that in 4th grade?!

  10. Nice brownie recipe, looks nice and rich.
    Yeah we had Valentine parties, and we exchanged those cute little cards, had a paper bag taped to the front of our desks so other kids could drop in their cards and then you opened them at home that night. good memories

    • Haha, no, those are chunks of unsweetened chocolate 🙂 I <3 Baker's chocolate 🙂 Although it would be more festive if I added some strawberry/raspberry pieces (not to mention yummy!)

    • Hi Debbie!

      I found package of “Creamed Coconut” in the international section of my grocery store and mixed it with water. It resembles coconut butter, so I bet if you mix coconut butter and water together you can make it. You can buy coconut butter or make it by blending unsweetened shredded coconut in a strong blender or food processor until smooth. I’ve also seen people mix coconut flour with water to make coconut cream.

      Good luck! Let me know how it goes 🙂

      Alex

    • Hi Michelle! My favorite Egg replacer is chia gel. Chia seeds should be mixed with water in a 6:1 ratio (water:chia) . Stir and let sit for 20 minutes, so the seeds will “puff.” about 1/4 cup gel=1 egg.

      Let me know how it works!

      Alex

    • Hehe…thanks 🙂 I hope they turn out well for you!

      btw, I just made them again today (and they were great again…) But I upped the liquid a bit…I think it helped to make it more fluffy.

      Let me know how your turn out!

    • Just try subbing any other type of flour…. I think oat flour would work really well (blend oats til flour). Also, I thought it might be interesting to try using almond butter instead….would be a bit more caloric, though!

      Let me know how it turns out!

  21. These look so rich and delicious, Alex! And great info…I never realized that dates had laxative affects. Learn something new every day I guess!

    We always had V-Day parties in school which were of course followed by intense sugar comas!!

    Do you think brown rice flour would work? I don’t have coconut flour! 🙁

  22. I haven’t had brownies in soooo long. The pictures are making my mouth water!

    I miss valentines day parties. Of course, now I probably wouldn’t want the candy so much, but when I was little it was all about the candy. One year a boy in my class gave out fortune cookies with a valentines day message on the inside. So cute!

  23. This looks good. I always love your recipes. This one doesn’t have calorie info. That always help me decide whether I’m going to make them or not.

    • Thanks Jane! I did actually say they were about 100 calories each…

      I don’t do calorie info for every recipe because it is time consuming, but if there is ever a recipe that you would like to know the nutritional breakdown, just let me know!

      Alex

  27. Alex you’ve done it again! These look awesome! I think I’ll make these subbing oat flour for the coconut flour. They look so fudgey!

    I used to eat so much candy around Valentine’s day…ugh. I look at the ingredients in all the candy now and I’m just sickened!

  28. I must try this. I LOVE COCONUT! In elementary school, we made boxes for valentines so you’d go around and drop a valentine in everyone’s box.

  29. This is fantastic! I was looking for a good sugar free brownie recipe. I’m wondering though, would it make it taste weird if I used whole wheat flour instead of coconut?

  30. uno what i love about this, its like the girlfriend version of my sugar free carob brownies! i say girlfriend because urs have dates which somehow seems more feminine (maybe cuz its nice a sweet).. hehe so there ya go, if i make these, then my brownie will have a a date for Valentine’s 😉

    mmmm i love it!! <3

  31. ohh girl this looks really good! very creative and i love the grain free of course!

    Your description of coconut is very much like the one I posted a couple days ago:

    “Coconut * coconut gets a bad rap because of its saturated fat content, but its fatty acids are mainly medium-chain triglycerides, not long-chain. The long-chain triglycerides are bad for our cholesterol levels, but coconut has been shown to improve cholesterol levels. Animal studies suggest that medium-chain triglycerides can increase metabolism.”

    but you should know that while its true that medium chain fatty acids are used for energy more so than long chain, they can still be used for fat storage! just so you know!

    Anddd in elementary school we alwayss had valentines day parties! I loved making everyone valentines and I always gave my crushes the best candy of the batch haha

  32. Yum! Another great recipe. We always had a valentines party in elementary school. Everyone would pass out cards and some students would bring baked goods. 🙂

  35. oh.my. chocolate indeed = love! making this suuuper soon! i love that you look 100% dark chocolate as much as i do! no one else ever seems too…us 100% girls gotta stick together 😉 thanks so much for the recipe :)!

  36. I can TOTALLY make these like right now 😀 Finally a gluten free recipe that I have all the ingredients for!

    AND IT’S CHOCOLATEY! Bonus points 😉

  37. I didnt have any milks so I used water (and I really didnt expect it to work) but it DID! – – came out great!! thanks so much for the recipe… !
    x

  38. Ooh, those look really good! I know what I’m making this weekend!

    Quick question though; I hope you don’t mind me asking. What type of dates did you use in this? Those normal small, cooking dates or big ones like Medjool? I’m wondering how many dates wouls be needed to make the brownies sweet enough. I have Medjool ones at home and I’m thinking that I might not need 5 dates?
    Thanks!

    • Hi Tori! I used 5 medjool dates. I think they are the easiest to work with because they are soft and easy to grind up. I usually just taste the batter a little bit to see if it is sweet enough 🙂

      Good luck! Let me know how they turn out!

      • I just made this using whole wheat flour and they turned out great! I have to say, this is the only sugar free brownie recipe I have used that actually made brownies that taste fantastic! Thank you so much for the recipe!

        xx

  39. Hi there, looks like a great recipe…I have got one question though:
    Are you not using any source of fat (like nut butter etc)??
    cheers, liz

      • Thank you!! I’m gonna try them right away! I made your “flouerless brownies” a couple of days ago… they turned out amazing… moist and rich in flavor. Thanks for the great recipe (I used butternut squash). Everyone loved it! (ha and me, for baking them) 😉

  40. Hi, I tried these today and it’s a great concept but they didn’t turn out at all! My batter was SUPER thick and they came out of the oven dry and tasteless (not sweet enough) even though I added a little extra milk and 1/4 cup of butter… Not sure what I did wrong because I followed the recipe other than that. Got any ideas?

    • Hi Jenni!

      So sorry they didn’t turn out for you. I don’t know why they didn’t because lots of people have had good success with the recipe. What kind of cocoa did you use? Because that could affect the taste of the brownies. If you didn’t strong enough cocoa, it wouldn’t chocolaty enough. Also, if it isn’t sweet enough, add more dates. If it is dry, don’t cook it as long. You want the brownies to stay moist!

      Let me know if you need some more help. Because these brownies are good and we ned to get to the bottom of this! 😛

      • Ok I will try again! Thanks for the tips… I am living in France at the moment… so was using a french brand of cocoa, tastes good in everything else so it shouldn’t be the cocoa powder, but maybe I was using the wrong kind of dates? I wasn’t using medjool dates, just regular ones, could that be the problem? I’m also wondering why my batter was SO thick… should I try adding more liquid? or more butter/oil?
        Thanks for the help!

        • Medjool dates tend to be rather large, so 5 medjool dates is definitely sweeter than five regular dates. My batter was rather thick, too, but if you are uncomfortable with thick brownies, try adding a tablespoon or two of water-but not too much or else they will fall apart easily!

          Good Luck!

  41. Hi Alex, I tried making these brownies today with moderate success! I’m in the UK and think I must have converted the ingredient amounts incorrectly. My conversion table tells me that 1/2 cup is 4oz but when I mixed in the wet ingredients the mixture was no where near a batter consistency so I had to add a lot more milk & water and they still came out a bit dry. Is 1/2 cup equal to 4oz or have I got it totally wrong?!

    • Hey Sharon,

      They came out dry?! Oh no! How strange because mine were very moist…

      It depends on what ingredients your using. I think there are 4 oz of liquid (like water) in half cup, but only 2 oz dry (like coconut flour) in half cup.

      Does this help?

  42. I can’t eat dates or figs or dried fruit because of their high sugar content. What could I substitute for the dates?

    • Babs,

      The dates give it the sweetener, but you could try stevia if you don’t object to it? I have another “Power Brownie” recipe that uses liquid stevia, or a pinch or two of powdered. I wouldn’t suggest bananas because they are too pronounced in flavor.

      Hope this helps!

  43. I think I may have enough. Coconut flour to make these! Do you know if applesauce would work in place of the dates? Dates+cocoa powder bothers my stomach (creates sulfuric gas, if you get what I mean).

    • Hmmm…don’t think applesauce would work. I is too much liquid and not enough sweet. If you want, try stevia!!

  44. Trying these for the first time today. Added a bit more milk, 1/2 of a ripe banan, and a tbsp of oil, just to get it a little more workable. Sprinkled pecans on 1/2 of them. Can’t wait to taste them. I also printed off a bunch of your recipes and just need to order some chia seeds and unsweetened coconut.

    • Stephanie,

      Wow! I hope you enjoy them. I haven’t tried it with banana before…

      • Okay, so they didn’t turn out well at all, never raised. I will try again.

        • Stephanie,

          I figured that might happen. I’ve tried putting bananas in brownies before and for some reason it just doesn’t work out for me…oh well!

  45. It’s almost Valentine’s Day again, and these brownies look like just the thing to make. However, my doctor makes me count carbs, so can you tell me the carb count/brownie? Thanks for the great recipes!

  46. I mistakenly posted this comment under the pumpkin pancakes which I also made tonight but this comment was intended here…I found your website after I learned my 3 yr old needs a sugar-free and dairy-free diet, I made these tonight and although they were not moist at all like your looked, they were munched down. Praising God I found something he liked this sugar free adventure has been a difficult one, so thank you so much for your page and all your recipes:)

  47. Can I use rice flour instead of coconut flour? Or is there other alternatives that would taste just as good?

  48. I just tried these (in the oven now) and I’m thinking the coconut flour is too much. Is absorbs liquid like it’s going out of style….I followed the recipe exactly and it was a crumbly mess. I added an additional egg and another 1/3 cup of almond milk which made it better but not quite brownie batter consistency (big lumps instead of crumbs). I would probably use 1/4 cup of coconut flour next time I try these. Hope they come out edible so my son has a treat to take to school tomorrow!!

  49. The ingredients list just says cocoa powder. I’m assuming this is unsweetened in order to be sugar free? Thanks!

    • Yes, unsweetened cocoa powder. Most cocoa powders are unsweetened unless otherwise noted.

  50. Dates have a lot of natural sugar in them, not to mention carbs. I am sure they add to the texture of the brownie but if you are diabetic, like myself, and watching your sugar intake, this recipe would not be a good choice.

  51. These look great! My son is a teacher at a school that is “sugar free”. I’ve been trying to find a chocolate treat to take to his class to give the kids something to eat other than vegetables, fruits, and chips which parents always bring. Other than no sugar, there are no allergies or other dietary restrictions. If sugar is the only thing I need to eliminate, can I use some regular ingredients, such as regular flour and milk in the recipe since I don’t have coconut flour at home? You mentioned you increased the liquid to make it fluffier, how much? Thanks – so glad to find your website!

  52. It came out very very dry, are you sure there is enough liquid. Also there is no oil it seems odd for a cake? Very bitter even though I’m used to 90% chocolate.

    • Maria,

      I haven’t tried this recipe for a while, so I’ll have to take a look at it again to tinker with it. In the meantime you can check out my flourless chocolate cake recipe that many people have had success with. Check out my recipe page for the recipe. Sorry for the inconvenience.

  53. Hi Alex, I actually tried the flourless chocolate cake last night and it was indeed absolutely delicious. We loved it. I can even do this one as a healthy alternative for the whole family. I will do it again. I wonder how this cake would be with coconut flour instead of almond flour? It could be good but may need more water for the coxonut flour.

Trackbacks

  2. […] So not only was today sugar free… but it was also vegan! (Actually my eats are normally vegan… ) Giving up sugar wasn’t too hard, but I basically just had to avoid packaged food. There is sugar in practically everything! Even those hummus chips have a bit of sugar in them! I think in order to keep up with the sugar free challenge, I’ll have to be making a lot of food from scratch! But that’s ok And as soon as I track down some coconut flour, I want to try making Alex’s brownies! […]