Let me warn you: the recipe I am sharing today is addictive! These healthy brownies are vegan, gluten-free, wheat-free, nut-free and also free from refined sugar. Although I rarely crave treats I make for Jumpy, I ate more of these gooey treats than she did! I kept going back to the fridge and eating “just one more slice!”
This year, I have teamed up with some of the UK’s top food bloggers to bring you a ‘Free From’ Christmas Feast. Our aim is to show that it is possible to cater for everyone for Christmas, with simple, healthy and allergy-friendly recipes. Our ‘free from’ Christmas buffet that does not contain any of the top 14 allergens, making it the ultimate ‘free from’ buffet.
For those of you who were not aware of it, the EU defines that the top 14 allergens are:
• cereals containing gluten: wheat, rye, barley, oats (if not gluten-free),
• dairy,
• eggs,
• soya,
• lupin,
• sesame,
• celery and celeriac,
• sulphites,
• mustard,
• fish,
• tree nuts (almonds, hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, pecans, brazils, pistachios, macadamia nuts),
• peanuts,
• molluscs,
• crustaceans.
Meet the Wonderful Team Behind our ‘Free From’ Christmas:
Little me! Mel – ‘Le Coin de Mel’
Vicki – ‘The Free From Fairy’
Nath – ‘The Intolerant Gourmand’
Emma – ‘Free From Farmhouse’
Grace – ‘Eats Amazing’
Jo – ‘Paleo Crust’
Nova – ‘Cherished by Me’
Ciara – ‘My Fussy Eater’
Reneé – ‘Mummy Tries’
On that note, let be bring you my allergy-friendly, vegan, gluten-free and refined sugar-free brownies!
We all love brownies at home. The recipe I normally go for contains flour, eggs and nuts, so it is safe to say it is not suitable for Jumpy. Until now, I would give her Lazy Day Foods’ rocky road bars whenever we had brownies, but she loves it when I bake something especially for her.
A few weeks ago, as I was looking into egg-free brownies, all recipes I found used ground almonds, so I used a couple for inspiration (from ‘The Awesome Green’ & ‘Deliciously Ella’) and it took some experimenting but I am rather pleased with the results.
Healthy ‘Free From’ Chocolate Brownies
Ingredients
- - 2 sweet potatoes about 500g, peeled and cubed
- 14 Medjool dates 90g, pitted
- 1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil
- 6 tablespoons raw cacao powder
- 1 cup plain ‘free from’ flour blend 150g, I use the Free From Fairy’s flour
- 3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
- ½ tsp Fleur de Sel or crushed Maldon salt
- 1/2 cup good quality ‘free from’ dark chocolate 70g, melted
Instructions
- Start by preheating your oven to 180°C (gas mark 4/5, 356°F). Peel the sweet potatoes, cut them into chunks and place into a steamer for about twenty minutes, until they become soft enough to be mashed easily with a fork.
- Once the sweet potatoes are soft, place them in a food processor with the dates. Add in the coconut oil cacao powder, ’free from’ flour, maple syrup and salt. Blend well. Add in the melted chocolate and blend for a couple of seconds.
- Stir one last time with a spatula and drop the mixture on a lined baking tray.
- Cook for approximately 20 minutes, or until the blade of a knife inserted in the middle comes clean.
- Take the dish out of the oven and leave to cool for 10 minutes.
- Turn the brownies onto a cooling rack, and when completely cool, cut into squares.
- The brownies can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for 4 days or in the freezer for a month.
Oh my goodness! These look utterly amazing. There is no way I could made these because I know I would eat them all in one go!!! Brilliant for Christmas though xx
Author
They are really delicious and moreish!
Another awesome free from recipe! I love using root veggies in cakes and sweet treats too 🙂
Author
Me too! I still have to try beetroot though. I’m not sure the kids would like it…
This sounds amazing Mel! I love that you’ve sneaked some sweet potato in there too!
Author
Sweet potatoes are great to give eggless cakes that lovely fudginess. I also love the fact they’re a good source of vitamins and they help sweeten the brownies too!
Wowzers, these look fantastic Mel!! I love using sweet potato as an egg replacer, the subtle sweetness and smooth texture works so well! x
Author
Thanks sweetie. I have such a sweet tooth these are perfect for me with a cup of tea!
It’s 1am and I am drooling over your brownies…how quick can you get one couriered over I need something to keep me going. What a great recipe, I’ve been meaning to make brownies with sweet potato for ages…I’ll have to make some to celebrate son no.2 coming back from uni next week. He’ll love these!
Author
Ooooh, let me know how you get on. x
These look fab Mel! I adore brownies. I love the thought of sweet potato ones!
Author
Thanks Laura! They were so yummy I ate most of them haha!
These look so deliciously dense and fudgy – and I love that they are suitable for everyone. Wonderful!
Author
Thanks Nico!
Sweet potato brownies are just amazing aren’t they – looks like they’ve given yours the perfect texture. Black beans also make great vegan brownies too! Thanks for joining in with #CookBlogShare – hope to see you again soon x
Author
Ooooh, black beans. Don’t they leave an aftertaste? Have you got a recipe?
You had me at chocolate! Wow these look stunning. Your photography is stunning too girlie. Love! X
Author
Thanks sweet pea. xxx
Healthy brownies! Where do I sign?? These look and sound amazing and I just love the way they are actually good for you. Actually, I made something similar recently which were amazing but clearly I was taking my stupid pills that day because I forgot to write the recipe down!! Bah! Eb x
Author
Oh nooooo. You can’t possibly cook without writing down what you put in your recipe, or maybe that will give you an incentive to make the recipe again and again until you get it just right, he he!
Haha, well I do normally when I’m recipe testing for the blog, but when I made the brownies I was just messing around inventing things with the kids and wasn’t really thinking it would be blog-worthy, but it was and I am soo annoyed with myself for not writing it down!!! But yes, on the bright side, I will just have to make more brownies, probably lots more brownies to get them just right, but they were healthy ones, so that’s OK!! Eb x
Author
Love the fact you create healthy treats when messing around with the kids. When I faff with food with my kids, we generally end up melting chocolate, dipping marshmallows in it. That kind of things, he he!
I cannot believe you managed to do healthy brownies!!! This is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.! Definitely pinning this for later! Helene xxx
Author
Thanks ma belle. Their texture is a bit fudgy and quite surprisingly, I kept being drawn to them (not normally a fan of ‘free from’ cakes!). x
I love the idea of a Free From group. I could go missing for hours looking through the group! Your brownies sound and look divine.
Author
Thanks Kyrstie. Lots of amazing recipes from this fab group of bloggers!
Oh Mel, these look and sound utterly divine! As you know I’m now gluten and sugar free so these sound perfect for me. Love love love 🙂
Author
I knew you’d like this recipe. I was going to tag you on Twitter and then forgot! x
O perfect and so fudgy looking! All about the potato!
Author
Completely! They are so addictive. I don’t know what it is that draws me to them. Maybe the texture, maybe the sweetness, but they kept calling my name from the fridge, he he!
Yum, these sound fantastic!! I always find it interesting how allergies vary geographically! Celeriac and Mustard do not make our top list in NZ, but Kiwifruit does! Sesame is becoming more prominent here too!
Oh wow Mel these look amazing! I will be adding them to my lost for healthy bakes for my next BritMums round up. Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Author
Thanks my lovely. They are healthy and oh my goodness they are good too!
This recipe looks just gorgeous! I can see how you wouldn’t have to use refined sugar with all these healthy yet sweet ingredients – dates, sweet potatoes, coconut oil – they are all super high on my list of the yummiest ingredients! These brownies must be delicious:)
What an amazing recipe. When I first looked at the pics, I thought they were ‘raw’ they look so dense. They look rich and delicious and perfect for Christmas xx
Author
They’re really dense and quite addictive I have to say. I didn’t think it would be my kind of treat, but they really are delicious!
They look tasty and easy to make. Will definitely make them! Thanks for the recipe!
Author
Thanks! They really are delicious.
Brownies are always a great option, but these ones are way to better. I couldn’t guess they were gluten free, Mel.
Author
Thanks Agness. They are incredibly delicious, considering they don’t contain any ingredients you’d traditionally find in a brownie recipe!