I have gotten lots of good feedback about my vegan, grain free, sugar free chestnut brownies. I'll admit it… their amazing!
Many of you have also commented on the difficulty in finding chestnut flour. The chestnut flour is naturally sweet, therefore no added sweetener is needed in the recipe, but I will agree, chestnut flour it is hard to find (I order mine online).
So, just to make you guys happy, I formulated some new brownies made with oat flour and the next best sweetener, whole dates.
These brownies (if I do say so myself) might even be a tiny, itty, bitty, bit better? Ok, well they are both good, but if you don't want to bother with chestnut flour and don't mind the dates, then you gotta try these! If you are watching your fruit sugar intake though, check out the chestnut brownies!
I made a small batch since this was a "test drive" recipe. They are already gone! So I would recommend doubling this recipe to fit a regular 9×9 brownie pan.
If you have to have you chocolate, you can sub the carob with chocolate powder. Although, you may need to increase the date paste, as carob is naturally sweet, while chocolate is more bitter.
I did a mint cashew cream cheese icing. Other options that would be equally as good are my dark chocolate carob frosting or my caramel cream cheese frosting!
Mix the flax with the nondairy milk and let sit to thicken. Place the mashed sweet potato, date paste and vanilla and mix. In a seperate bowl mix the remaining dry ingredients and incorporate it into your "wet" ingredients, along with the flax mixture. The batter should be very thick and rather dry like a yeasted bread dough or fudge. If it is too wet, add more oat flour. Also, taste test your dough and make sure it is sweet enough/caroby enough for you! 😉 I used a small loaf tin, which makes about 4 large brownies. If you want to use a 9×9 baking dish, double this recipe. Bake at 350 F for 35-40 minutes or until the top of the brownies have cracked all the way to the middle. Let cool and enjoy or frost with your chosen icing!
Blend all ingredients on high until smooth. I would suggest making extra of the frosting (especially if you are doubling the brownie recipe), because it can be hard to blend small amounts in a blender. Store in the fridge until ready to use!
Another option, is to take the brownie batter (unbaked) and form it into shapes or place it into muffin liners and into the freezer! Incredibly fudgy!
You are soooo creative! I love this! The sweet potato is an awesome idea. I bet they are divine!
Oooh these look great – Im a chocolate love but i adore carob too!
I love how you used spinach for the green frosting!
Darn, i had some left over purple sweet potatoes from last night, if I'd seen this recipe earlier, I would have kept it!!! Definitely saving this one 😉 Looks delicious!!
Brown rice flour, or buckwheat flour would probably work. Quinoa flakes are sometimes bitter, but if you try it, let me know how it goes!
T = tbspoon or teaspoon? for some of the ingredients i am thinking tspoon and for some i am not sure… can you clarify?
OMG thank YOU so much for posting this. I found this via Finding Vegan's twitter. I have a really bad chocolate intolerance (tragic, I know) so it's great to see an alternative brownie recipe! Can't wait to try it out.
If you can use coconut, you could use coconut cream (cream on top of the can) for the frosting.
These look delicious – can't wait to try them!! I am always searching for desserts that are vegan, whole foods, sugar-free – and you can't ever go wrong with the chocolate (or carob) and mint combo! Thank you!
Just tried these last night and they were GREAT! It took me a few days to try since the cashew cream cheese takes a few days to make, but I am really happy with the results! I don't know how you came up with using such a wide array of whole foods for brownies, but the combination really worked! I know these are healthy, but I wonder if eating half a tray of them at one time still makes them healthy… lol. My only suggestion would be to double the recipe since I used a 8 inch square pan and they were still pretty thin. Thanks for the recipe!
Aw… thank you so much for telling me how it worked out for you! It makes my day! Yes, I agree if you want a thicker a brownie… double the recipe!
is the mashed sweet potato raw or cooked? i'm assuming it's baked since mashing a raw sweet potato sounds difficult. can't wait to try this one.
Yes, it is mashed, cooked sweet potato. You can either bake the sweet potato whole or peel and chop it, then steam it!
this recipe is amazing! But I don't have date paste. any suggestion for substitution? Thanks!