Decadent and rich Gluten-Free Brownies that make for an easy dairy-free, grain-free, and refined sugar-free treat.
Home decorating is one of those things that no one ever mentioned in the list of “grown-up” tasks that would be so hard and so dang frustrating.
Had someone told my younger self that as an adult I would spend countless hours trying to figure out paint colors, furniture configurations, and the type of shelving needed in the bathroom, I would have said “No, thanks.”
We’ve reached the point in the renovation of the loft that some real decisions have to be made about how the space is going to feel and flow. Unlike an ordinary house where you have clear room designations, what we do in one area of the space seriously impacts another.
It is also a situation where two self-proclaimed stubborn people make zero traction.
In a recent discussion about where we were going to put what on the walls, I was out of ideas and at a loss of where to start. Brain-freeze at its best.
Neither one of us was suggesting something that the other one liked (aka vehemently opposed), and all I could really think about was, brownies sound really good right now.
To avoid making our super productive brainstorming session worse, I did not voice this aloud, but did proceed to the kitchen and began to bake brownies.
In the midst of avoiding all decisions on the homefront, I realized that I wanted to have a simple, basic, gluten-free and dairy-free brownie recipe here on the site.
As with cookies, everyone has a favorite—fudgy, cake-y, dark chocolate, milk chocolate—and I too have my favorite. I tend to lean towards a more fudgy brownie with a touch of cakiness and I think these deliver.
Since these photos were taken, I have learned a couple easy tricks for clean cut brownies and have put them in the recipe below. If only everything could be that easy! Enjoy!
Make a Salted Plains recipe? I’d love to see! Tag your creations on Instagram with #saltedplains!
Gluten-Free Brownies (Dairy-Free, Refined Sugar-Free)
Ingredients
- 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate 60-65%, roughly chopped
- 8 tablespoons coconut oil
- 3 eggs beaten
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup almond flour/meal
- 1 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- sea salt for sprinkling optional
Instructions
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Preheat the oven to the 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 11 x 7 inch glass baking pan with coconut oil and then cut a length of parchment to line the bottom of the pan, with extra hanging over the sides.
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Melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a microwave safe cup or bowl for 30 second intervals. Stir after each interval. Set aside.
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In a small bowl or measuring cup, beat eggs. In a large bowl, add all dry ingredients and whisk to combine. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add the eggs, chocolate mixture, and vanilla extract. Stir well until lumps have disappeared and the batter appears smooth and glossy.
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Pour batter into prepared pan, sprinkle with sea salt if using, and bake for 26-29 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean. Allow brownies to cool completely in pan on a wire rack. For best results, chill brownies in the fridge after they have cooled for an hour, or overnight.(Clean cut tips below).
Recipe Notes
Adapted from my Gluten-Free Pecan Fudge Brownies and Gluten-Free Goddess' Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Brownies.
For clean-cut brownies:
Use a warmed knife and wipe the blade after each cut. A reader also suggested a plastic knife works great as well!
Hi!!! If you cut the brownies with a plastic knife it also cuts smoothly :) can’t wait to try this recipe.
Hi Lea! Oh yay! Thank you for sharing that! I will add it to the tips. :) That is awesome. I hope you enjoy the recipe!
We are in the midst of renovating our kitchen Tessa, so I feel your pain! Nothing a delicious batch of brownies can’t solve though! These sound wonderful!
It’s a pain, isn’t it?! Luckily the dream of the finished product keep you going (usually!). ;) Thanks, Mary Ann!
Guuurl, I feel you on interior decorating! When we moved into our new home in NC I felt SO overwhelmed! I cheated and relied heavily on my MIL who is a talented professional interior designer. :) I’d send her your way if I could! Good luck with the reno and decorating, my dear! My fingers will be crossed for you!! Until then I suggest you just devour all these gluten free brownies, because these are bound to make you feel better! They look Deeeeelish!! You make gluten free eating look good! Cheers to a beautiful weekend!
I need your MIL!! :) That is awesome. I have, at least, consumed all the brownies and am thinking about making more this weekend. Ha. Thank you for your sweet words, Cheyanne! Have a great weekend!
Tessa! I can’t wait to make these! What a lovely and thoughtful recipe. Love that you’ve used almond flour, coconut oil and coconut sugar. Cutting brownies has always been so challenging for me! Love your tips!
Thank you so much, Caroline! I am always surprised at how well almond flour subs for regular flour in certain baked goods – sometimes does an even better job, I think. :) I do hope you enjoy these! xo.
oh, this write-up brought me the biggest smile. My husband and I have gone through many renovations during our 25 year history together but it has been quite a long time since we’ve had to meet minds on a project… we just recently started some backyard landscaping – (you’d think a pretty straightforward thing, right?) not so much! :) #strongwilled #stubborn #clashofthetitans #idesperatelyneedthesebrownies !!
Yay! :) Hahaha, I can definitely see a landscaping project causing a clash (it would here!). Your hashtags had me laughing out loud – SPOT ON, my friend! xoxo
Adulting. OMGeee this is totally Rob and I, Tessa! I’m surprised I have any hair left after yanking on it for so many years! Decorating is not something either of us are good at, therefore it takes us way to much time to make decisions. My Ma calls it analysis paralysis! lOL … Luckily we’ve had lots of help, but we had to discuss it first! I’m with you. Just go make brownies. They’re not as complicated and certainly not as stressful. Delicious work my dear! xo
Hahaha. Analysis paralysis is such a great way to describe it!!! I am using this from now on. ;) Brownies always. Hope you are having a good week, my friend! xo.
Hi! These look delicious. I’m curious what refined sugar free chocolate bar you use?
Hi Karin! I often will use the Green & Black’s brand dark chocolate bars which uses a small amount raw cane sugar. To totally avoid raw cane sugar, you could use an unsweetened dark chocolate bar here, which would make these richer. But, adding a little more coconut sugar to the recipe could sweeten it a bit more. I have seen that the NAKED chocolate bar brand uses coconut sugar exclusively in its chocolate.
Hi Tessa,
These look so good! I’m in the UK and haven’t got access to ounces and cups. Any chance I could have the measurements in grams and millilitres?
Hi Malou! Thanks so much. Sorry for the delay in my response over the holidays. I will get the grams up for you this week! Happy New Year!
Do you think I could leave out the chocolate bar and still get a good result?
Hi Ravynne! My guess is that the brownies should still come out with a good result. I haven’t tried it without the melted chocolate, so it may affect the outcome slightly, and would certainly decrease the richness a bit.
These brownies are AMAZING! No one could tell they were gluten and refined sugar free, I couldn’t even believe how they tasted so good without flour or sugar. I used oat flour instead of almond because my roomate has an allergy and they turned out perfect. So glad I stumbled across this.
Thanks, Holly! I am so glad you enjoyed them. I always think one of the best parts is that no one would know they are gluten-free. :) I am happy to hear that oat flour worked well as a substitute – I will have to try that myself!
Made these a second time and they were even better. Several people told me that it was the best brownie they ever had, and one of my friends said they were better than sex, lol. Seriously can’t get over how much I love this recipe, I’m famous for them now and I share this recipe with everyone who wants to recreate them. This time, I ran out of semi-sweet chocolate, so I used lindor brand “dark chocolate with a hint of salt” bars and it made such a delicious difference (didn’t know they could even get more delicious!) Thanks again!
Haha, that is awesome! I am so happy you like them. I will have to try that sea salt Lindor trick! Thanks so much for kind words, Holly.
Yum! I’m excited to give this recipe a try. Do you have a substitute for coconut sugar?
Thanks so much!
I tried making them just now, but the batter I got was not smooth nor glossy. It ended up quite thick, almost clump like. The only thing i can think of might be due to my measurement of the coconut oil? I only had the solid coconut oil on hand, so it was a little difficult to scoop out 8 tablespoons. Anyways, it’s in the oven now and I’m hoping for the best !
I’d like to know too, I have a coconut allergy and most gluten free dairy free baking recipes tend to use coconut!
Hi Olivia – I haven’t tried it with this recipe, but you should be able to substitute regular or vegan butter for the amount of coconut oil called for in the recipe.
Hi Feanna! Thanks for making the recipe – I hope they turned out for you. Sometimes it takes a couple minutes before the batter turns smoother. Since the solid coconut oil is melted with the chocolate before combining with the dry ingredients, I wouldn’t think your scooping of the tablespoons should make a difference. You can always use an electric mixer and beat on low to combine next time if you prefer for a smoother batter.
Hi Tessa!
Do you think using flax eggs instead of eggs would still create a good outcome? These are so close to being vegan other than the eggs haha
Hi Mikaela! Haha, they really almost are! I think flax eggs should do the job, although you would definitely want to chill the brownies overnight. Have you ever used a cornstarch egg? Same idea, 1 tablespoons cornstarch plus 3 tablespoons water for each “egg”. I haven’t tried either with this recipe, but I’m thinking that method may work even better than the flax egg. If you try one, I’d love to know!
Hi Tessa, thanks for this recipe, i have just eaten a corner of the finished product already and they are really delicious: Very chocolatey but i can taste the vanilla, coconut and almond too which is a bonu. Im thinking of maybe adding in some whole nuts next time such a pecans?
I am just coming to the end of my 4 year MA and the end is in sight: September but i still have a big hill to climb with a research project that hasn’t even started yet!! as i sit at my computer i need something to eat and with these gluten and refined sugar free brownies, i wont feel so bad. Thanks :-)
Thank you, Lucy! So glad you like them. Congrats on coming to the end of your MA – I know that is a ton of work. You definitely deserve a brownie! <3
Hi! So excited to make these. I was looking for a recipe where I had everything already in the kitchen. Just realized though that I only have 3 oz of chocolate to melt. Any tips to make up the other half? Maybe more cocoa powder and coconut oil? I welcome your thoughts!
Hi Katie! Thanks for your note. If you don’t have any additional chocolate to melt like chocolate chips, I think you’ll be okay without the rest of the melted chocolate. I’m afraid that using more cocoa powder or cocoa powder/coconut oil with affect the proportions of the recipe and won’t bake the same.
These brownies are rich, so I think the 1/2 cup cocoa powder called for and the chocolate you do have should still work. If you try it, let me know!