Vegan Nut Free Gluten Free Brownies
I really enjoy using almond flour –almonds are a superfood and highly nutritious. However, every now and then, someone requests a nut free dessert recipe for some type of gluten free baked good. At other times, folks are looking for an egg free recipe.
There are as many allergies out there as there are colors in the rainbow. This brownie recipe is for all the nut free, egg free, refined sugar free, gluten free, primal vegans in my life. You keep me on my toes! And I love it.
This recipe uses sunflower seed butter, which is actually similar to a nut butter (though nut free). Sunflower seed butter is gluten free, high protein and made from highly nutritious sunflower seeds –you didn’t think I was going to use rice flour, did you?! I’m still as grain free as I’ve ever been since I gave up grains 11 years ago. All of the recipes on this website are gluten and grain free recipes.
These brownies are based on a gluten free brownie recipe that Amy Jelley posted on my facebook page a couple of weeks ago. Thanks Amy! Her recipe used a ½ cup of honey which is a little much for where my blood sugar is at these days; so I decreased the amount of honey and added in some xylitol and stevia. I also increased the fat and made a couple of other minor changes to the recipe along the way.
This is a very fudgey brownie –it won’t seem totally cooked through when you pull it from the oven. I took mine out when the edges were just about to burn, that was how I determined it was done.
Vegan Nut Free Gluten Free Brownies
- 2 small bananas
- 1 cup sunbutter
- 2 tablespoons ground chia seeds, mixed with 3 tablespoons water to form a paste
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
or agave nectar
- ¼ cup xylitol
- ⅛ teaspoon stevia
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup cacao powder
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- In a food processor
, combine bananas, sunflower butter and chia seed mixture
- Pulse in coconut oil, honey, xylitol, stevia and vanilla until smooth
- Pulse in cacao, salt and baking soda
- Transfer batter into a well greased 8 x 8 inch baking dish
- Bake at 350° for 30-45 minutes
- Serve
Makes 16 brownies
Now, a word of caution. Do not feed this dessert to your pets. Chocolate and xylitol are highly toxic to animals. Have any of you been feeding my other desserts to your pets? If so, why are you doing this? Please leave a comment and let us know!
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They sound delicious! I love sunflower seed butter.
Wow. A dessert everyone in my family can actually eat! I have GOT to try this!
THANK YOU for the nut-free recipe! I’m so excited to try it!
Lovely! (tho, hardly can be called vegan if it has honey used in it…)
Use the agave nectar she suggests instead of honey.
Elana, have you ever had them turn green on you?? I had made something similar but with pumpkin purée and the combo of sunflower seed butter and baking soda makes a “green” brownie!
Sunflower seeds will turn green sometimes when they react with baking soda. It’s harmless. I bill it as a benefit with my kids – “look! Weird green food!”
Hello all. I read that if you cut the baking soda by about 1/3 it should take care of this problem. Alternatively, you could add a splash of lemon juice to the recipe to take care of some of the “greenness”.
Oh my gosh, this is hilarious, I had that happen in cookies and thought it meant the Sunbutter was moldy- the green parts were only on the interior of the cookies and I thought perhaps the temp wasn’t high enough. So I chucked them all and the Sunbutter in the trash! Hee hee- Thank you for commenting about this, now I won’t hesitate to try the sunflower butter again.
Well, no wonder the inside of my sunflower seed butter bars were green! Actually, a little bluish-green. I thought it was something else entirely. Thanks for the info.
YUM! Do these brownies taste kind of creamy or are they more on a lighter side?
I’ve been eating this way for a while so I’m excited to try it out! Sounds delish!
Is that whole or ground chia?
Hi Elana, what can I subsitute for the Xylitol please?
sheryl mcfarlane @ scrummyfood.weebly.com
December 28, 2011 at 3:32 pm
Hi Elana, what can I subsitute for the Xylitol please?
I would sub Xylitol with Erythritol or Coconut Palm Sugar in the same amount stated in the recipe. I Found them both on IHerb.com and a lot cheaper than Vitacost.com or Amazon.com where I normally purchase from. iHerb coupon code is VEM843. Any new customer will get $5 off on their 1st order when using it.
I just bought 7 bags of the coconut palm sugar for $21 on iHerb. And free shipping! They are running a 10% off special and free shipping over $20.
I subbed 1/4 cup Lucuna powder…ended up with more of a cake-type brownie that only had to bake for 25 minutes. Lovely recipe!
Oops–typo–I meant to write “lucuma.”
Thank you so much for all you do Elana and for spending the time to share it all! I have recently gone grain free (I went gluten free 2.5 years ago due to Celiac diagnosis, and just learned of the danger in the rest of the grains) and I’m so thankful for your blog, recipes and cookbooks! What a blessing you are to so many of us! A million thanks! x
My dog loves anything with almond flour, but gets nothing with things he shouldn’t have–chocolate, xylitol, macadamia, raisins. However too much almond and we increase our time outside. :)
I suspect you’re going to make a lot of people happy with this recipe :-) I don’t have nut allergies but it still sounds SO good. I’m bookmarking it to give it a try down the road.
Hi Elana, I can’t wait to try this! It looks delicious :)
I just have a question about the chia seeds and water. I assume those are being used as egg substitutes, and I’m wondering how much chia seeds and water you use per egg.
Thanks!
But what about chocolate-free for those of us sensitive to chocolate. KIDDING!! :D
You could use carob chips instead if you really wanted to
I have everything in my pantry except the stevia and Xylitol. I wonder if they would be sweet enough without?
They definitely wouldn’t be sweet enough without those two but you could just put in the 1/2 cup of honey Elana mentioned in her blog entry…
This sounds great Elana. I’m not nut or egg free, but I have friends who are.
I’ve actually made your scrumptious sandwich bread (from your almond flour cookbook) with sunflower seed butter and it worked great!
And thanks again for recommending The Paleo Solution. I’ve cut out grains almost entirely and I think this is finally something that works for me, after being gluten free for 25 years.
Cheers!
Pat
These look fabulous, Elana. And I actually have almost everything on hand, including the sunbutter.
You are a genius; enough said. I love your recipes and you are incredible. Keep up the amazing work in 2012, Elana…
xo
ha ha that was good! Looks so yummy, cant wait to try! I dont ever feed my dog yummy treats as such, but to be honest, he is a big thief,a yellow lab thief!
Thank you so much for all the time you put into this blog i love it! and all your wonderful recipes. Happy new year to you and yours!! debi
Thank you Elana! This sounds great. It’s good to have new recipes using xylitol, since that is my primary baking sugar substitute.
Elana, I have been looking for a nut free brownie recipe. This looks yummy!
Elana, THANK YOU x100 for this very vegan-friendly and brilliantly innovative recipe!
Elana, I have been wanting this recipe for my egg, almond, and gluten allergic daughter! What a gift! Maybe we can actually *bake* together again now!
And BTW, there is never enough of your other recipes left to give to the dog!!!!!!!
Thank you so much!
“1/4 cup xylitol”
How about using sucralose (Splenda) instead. My digestive tract’s tolerance for xylitol/sorbitol/mannitol/isomalt is very low.
I don’t want the “Ex-Lax Brownie Prank” effect if you get my drift.
:)
Erythritol is suspose to be easier on the digetive tract/intestinal tract and not have the laxative effect of the others. It does have the hint of cooling effect in the mouth, but does not seem to linger as long as xylitol. You could also try the Stevia in the Raw, which does contain maltodextrin if that is not an issue. I don’t use sugar alcohols much, instead I stick with coconut (palm) sugar and nectar.
this batter is so good, who wants to bake it?
Quick Question: Where can you purchase chia seeds? I have tried the normal food store as well as Whole Foods, and I have not seen them! I have made this recipe without the chia seeds, but I am intrigued to try it with them. I saw form online that lots of times they are substituted for flax seeds, but I did not know if that would mess up the taste of the brownies. Anyone have any thoughts or wisdom? :)
Val, if you’re still checking in, I got Bob’s Red Mill chia seeds in a bag near the other Bob’s Red Mill products at my local co-op. Costco also sells a large bag of chia seeds.
I have been making these brownies since I found the recipe and LOVE, LOVE, LOVE them. Due to candida issues I have made a few changes, but the basic recipe is the same. I use coconut nectar or yacon syrup in place of the honey/agave. I substitute coconut sugar or yacon powder for the xylitol. I also use a blend of cacoa and carob powder (1/4 cup of each). Coconut nectar and sugar are available at most natural grocery stores and yacon syrup and powder can be found on line. I have used the stevia if my bananas are small and left it out if the bananas were bigger.
This summer I made these with a TWIST for a BBQ. I made them in a square cookie bar pan, and added, a mini muffin size, homemade nut butter cup to the center of each brownie before baking @ 350F for 15-17 minutes. Look for Alissa Silverstone’s nut butter cup recipe:
http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/recipes/chocolate-peanut-butter-cups-recipe (I used cashew butter and changed the maple sugar for coconut sugar).
“These are the best brownies I have ever had” was what I heard all day. And this is from refinded sugar, gluten eating people. I even had a friend ask for a dozen for his Halloween birthday present. Give these changes a try, you won’t be disappointed. These are addictive so remember… MODERATION!! PS. They freeze well.
Thank you Elana for all your fantastic recipes, this wonderful forum and your encouragement to play around and expand on an already good thing. Always wishing you good health and happiness.