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Perfect paleo brownies{Guilt-Free Dessert
Following a paleo diet can be a challenge which is why you definitely deserve a big chocolatey slice from a tray of our perfect paleo brownies. This recipe uses whole, natural ingredients that will fit right into your paleo diet while still tasting simply amazing. All chocolate loving, paleo followers need to give this recipe a try!
Grain Free Paleo Brownies
Creating a brownie that fits the paleo dietary restrictions is a challenge. You cannot use basic ingredients like all purpose white flour, granulated sugar or even most chocolate chips (they have lots of hidden processed sugars in them!). So how can one overcome these challenges and create a brownie that is delicious, loaded with chocolate yet still Paleo? Using our grain free, paleo brownies recipe is going to help you get those fudgy brownies you are craving while checking off all the paleo required boxes!
How to Make Paleo Brownies
Making fudgy paleo brownies could not be any easier. In fact, it may be one of the easiest fudgy brownie recipes we have ever made! There is barely any prep time, practically no dishes and after 30 minutes of cooking and 15 minutes of cooling, you will be ready to eat. Take a look at how fast this recipe can be put together.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare a 8×8 inch cake pan with baking spray and parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the coconut flour, cocoa powder, almond milk, honey, butter, eggs, vanilla and tsp baking soda.
- Mix everything together using a rubber spatula or hand mixer to form a smooth batter and then pour the brownie batter into the parchment paper lined baking pan.
- Bake the brownies in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, let the brownies cool in the pan for about 15 minutes then slice and serve! Store any extra fudgy brownies in airtight containers for up to a week at room temperature.
While we like to just mix everything in the recipe together in one shot, making the recipe super simple, you can choose to combine all the dry ingredients first (the coconut flour, cacao powder and tsp baking soda, sugar if you are using it in place of honey as well), give the dry ingredients a good stir, then add the wet ingredients. This can help make mixing faster and get you that smooth, fudgy batter that you want. Either way, the recipe takes less than 15 minutes to make and requires only one bowl, one spatula and one pan! It doesn’t get any easier than that.
Almond Flour vs Coconut Flour
When making a grain free baked good recipe such as those required on a paleo diet, you will likely find most recipes use coconut flour or almond flour. These two kind of flours are ideal for baking. However they are slightly different and will make your brownies a little different too. Our recipe uses coconut flour as it tends to make baked goods chewier than when using almond flour. Here are a few other differences between almond flour and coconut flour that you may come across:
- Almond flour is a little lighter and fluffier making it more comparable to wheat flour
- Almond flour has a richer, nuttier taste while coconut flour is more subtle
- When baking with almond flour, baked goods will brown more and get crispier than when baked with coconut flour
Both flours are great for paleo baking and both would work well in this brownies recipe. If you would prefer to use almond flour, use 1/2 cup almond flour in place of the coconut flour. You will definitely get an almond taste in these fudgy brownies but that can be a good thing!
Guilt Free Brownies Recipe
Our awesome brownies recipe has a lot of reasons why this recipe is going to be your go-to brownie recipe. One of the biggest reasons is that they are fairly healthy, especially when it comes to sugar and sweeteners. Granulated sugar is off limits on a paleo diet. The paleo diet revolves around “real food” you can find in nature that are not processed. Granulated sugar is very processed and makes it not paleo friendly. We don’t use it in our paleo brownies recipe! While we love using honey in these fudgy brownies, here are a few other sweetener options:
- Maple syrup- Maple syrup is a great paleo sweetener as it is completely natural. Use maple syrup in place of honey, using 1/2 cup of maple syrup in it’s place. Maple syrup will add a delightful maple taste to our perfect paleo brownies that you are sure to love. Be sure to use real 100% maple syrup and not an imitation maple syrup (those tend to be primarily made of corn syrup and not actually maple syrup at all!).
- Coconut sugar- You can choose to use coconut sugar as a paleo sweetened in this recipe. Coconut sugar is made from the sap of the coconut palm tree in a very similar method that maple syrup is made. Use 2/3 cup of coconut sugar in place of honey. Coconut sugar is not as sweet as honey so you will need to use a little bit more. However, coconut sugar will give you tasty, sweet brownies with a very subtle coconut taste!
- Erythritol is allowed on a paleo diet, considered a real food, and is also a zero carb sweetener. Unlike coconut sugar, erythritol is much sweeter than sugar so a little bit will go a long way in a brownies recipe. Replace the honey in this recipe with 1/3 cup of granulated erythritol.
From coconut sugar to honey to erythritol, there are lots of ways to make your paleo baked goods sweet. You will never even miss granulated sugar! Since you will be making our perfect paleo brownies often, give each sweetener a try and see which you like best (leave a reply below and tell us your favorite!).
Fudgy Paleo Brownie Recipe Ingredients
There are a few ingredients in this recipe that you can swap out for those that you have on hand. We already discussed the coconut flour and almond flour switch as well as various sweeteners you could use like coconut sugar or syrup, but here are a few more alternatives and additions you can use:
- Use coconut oil in place of melted butter. Coconut oil and butter work much in the same way and some people who follow the paleo diet prefer coconut oil. Be sure the coconut oil is melted and not in it’s solid, cold form. The coconut oil will add a nice tropical taste to the brownies as well as all the added nutrients and health benefits that come along with the coconut oil itself! Other paleo approved oil will work as well but butter and coconut oil have the best flavors.
- Add some melted chocolate to the brownie batter at the very end of the recipe. Once the brownie batter is in the pan, swirl in about 1/4 cup melted chocolate to make these brownies even gooier and more fudgy. Be sure to choose dark chocolate to stick to the paleo diet!
- Add some chopped almond nuts to the batter or really any kind of nut. This can turn a fudgy brownie into a tasty crunchy brownies, paleo approved!
- Skip the vanilla extract completely or try almond extract. Som very struck paleo followers do not use vanilla extract as it is an alcohol which is not allowed on a paleo diet. However, the amount of alcohol is so small that many feel vanilla extract is okay. Almond extract will also give your fudgy paleo brownies a perfect, nutty taste!
- Add a scoop of paleo ice cream to the top of the perfect paleo brownies to make a tasty, summertime treat!
As you can see, these paleo brownies are perfect even if you choose to make a few paleo alterations. So, if you are looking for a great recipe for brownies, paleo or not, this recipe is it! Our paleo brownies are fudgy, consist of “real food” and only take a few minutes of prep time to put together.
If you love our fudgy brownie recipes and want to try more amazing recipes, reply your email address and we can send tasty, delicious recipes straight to your inbox. We have plenty of “real food”, paleo recipes that you will love, from brownies to full meals. Be sure to rate this recipe too- we know that it deserves 5 stars! Enjoy.
PrintPerfect (Paleo) Brownies
- Prep Time: 5 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 30 mins
- Yield: 16 1x
- Category: Paleo + Gluten Free
Description
Rich and decadent, yet still paleo approved!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup almond milk
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup butter (melted)
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla (or 1 teaspoon of maple syrup for die hard Paleo dieters!)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Pour brownie batter into prepared baking dish then bake for about 30 minutes at 350. Let cool for about 10-15 minutes before cutting.
Notes
Pro Tips:
- Use coconut sugar, coconut oil and a few extra unsweetened coconut flakes to make these paleo brownies into a tropical, fudgy treat. It won’t take too much extra prep time to measure a few more ingredients!
- Double this recipe and store some of the fudgy brownies wrapped tightly in the freezer. They are perfect to freeze and enjoy later when you need a fudgy brownie treat or just want some sugar! Wrap the fudgy brownies individually so you can have a single serving size dessert ready to enjoy.
- Lining the baking pan with parchment paper helps the brownies pop out of the pan easily. If you do not have parchment paper, just be sure to grease the pan well with coconut oil, baking spray or butter.
- If you prefer more crisp brownies rather than fudgy brownies, simply bake the brownies for a few more minutes. You can also use a larger pan, baking the brownies in a 12x 18 pan so they are skinnier and therefore will get more crisp as they bake. We love fudgy brownies but know that many of you may prefer a more crunchy paleo brownies recipe!
Mariah says
What temp do you bake these at?
Simple Green Moms says
350 – sorry I don’t know why its not on the recipe.
Patricia Williams says
Can you sub coconut milk for the almond milk…we have peanut and tree nut allergies…
SimpleGreenMoms says
Yes definitely! I hope you enjoy!