Vegan brownies for two (small batch) made with just almond butter, maple syrup, and cocoa powder. Crazy, right? Crazy good!
Why this Recipe Works
There is something about a good brownie. A brownie is supposed to be: dense, fudgy, and chewy, all at once. Nothing like cake. And for me, the corner pieces do it best, because the extra chew makes it linger in your mouth longer.
But what about vegan brownies? I've never loved those. That is until I made these with almond butter, maple syrup, and cocoa powder. It sounds ridiculous, and it sounds like it wouldn't work. But it does.
I based the recipe off of this one, and so I can tell you that while I used regular flour with gluten, you can absolutely sub your favorite gluten-free flour. Try oat flour or any brown rice flour that you might have leftover from my small-batch vegan chocolate chip cookies.
Vegan Brownies Ingredients
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾ cup almond butter
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (or GF brown rice flour)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 3-ounce vegan chocolate bar, chopped (or vegan chocolate chips)
How to Make Vegan Brownies
- Prep - Preheat the oven to 325, and line a 9x5" bread loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving extra on the ends so that you can easily lift out your brownies when they're done.
- Combine - In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa powder, almond butter, maple syrup, and coconut oil. Stir well, and then microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds. Remove from the microwave and stir to blend well. Add the flour, baking soda and salt, and stir for about 50 strokes to blend very well. (If you're using gluten-free flour, you don't have to stir this much. Just stir until well-mixed). Pour the mixture into the pan, and top with the chopped chocolate bar.
- Bake - Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven, let cool completely, and then chill in the fridge for best results.
Tips
- Use a standard bread loaf pan (how I always make small-batch brownies), and you can get 2 large or 4 small brownies from this recipe.
- Chop up a vegan chocolate bar to sprinkle on top. This is the critical step that makes them transcend past tasting slightly too much like almond butter. Don't forget the chocolate on top!
- Chill the brownies in the fridge when they are done. They cut the most evenly if they're well-chilled. You could dig in right away, though they will be slightly messy.
How to Store
- Room Temperature - Once you are done, you can store the brownies in an airtight container at room temperature.
- Refrigerator - Because we recommend you chill the brownies before you cut them up, it's not a bad idea to keep them in the refrigerator too.
- Freeze - If you want to freeze the brownies, do not cut them up. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, then wrap again with foil. You can freeze up to 4 months. When you are ready to eat, thaw at room temperature before cutting into squares.
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Vegan Brownies (small batch)
Vegan brownies, small batch. Easily gluten free, too!
Ingredients
- ⅓ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¾ cup almond butter
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 tablespoon melted coconut oil
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour (or GF brown rice flour)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch of salt
- 3-ounce vegan chocolate bar, chopped (or vegan chocolate chips)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325, and line a 9x5" bread loaf pan with parchment paper, leaving extra on the ends so that you can easily lift out your brownies when they're done.
- In a medium bowl, combine the cocoa powder, almond butter, maple syrup and coconut oil. Stir well, and then microwave on HIGH for 30 seconds.
- Remove from the microwave and stir to blend well.
- Add the flour, baking soda and salt, and stir for about 50 strokes to blend very well. (If you're using gluten free flour, you don't have to stir this much. Just stir until well-mixed).
- Pour the mixture into the pan, and top with the chopped chocolate bar.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven, let cool completely, and then chill in the fridge for best results. They cut the most evenly if they're well-chilled. You could dig in right away, though they will be slightly messy.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 311Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 12gCholesterol: 3mgSodium: 109mgCarbohydrates: 32gFiber: 4gSugar: 19gProtein: 7g
Kristen @ Good and Guilty Vegan says
These are soooooo yummy!!!!! Trying not to eat the whole pan right now lol (it's gonna happen though)
Christina Lane says
Yay! Aren't these brownies crazy? The reviews on IG have been so great. Thanks for coming here to leave a review! :)
Leslie says
I love your recipes, have all your cookbooks and so do my grown daughters. Would love it if you made a fourth cookbook devoted to non-dessert items. Although, your sight is devoted to desserts I love your non -sweet recipes as much as your sweet ones! Thank you
Janis Carlson says
Wondering if vanilla added would be a good thing, or not.
How about a handful of pecans?
otherwise, I'm going to try them.
thanks.
Christina Lane says
Of course! Add as much as you like :)
Shawnna Griffin says
hey girl- these look so yummy!
Elizabeth Vlug says
Just made a batch of these brownies. They smell divine. I was just about to cut a small slice and then I read the part about chilling them. So now I wait...... Thanks for the recipe.
Levina says
I just made this brownies today! I missed the note about chilling it in the fridge and dug in right away! Slightly messy but no regrets!
Claire Wright says
I changed these quite a bit to make them lower in sugar/fructose (using half rice syrup and half xylitol instead of maple syrup) and to use what I had on hand (peanut butter instead of almond and cacao powder instead of cocoa) and they still came out really yummy! Perfect as a last minute pudding when we had company over. I love how easy and quick they were and I had a healthy, vegan, low sugar dessert to serve in no time! :) Always love your recipes.
Tiffany says
So glad someone tried them w peanut butter as my mother who lives w me is allergic to almonds. Thanks for letting me know they worked!!
Li says
These look delicious! Looking to make these for my hubby on valentines day and will be making it gluten free. Just wondering if I can use white rice flour instead? Thanks!
Kate says
I made these brownies for the first time tonight without a microwave and I used a pie pan instead of a bread pan. They may be thinner than the ones pictured but they were easy to cut after cooling (no chilling) and they taste really really good.
Genevieve says
I seriously love these brownies. I think I’ve made them a dozen times already. I have found creamy natural pb to be a fine substitute, a little cheaper and you can’t beat chocolate and pb. I also tried it with crunchy almond butter and the extra chunks were amazing. Soooo good.