Fudgy Date Brownies
By Carine Claudepierre
Published on 08/18/2024
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These Fudgy Date Brownies are simple, healthy brownies sweetened with dates for the best fudgy texture. They are vegan, paleo, and gluten-free with no refined ingredient or added sweetener.
I love making brownies, but the classic recipes are often not super healthy as they are loaded with sugar. I often make my Greek Yogurt Brownies, Black Bean Brownies, or Sweet Potato Brownies, but when I want the fudgiest of all, I make these date brownies.
These Date Brownies have a rich, fudgy texture and a decadent chocolate taste. They are delicious as a snack or dessert and because they are made with healthy, unrefined ingredients, they are good for your health!
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Dates – Dates are a great natural sweetener full of nutrients and fibers. They add the most delicious fudgy texture to brownies. I used Tunisian Deglet Noor dates, but any date will work here. Some other varieties might require the dates to be soaked for a while to make them moister.
- Cocoa Powder – It’s better to use unsweetened cocoa powder to limit the amount of refined sugar, but grab what you can!
- Almond Flour – Almond flour is a simple, healthy flour. If you can’t find some or want a cheaper alternative, you can pick sunflower seed flour, or even regular wheat flour.
- Flaxseed Meal – You can make your own or buy ready-made flaxseed meal.
- Baking Powder – Make sure it’s fresh or it won’t be as efficient.
- Almond Milk – or any plant-based milk you like such as coconut milk, oat milk, or rice milk.
- Vanilla Essence – for flavor.
How To Make Date Brownies
This recipe is so easy that you don’t even need to drain the soaked dates, unless they are very dry. All the water stays in the food processor to create the fudgiest sugar-free brownies with dates.
- To make the batter, start by soaking the dates in boiling water directly into the food processor. This way, you don’t need to clean an extra bowl.
- After 10 minutes of soaking, process the dates and water to form a date paste. Don’t go crazy if there are pieces of dates left. It is fine!
- Then, add all the ingredients except the almond milk.
- Process the date brownie batter for just 30 seconds.
- You’ll get a thick sticky black brownie batter, slightly dry. That is the time to add the almond milk.
- Blend again for 10 seconds. It will form a shiny, creamy, fudgy brownie batter!
- Transfer the vegan date brownies mixture to a square baking pan lined with lightly oiled parchment paper.
- Use a silicone spatula to flatten the top. It’s not only to make it pretty but also to ensure it cooks evenly.
- Place the brownies in an oven preheated to 350°F (180°C) and let them bake for 18 to 20 minutes.
- When they are cooked, take them out of the oven and let them sit in the hot pan for another 20 minutes to let the bottom finish cooking.
- Then, take them out of the pan and transfer the date brownies to a cooling rack.
Decorating with Glazing
These brownies with dates wouldn’t be as delicious without their date frosting. While baking, prepare your quick 3-ingredient date frosting. Again, super easy. You need a blender and:
- Dates
- Water
- Cocoa Powder
- Add all the glazing ingredients to your food processor. You can add some vanilla essence if you like or salt for a salted caramel flavor. As for the brownie batter, you need to let the dates soak for 10 minutes.
- Once it’s done, add the cocoa powder and blend for about a minute.
- Spread the date glazing on top of the brownies for double chocolate date brownies!
Flavor and Texture Variations
To make date brownies with a different taste, you can add the following ingredients to the batter:
- Chocolate Chips – opt for dark chocolate chips for a better taste
- Maple Syrup – for a slightly sweeter taste
- Sea Salt – for sprinkling on top of the glazing.
You can also add a drizzle of peanut butter, cashew butter, or almond butter on top of the brownies.
Expert Tips
While you can make these brownies easily with the recipe further down, I’ve included just below a few more tips that didn’t fit in the recipe card!
- Date selection: Use soft, fresh dates for the best results. If your dates are dry, soak them in hot water for 30 minutes before using.
- Blending technique: For a smoother batter, blend the dates in batches if your food processor is not powerful enough.
- Natural sweetener boost: Add a teaspoon of maple syrup or agave nectar to enhance the natural sweetness without compromising the recipe’s healthiness.
- Texture variation: For a bit of crunch, add 1/4 cup of chopped nuts (like walnuts or pecans) to the batter before baking.
- Cocoa powder quality: Use high-quality, unsweetened cocoa powder for the best chocolate flavor. Dutch-processed cocoa can provide a richer taste.
- Salt enhancement: A pinch of sea salt in the batter can intensify the chocolate flavor.
- Even baking: Rotate the pan halfway through baking for more even results, especially if your oven has hot spots.
- Cooling method: For extra fudginess, cool the brownies completely in the refrigerator before cutting.
- Frosting consistency: If the frosting is too thick, add a tablespoon of plant-based milk at a time until you reach the desired consistency.
- Serving suggestion: Warm individual brownies slightly before serving and top with a scoop of dairy-free ice cream for an indulgent dessert.
Storage Instructions
I recommend storing these brownies in a square cake pan with a lid in the fridge. The cold will makes the brownies even fudgier and denser. Plus, it will set the frosting. Store them for up to 4 days in the fridge or up to 3 months in the freezer. Reheat them in the oven for 10 minutes or in an air fryer.
Frequently Asked Questions
One of the substitutions you can make to replace the flaxseed is to use eggs, but the brownies won’t be vegan-friendly anymore
Date brownies are typically healthier because they use less refined ingredients. This particular fudgy date brownie recipe is even healthier by using only dairy-free and egg-free ingredients.
These date brownies can be stored for at least 4 days in the fridge. They don’t contain any dairy or eggs, so they store quite well.
Dates are the secret ingredient to making ridiculously fudgy brownies.
More Healthy Brownie Recipes
If you enjoy healthy brownie recipes, you’ll love these other brownies:
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Fudgy Date Brownies
Ingredients
Brownie With Dates
- 1 ½ cup Pitted Dates I used Deglet Noor dates (8.8 oz, 250 g)
- 1 cup Boiling Water
- ¾ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- 1 cup Almond Flour
- 1 tablespoon Flaxseed Meal
- 2 teaspoons Vanilla Extract
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ½ teaspoon Baking Powder
- ⅓ cup Unsweetened Almond Milk
Date Chocolate Frosting
- 1 cup Pitted Dates
- ¼ cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
- ½ cup Boiling Water
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract optional
- ¼ teaspoon Salt optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C).
- Cover an 8-inch x 8-inch brownie square pan with parchment paper. Grease the paper slightly with coconut oil. Set aside.
- In a food processor, add the pitted dates and cover them with boiling water. Make sure the water covers all the dates. Arrange the dates in a thin layer to ensure they soak properly. Close the food processor and let them soak in the water for 10-15 minutes or until the dates are soft.
- Process the dates until they form a paste—for about 1 minute on medium speed. You may have to stop the food processor every 20 seconds, scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, and repeat until a creamy, consistent date paste forms. It is okay if there are some tiny pieces of dates left in the batter. It will taste like caramel when baked.
- Add unsweetened cocoa powder, ground almond, flaxseed meal, vanilla essence, salt, and baking powder.
- Process for 20-30 seconds on medium speed. Open the food processor – you should obtain a dark, sticky chocolate brownie batter, slightly 'dry' and that is what you want.
- Add almond milk, process again for 20 seconds. Open the food processor, the batter should now be shiny and moist.
- Spread the brownie batter into the prepared 8 x 8-inch square pan.
- Bake the date brownies for 18-20 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until the top of the brownies is set.
- When the brownies are cooked, let them cool down in the pan for about 20 minutes at room temperature or near an open window.
- Pull the parchment paper to easily unmold your brownies without breaking them. Place the brownies on a square plate, place another plate on top, and flip them over. Peel the parchment paper and let the brownies fully cool down before adding the frosting.
- Spread the date chocolate frosting over the brownies using a spatula. The brownies will be moist at first. They get super fudgy when totally cooled down. I recommend storing your brownies for an hour in the fridge so they get super dense, fudgy, and the frosting sets.
- Cut the brownie into 16 squares – I found that using a cake plastic knife makes cutting easier.
Date Chocolate Frosting
- While the brownies are cooking, prepare the frosting. Add the pitted dates into a blender. Cover with boiling water. Set for 10-15 minutes or until the dates are soft.
- Blend until it forms a date paste. Stop the blender. Add the unsweetened cocoa powder.
- Blend again until it forms a thick creamy frosting. It is optional, but now you can add 1 teaspoon of vanilla essence or ¼ teaspoon of sea salt to add some extra flavors. Blend again for 10 seconds to combine these added ingredients if used.
- Spread over the brownies when cooled down. I used all my frosting but if you have leftovers, store them in the pantry and use the date chocolate frosting at breakfast on toast.
Notes
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Nutrition
About The Author
Hi, I'm Carine, the food blogger, author, recipe developer, published author of a cookbook, and founder of Sweet As Honey.
I have an Accredited Certificate in Nutrition and Wellness obtained in 2014 from Well College Global (formerly Cadence Health). I'm passionate about sharing all my easy and tasty recipes that are both delicious and healthy. My expertise in the field comes from my background in chemistry and years of following a keto low-carb diet. But I'm also well versed in vegetarian and vegan cooking since my husband is vegan.
I now eat a more balanced diet where I alternate between keto and a Mediterranean Diet
Cooking and Baking is my true passion. In fact, I only share a small portion of my recipes on Sweet As Honey. Most of them are eaten by my husband and my two kids before I have time to take any pictures!
All my recipes are at least triple tested to make sure they work and I take pride in keeping them as accurate as possible.
Browse all my recipes with my Recipe Index.
I hope that you too find the recipes you love on Sweet As Honey!
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I love your recipe ❤️ the only cake I love eating over and over again. Just 1 question- is 3/4 cup cocoa powder metric 65 gram or 75 gram? I am not sure if your metric is working properly in grams? Can you please confirm? Thank you 😊
Conversion is dark magic 😉😉
All brands have different density, I’ve seen for cacao powder a range between 50 and 80g per 3/4 cup!
So the answer is: it depends 🙂
Ooo loved this recipe! My family purchased medjool dates out of the blue and thought they tasted like brownies. Can’t believe there’s a real recipe! This recipe was perfect as I can’t have any dairy at the moment.
Anyway, I replaced flaxseed with an egg, and almond flour with all purpose flour. They turned out amazing! I used a blender to blend the dates since I don’t have a food processor, and stirred in the wet ingredients with the dry by hand. I also added cinnamon and a cup of oats.
Nice tweaks, thanks for the review!
Hey! Can’t wait to get to this recipe! What can I use instead of almond flour? Will coconut flour work? Or normal flour? If yes, how do I substitute?
Thanks!
Coconut flour won’t work it’s way to high in fiber and it will make the brownie dense. I didn’t try all-purpose flour yet, I would recommend sesame seed flour, maybe oat flour would do well too.
I don’t have any form of flaxseed on hand. Any other basic kitchen staples I could sub?
Usually chia seeds works as well as a replacement.
These are really delicious! I love keeping them in the freezer (makes them like fudge!)
Super good! I left it in the oven a little longer than it said and still came out fugdy.Adding the frosting is a must in my opinion.
I honestly didn’t have super high hopes b/c the last “healthy” dessert I made (NOT from Sweetashoney)was not good. But this one was delicious! The perfect amount of sweetness! Definitely making it again 🙂
I have date syrup instead of dates – what is the conversion of the dates to date syrup please?
You can’t really swap one by the other, the date have fiber and form a paste that firm up the brownie. The syrup is pure liquid syrup, it won’t work with syrup only.
I have tried so many “compliant” brownie recipes that have been less than zero. This recipe is STELLAR. Thank you for sharing. I did however, have to cook it longer than what you suggested but probably because my oven is different than others. This recipe is a keeper and a share.
I followed the recipe. As written, but added baking soda for lift. Forgot to do frosting and it was still very good. It wasn’t overly sweet, but I had cut out refined sugar so didn’t miss it.
I made these brownies today for my family since we all have a sweet tooth. They came out great! I substituted flaxseed for chia seed since I didn’t have flaxseed on hand just doubled the amount. It came out great!
How many dates in the frosting recipe?
As mentioned in the recipe you need 1 cup of dates. Pack the pitted dates in the cups, number vary depending on the size and variety of dates used.
Hey Carine! If I am using eggs instead of flaxseed meal, how many eggs would you recommend?
I didn’t try this recipe with eggs so I am not sure I am sorry
I followed the recipe as a loose guide as I made a 3rd of the batch with what I had in the cupboard so I could get it all on one plate 😉 Super fudgy gooey yumminess! Thank you!!
I’m so glad you love it!
Do these freeze well?
Yes they do! For up to 3 months.
The flavor of these wasn’t bad, but they never set up well. Even after cooking them longer and setting in the fridge for an hour they were like pudding in the middle. They were also perfectly sweet on their own without the frosting.
I made these & the consistency was perfect. But my flavor was off, almost a spicy bitter aftertaste. I used medjool dates, but everything else was the same. Any ideas?
Spicy aftertaste can come from your cocoa/cacao powder, Cacao powder is way more bitter than cocoa for exemple
DEEEEEELICIOUS!!! Rich, fudgy, healthy brownies. Quick and easy to make. Thank you for sharing your love of baking!
The flavor is amazing. I baked mine for 20 minutes and the texture seemed kind of mousse like, but firmer. Should I bake longer or is that how they should be?
Dear Carine,looking very much forward to trying your recipe for the first time in my German home, just a quick question: is your mentioned almond meal the same as almond flour? Or is the meal rather similar to ground almonds? I’ve learned that almond flour is different from ground almonds and can not be substituted 1:1. Thanks! Cheers, Claudia
I prefer almond flour in my recipes to avoid a gritty texture and the result of baked goods are less dry, but often both can be used but texture will be different.
Super great recipe. I’m always on the hunt for vegan desserts that are only sweetened with fruit. Definitely will make again! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi, your recipe looks delicious. Can I substitute the almond flour with coconut flour?
No you can never swap one by the other. Coconut flour has 4 times more fiber and its really liquid absorbent, it’s a new recipe to create with different wet/dry ratio. Enjoy, XOXO Carine