Espresso Brownies Recipe
Today we’re making a no bake, raw vegan Espresso Brownies recipe! These fudgy brownies have a chocolate espresso flavor that comes from a base of dates, almonds, instant coffee powder and cacao. These are the perfect brownies for a healthy dessert, for coffee lovers and for chocolate lovers!
Why You’ll Love These Fudgy Espresso Brownies
Fully Raw Vegan: I love this healthy recipe for a brownie fix because it’s no bake and all raw vegan. Raw food is food that hasn’t been cooked, roasted, sauteed or has had almost any form of heat applied.
Technically, a raw food diet is classified as one where you eat foods that are not cooked above 118 degrees Fahrenheit. For this reason, even though the cacao powder is not directly the cocoa bean, it is still raw because the cacao beans are processed at low temperatures.
In general, plant-based nutrient dense foods such as dates and nuts make for a great snack. Dates are also amazing for an energy boost because of their high natural sugar content! This makes them perfect for chocolate espresso brownies!
Customizable: This recipe can easily be adjusted to be less bitter (less cacao, more dates) or more bitter (more cacao). You can also adjust the amount of chia seeds and swap in different neutral flavored nuts for the almonds. For a fully nut-free option, use quick cooking oats.
Only Ten Minutes and a Blender: Brownies usually have more than just a handful of ingredients. Unsalted butter, all purpose flour, maybe milk, white sugar, brown sugar, cacao, vanilla at the least, all poured into a prepared baking pan while you excitedly heat the oven. You then wait for the cooled brownies to get that crackly top and fudgy center, which makes them just hit the spot!
Although baked brownies are amazing, these homemade brownies are also up there! They only use a blender, one pan and a few simple ingredients with easy substitutions. This is the recipe you go to when you want brownies, but also don’t want to bake!
Substitutions: Main Ingredients
Chia Seeds: These are optional, but add an extra nutrition boost and dietary fiber!
Cacao Powder: Cacao powder is a raw, unprocessed version of cocoa powder. You can also use regular cocoa powder or dark cocoa powder.
Almonds: Substitute with another nut, such as walnuts or pecans. You can also use quick cooking oats for a nut-free option. Make sure they are raw nuts – not roasted and salted!
Dates: Use the soft, chewy, caramel-like Medjool dates for best results. If your dates are not soft like these, then soak them in boiling water for an hour or overnight. Then drain the water before using.
Vanilla Extract: This is optional, but vanilla always adds a great taste to brownies. You can also use vanilla bean paste.
Instant Espresso Powder: There is no substitute for this. This adds the rich coffee flavor!
Substitutions: Chocolate
Chocolate Chips or Cacao Nibs: I always add extra chocolate after the dough is ready, to make a brownie bursting with a rich chocolate flavor. I LOVE the crunch of chocolate chips inside my brownies!
If using chocolate chips, then there are many different kinds of chocolate you can use. Opt for semisweet chocolate chips on the sweeter side, dark chocolate for the more bitter option. Bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chunks can be substitutes as well.
Although using chocolate chips doesn’t make the recipe fully raw, using cacao nibs will. These look like tiny pieces of chocolate chips. You can buy them in health food stores or online. They are very bitter – like a “raw” chocolate chip!
To make sure your chocolate chips are vegan, check the ingredients. Some brands add milk or milk powder to their chocolate. You can usually find vegan chocolate chips in the baking or natural section of your local grocery store. You’ll probably find chocolate chips made with a healthier sugar like xylitol if you go looking in the natural aisle.
Now if you’re looking for a sugar-free option, there are brands that make sugar free chocolate chips too, or ones using a healthier sugar alternative like these from Enjoy Life.
Espresso Brownies Recipe Notes
- Top with crushed nuts, goji berries, dried cranberries, dried blueberries and more toppings to make this brownie into whichever flavor you desire. Additionally, melt the extra chocolate chips and drizzle them over top of the brownies!
- Pack these for camping, hiking or a road trip by covering them in plastic wrap, keeping them in a Ziploc bag or in an airtight container.
- Line the bottom of the baking tray with parchment paper to make it easier to remove them from the pan.
- I used a 9 x 13-inch baking pan, but you can use a different size rectangular or square pan as well. Since the dough doesn’t spread like it does during baking, even if the pan isn’t a perfect fit you can mold the dough to shape it how you want.
- Use a food processor or high speed blender to make sure the ingredients are mixed properly. Otherwise, there will be chunks of dates and nuts leftover in the dough.
More Chocolate Desserts and Recipes You’ll Love
No Bake Salted Caramel Brownies
Cherry Chocolate Coffee Brownies
If you make this Espresso Brownies Recipe, then leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!
Espresso Brownies Recipe (No Bake)
Equipment
- Food Processor or high speed blender
- 9×13 inch baking tray
Ingredients
- 1 cup medjool dates pitted
- ¾ cup raw almonds
- 2 tsp instant coffee powder
- ⅛ tsp pink salt
- ¼ tsp vanilla extract
- 2-3 tbsp cacao powder start with 2 tbsp, add more as desired
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 2-3 tbsp cacao nibs or chocolate chips start with 2 tbsp, add more as desired
- extra cacao nibs or chocolate chips for topping
Instructions
- Blend all ingredients, except the chocolate chips or cocoa nibs, in a high speed blender.
- Once a dough forms, stir in the chocolate chips (or cocoa nibs) manually (by hand).
- Line a 9×13 inch baking tray with parchment paper. Pat the dough down medium-thick into the pan.
- Optionally, top the brownies with extra cocoa nibs (for a fully raw brownie) or chocolate chips and press them down into the dough.
- Eat right away or see storage notes below!
Notes
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Storage
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature one day, one week in the refrigerator or one month in the freezer.
