Fudge brownies with a delicious melt-in-your-mouth texture and using mesquite powder, a nutritional super food the boosts nutrients and provides a caramel flavor. Dairy-free, vegan and gluten-free.
Fudge Brownies
I called these fudge brownies, brownies but they are closer to fudge really, so maybe I should call them "frownies" or "budge"? Haha, but somehow neither of those names covers the deliciousness of these.
Ingredients for Fudge Brownies
For brownies that are basically fudge, the secret is in the infused nuts. Here are the basic ingredients I used.
Infused Walnuts & Dates - Both soak overnight in milk mixed with mesquite powder. Or just milk.
Nut butter - I used almond butter, but any nut or seed butter is fine.
Cocoa powder - or cacao powder
Mesquite powder - a wonderful root supplement that has awesome nutrition, tastes like molasses, but can be left off.
Additional ingredients - chocolate chips, cinnamon, vanilla
How to Use Fudge Brownies
This nutritional chocolate snack is perfect for:
-
- an afternoon brain booster
- an energizing workout snack
- a topping for smoothies or ice cream
How to Make Fudge Brownies
My detailed recipe is at the bottom of this post, but here are the general steps.
1. Soak the walnuts and dates in milk containing mesquite powder or just milk. Strain the nuts and dates, but DO NOT RINSE THEM OFF. Save the milk for OTHER recipes, do not use it in this recipe.
2. Mix up all the ingredients into a dough
3. Press into a parchment lined loaf pan.
4. Refrigerate about 1 hour, and frost.
What Makes Brownies Fudgy?
Fudgy brownies have more fat. In traditional brownie recipes, that usually means butter. But in my dairy-free recipe here it is almond butter. And in my recipe, dates also are used to give the illusion of more fat, while actually adding nutrition and fiber.
Are Fudge Brownies Supposed to Be Gooey?
Well, mine are more creamy then gooey.
How Healthy Are These Fudge Brownies?
Very! They are great for cognitive function, sleep support and blood-sugar control among other boosts. It starts with the base ingredient, cacao powder.
How Healthy is Chocolate
Cacao powder is raw chocolate, and so much healthier than cocoa which is heat-processed. It is known to supply magnesium which, in the course of the day, supports your ability to have a healthy night's sleep. It also boosts your mood. But cocoa powder also provides nutritional benefit, just a touch less. I often use cocoa powder when I don’t have cacao powder on hand.
The recipe also holds fiber-filled medjool dates, walnuts and nut butter full of protein and other nutrients. My favorite ingredient in these brownies however is the Mesquite powder.
What is Mesquite Powder?
First off, I want to tell you that these brownies will taste fine without the mesquite powder so don’t worry if you don’t have it in hand. However, try it someday, here’s why.
Mesquite powder is a super food, although I don't often use the term super food. When I use the term, I am describing a rather unusual ingredient, often a powder from a plant, that provides extraordinary health benefits.
Mesquite powder comes from ground up pods from the mesquite tree, a tree native to the hot dry areas in southwestern United States.
What Does Mesquite Powder Taste Like?
It is a wonderful addition to smoothies and chocolate treats because it tastes like molasses and is a bit sweet, allowing less sugar to be used in the recipe while still keeping it sweet.
Best of all, though, it is super high in amino acids, specifically the essential amino acid lysine, as well as vital nutrients including potassium, iron, calcium, magnesium, and zinc.
Of course, you can eat them any way you want, but I like to pop these brownies to boost me out of the 3pm slump - something I used to use coffee for!
And sometimes I add a tbsp of cinnamon to the recipe, to balance out the blood sugar levels. I hope you enjoy my fudgy brownies!
Try More Vegan Brownies Here
Sweet Potato Brownies
Fudge Brownies
Gluten Free Brownies (buckwheat)
Cake Like Brownies
Pumpkin Brownies
Brownie Bites
Mocha Brownies
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Fudge Brownies
Ingredients
- ¼ cup walnuts (soaked overnight)
- 1 cup dates (about 10, soaked overnight, pitted)
- ¼ cup almond milk
- 2 tbsp almond butter (or cashew or sunflower butter)
- ¼ cup cacao powder (or cocoa powder)
- 2 tbsp mesquite powder (optional, leave off if you don’t have it)
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- 2 tbsps cinnamon (To balance out blood-sugar levels)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- pinch salt
Useful Equipment
Topping
Instructions
Prep
- The night before, soak the walnuts and dates in milk infused with mesquite powder.Here is how:1. Into the measuring cup, add the almond milk and 1 tbsp of mesquite powder and stir it up. 2. Add in the walnuts and dates, and top it off with water so the walnuts and dates are submerged. Leave the measuring cup in the refrigerator overnight. 3. The next day, drain and put the liquid aside, pit the dates. Don't rinse the walnuts and dates, but DO reserve the milk for smoothies or other recipes.
NOTE: And please REMEMBER, don't add the milk to the recipe, it was only used to soak the walnuts and dates. Preserve it in the refrigerator and use it within 2 days for other recipes. It will be a very sweet milk.
On Cooking Day
- Line a 4-inch by 8-inch loaf pan with parchment paper.Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave at 60 seconds.
Make bars
- Combine all ingredients - the soaked walnuts and dates (pitted), the nut butter, cacao powder, remaining 1 tbsp of mesquite powder, melted chips, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt - in a high-powered blender or food processor and process until you have a sticky dough consistency.
Press the dough into the pan. - I use a spoon rubbed with coconut oil to even surface of the chocolate.Refrigerate until hardened, about 1 hour. I suppose you could freeze to speed up the solidifying, but I feel freezing raw desserts can dull the glossy top so you decide.
- We frosted ours here with a thin layer of chocolate hazelnut butter, and chopped the loaf into 8 slices. The slices are rather large though, so feel free to slice those in half as well, resulting in 16 bricks.
Use them as afternoon brain booster, or to top smoothies or nicecream, giving them a nice nutritional boost.