When I hear the words “raw dessert” or “vegan dessert” my heart sinks and I think of the time I went to a vegan Thanksgiving potluck and there was definitely no good desserts to be found. I love bacon as much as the next girl, but I also appreciate the vegan and raw diets and the amazing things they can do for your body. In fact, I do a vegan raw diet for a week every few months. These brownies have changed that diet forever and make it so much easier to stick with it. I feel like I need to shout it to the world:
I HAVE FOUND A DELICIOUS RAW VEGAN DESSERT!
Phew, I feel better. Look at the labels on this post, I labeled it as healthy. Once you check out the ingredient list you’ll understand why. It totally is! I mean, it’s got raw chocolate powder which has some calories, but it also has a lot of great nutritional value. I was feeding these brownies to my kids during a meeting and my friend said, “whatever works!” I laughed and let her know what was in them because they look like brownies, taste like brownies, but they are definitely not what you think of as brownies. I’m thinking this recipe isn’t just going to make appearances when I’m on a diet. I think it’ll be a regular staple so that I can have my dessert and eat it too! Just don’t forget a tall glass of almond milk to wash that baby down.
Time to Make It: 5 minutes
Yield: 16+ servings
Ingredients
2 cups walnuts
2 1/2 cups dates
1 cup raw cacao powder (can be purchased at health food stores or through the link from Amazon)
Instructions
1. In a food processor, blend the walnuts until finely ground.
2. Add in the dates 2 or so at a time allowing them to incorporate into the ground walnuts until all dates have been added. Towards the end you may or may not have to pulse your processor or blender to get it to combine.
3. Toss in the cacao powder and pulse until the powder is evenly incorporated.
4. Press the dough into a 8×8 pan and refrigerate. It’s ready to eat right away, but will firm up a little in the fridge making it easy to cut into brownie servings. This is quite rich, so small servings are best.
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janel says
I am really looking forward to trying these. I found other recipes that were similar to this that called for a little salt (1/2t). Do you think that's necessary?
Rachel from The Stay At Home Chef says
Thanks for stopping by! I have tried adding salt and found that I didn't like it. Because it is raw the salt doesn't have much chance to really develop any flavors which left my brownies just tasting a bit salty.
janel says
Thanks, Rachel. I made these tonight–they are truly amazing. Thanks for such a great recipe! It's unbelievable that three ingredients really come together to taste so much like a brownie!
SasiReka Selvaraj says
Hi my name is Srinithi and im looking for a truly great recipe for cupcakes that i can make using what I have at home. I already have a mixer, mini cupcake maker, and poring trays, but im lacking an idea. It would be reallly helpful if you could help me.
Anonymous says
wow this is such a calorie bomb. 2 cups of walnuts = 1k calories. 2.5 cups of dates = 1k calories, over 250 grams of carbs which is all made up of sugar. avoid.
Rachel Farnsworth says
Well, if you eat the whole thing in one sitting it is a calorie bomb. This whole recipe makes more like 16+ servings. Each serving is more like 225 calories, which is high, but I don't believe in judging nutrition by calories alone. It really depends on where those calories are coming from. It is fruits and nuts. Each serving also comes with a a whopping 9.3 grams of fiber and 7.2 grams of protein. It has about 18 grams of natural sugar, but that is almost the same amount of sugar in a banana. You going to avoid eating all fruit and nuts or what?
Anonymous says
Everything you eat is going to either have sugar, fat, or protein. That's the bottom line. That's the fact. It's unavoidable. You don't have to be afraid of calories when they come from fruit. The nuts, yes. Nuts are extremely energy dense and don't give you enough fiber to help you feel full. The dates, though, with no fat, are really good.
Look up some reading on low fat raw vegan diets before judging. The nuts in this recipe make this food a once in a while treat for someone like me whose diet is almost all fruit.
Unknown says
definitely trying this
Unknown says
I have been making these for many years. My recipe uses only 1/2 cup cocoa powder and I put all the ingredients in the processor at once and use the knife mixing blade. I process until it forms a shiny clump. Then I press into an 8X8 brownie pan and freeze for an hour. Love, love, love them!!!!!
theoriginal_sweaterjunkie says
If you're a poor college student who doesn't have a food processor that can handle the dates (read: i only have a magic bullet), then just grinding up the walnuts and mashing it all together by hand works just as well!
Dee says
Just popped these into the fridge and can’t wait to take them out. I had a little taste test and they were great. I used almonds instead of walnuts just because they’re all I had on hand and there doesn’t seem to be a big difference. Tastes almost like an actual brownie. Thanks for the recipe!
Sharon says
Hi Rachel,
Can you tell me an alternative to the nuts? I need to make this for a party but quite a few of my friends have nut allergies. Thank you so much for the recipe.
Rachel Farnsworth says
There isn’t really an alternative to nuts in this. With only 3 ingredients it isn’t easy to make substitutions.