Last week I asked you if I should roll on with the chia recipes and most of you said YES 
A few of you said you would like to see more recipes that incorporate chia seeds in baked foods.
I don’t like to toot my own horn buuuutttt this might be best thing I’ve made since starting this blog.
Vegantastic Fudge Brownies
1/3 cup chia seed gel (2 tbsp chia seeds + 1/3 cup almond milk)
2 Tbsp. organic Earth Balance buttery spread (or coconut butter)
3 Tbsp. peanut butter (or any other nut butter)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 medjool dates, pitted
1/2 cup applesauce (I used organic cinnamon applesauce)
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup carob powder
1/2 cup oat flour (or other type of flour like brown rice flour)
1/4 cup coconut flour (or other type of flour like peanut or almond flour)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup vegan chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup NuNaturals MoreFiber Baking Blend (if you don’t have a stevia baking blend you can use 1/2 cup of any sweetener)
optional –> 1/3 cup chopped almonds or walnuts
Oil for patting
In a large bowl, make the chia seed gel by mixing 2 tbsp chia seeds + 1/3 cup almond milk. Stir well. Let sit for 20-30 minutes. About half way through stir it up again (it helps prevent the chia seeds from clumping together). Set aside.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease or spray non-stick spay on a 8 x 8 inch baking pan or 9 inch pie plate.
In a food processor or blender, mix the Earth Balance buttery spread, peanut butter, vanilla, dates, and cinnamon. I used my Vitamix and blended for about 2 minutes on medium speed. Warning –> if you lick this mixture you might not be able to stop…
Scoop the mixture from the blender into the bowl with the chia seed gel and mix together.
In a large bowl whisk together the carob powder, oat flour, coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, chocolate chips, chopped almonds (or walnuts), and NuNaturals baking blend (or other sweetener).
Mix the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients using a spoon or spatula. The mixture will be THICK.
Transfer the batter to the baking dish. Oil up your fingers and press the dough into the dish/plate.
Bake for 25 minutes but be aware that cooking times may vary. One reader reported back that her brownies only took 20 minutes to bake. Let it cool and then (of course) eat one… or two.
Bob swears he didn’t take one.
Caught red-handed!
Even better are the frozen version. Just slice ‘em up and put them in the freezer — it’s a great way to exercise portion control…
Update –> I emailed NuNaturals to see if the baking blend is both wheat-free and gluten-free. I’ll let you know =)
Here is the response I received from the company…
“Lisa,
Our Baking Blend contains NO Wheat. It does contain Oat fiber. We make every attempt to source gluten free ingredients in our MoreFiber product, however some oats are more toxic to some people, regardless of purity. Oats may have only a trace amount of gluten & the gluten portion is in the protein part of the kernal. The oat fiber is basically gluten free, however not labeled as certified GF. Reactions to higher fiber foods are many times the same as those of a celiac gastrointestinal reaction. Oats are in a unique position because of the occasional cross-reactivity of averin with celiac antibodies. If any of our consumers have concerns, they can use any of our other GF products.”
So even thought the oat fiber portion of the kernal is gluten-free it is not certified gluten-free.
♥ Lisa
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Tags: brownies, chia seeds, chocolate, cocoa, dates, dessert, Earth's Best, gluten-free, no added sugar, NuNaturals, recipe, stevia, vegan
I bet these would be great frozen then added to ice cream! I love taking leftover baked goods, freezing them, then adding them to a batch of vanilla homemade ice cream (or fro yo!).
These are perfect for me, Lisa! The first gluten free and vegan brownie recipe I’ve seen (I’m allergic to eggs and wheat.) Thank you so much!
The best thing you’ve made?! With an endorsement like that, I’m going to have to try these out today! I think I only have 3 dates left though… do you think that will that be enough?
Hmmm… depends on how sweet you like them. I love using dates because of their intense sweetness so if you taste the batter and it doesn’t taste sweet enough maybe add some mashed banana?
I just made these with 3 dates and they were SO GOOD! My only other modification was to add about another 1/4 c of almond milk. Seconds were in order and I think I like them even better after they’ve cooled – great fudgy texture.
Awesome!! You just made my night
Glad you liked them… have a great night!
Great brownies Lisa! I have some of the Nu Naturals More Fiber Blend in my pantry that I haven’t used yet-now I have the perfect recipe to try with it! I really enjoyed reading your “About Lisa” page too
I am SO trying these this weekend.
I’m going to try them with coconut oil instead of the spread. Is the spread the constancy of butter or should I just use equal parts?
I would use equal parts… let me know how it turns out
i love brownies! yay for vegan and gf! did your family notice they were super healthy?
i am totally bookmarking this one…
My husband and boys loved them =)
These look so moist and delicious!! I am a huge fan of anything CHOCOLATE, especially a moist brownie..frozen sounds great too!
These look amazing!!
Your ‘about me’ page looks great! I feel like I know so much about you now.
What a fantastic looking recipe Lisa. I’ve bookmarked it!! Love the addition of Bob to the photo!!! Hope your Thursday is going well.
These look so soft and chocolatey! mmm
I like that they are vegan too… good for my cousin! Thanks lady
HOLY COW!!! coming from one gluten free vegan baker to another, I am swooning over here!! You make a mean looking brownie!!
YUM, I must try these!!
xxoo
I hope you love ‘em =)
These look incredible, it’s ok to toot your own horn.
I am alll about frozen brownies!!! My mom used to do that when we were younger all the time. Only she would hide half of them in the back of the freezer so we didn’t eat them all!
haha… I do that too! Gotta save some for me
Thanks for the idea! I blogged my version today.
http://fabulouslydomestic.com/....._brownies/
Ok, mine are in the oven. I used all cocoa powder (didn’t have carob) and a tbs of vanilla because thats how we roll here, and I threw in a tbls of espresso powder. I made it in the processor start to finish and almost forgot the stevia. To be honest, I thought they would be great without the extra sweet, but the boy is waiting on them…
Oh, and I used spelt and brown rice flour. At the risk of heresy, I subbed sunflower seed butter for peanut butter because well, I get tired of peanut butter *runs away*
I’ll let you know how they turn out, they smell awesome!
I’m super excited you are trying these out!! Make sure to check them before 30 minutes cause my oven is really old
Look forward to hearing how you liked them… don’t forget to freeze some… so good!!
Oh! I fund that spread on sale at the grocery and it’s AWESOME. I missed butter *sigh*. Thanks so much for sharing!
Thanks for the tip, I have a Secret Super Power it’s the Ability To Smell When Food Is Done, no lie. WHich is good because I also have an old renter’s oven.
SO good! Mine took twenty minutes so I am really glad you mentioned that and I trusted my SSP. I think they will be even better after they sit overnight and I have not ruled out some sort of frosting…thanks again!
Yay!! You’re right… they do get even better after they sit overnight and even better after they’re frozen!!
Thanks for the feedback!
I’ve read about chia seeds but haven’t tracked them down yet. These brownies look amazing. I’d feel pretty darn good feeding these to my family!
who knew vegan and gluten free could be so exciting!! these sound amazing.
Sam @ fitness food & faith
[...] I’ll start with the sweetest, in a very healthy way! Lisa at Healthful Sense made some amazing fudge brownies with a recipe reflective of my own baking style! Can’t wait [...]
Oooh YUM!! I made some brownies yesterday and they turned out awful, i’m not sure what I did wrong but I think I need to try this recipe to rectify the situation!
I have to order a few bits online though first, completely running out of supplies! :/
[...] Fudge Brownies (vegan + gluten-free) | Healthful Sense [...]
YUM! I love that you used Carob in them! Carob is one of my absolute favorites!
[...] Fudge brownies = current favorite! [...]
I think I only have 3 dates left though… do you think that will that be enough? Thanks so much for sharing! Oh!
I’m sure they’ll still taste delicious =) Let me know how they turned out!!
Look forward to hearing how you liked them… don’t forget to freeze some… so good!! I just made these with 3 dates and they were SO GOOD! I’ve read about chia seeds but haven’t tracked them down yet. My only other modification was to add about another 1/4 c of almond milk.
Hi
I made this recipe and it was tasty. The texture was off a little because I did not have the NuNaturals Fibre Blend. I have a question about that actually…I noticed that in the ingredients there is oat fibre…so does that mean it isn’t gluten-free? (the label says wheat-free…but not gluten-free) I thought maybe you might know something… 
Happy New Year!
Thanks!
That’s a good question! I’ll have to email the company and get back with you to see if it’s wheat-free and gluten-free. I’ll change the recipe to say wheat-free only until I find out for sure =) Thanks!!
Hi Sophie,
I copied and pasted the email I received from the company…
“Lisa,
Our Baking Blend contains NO Wheat. It does contain Oat fiber. We make every attempt to source gluten free ingredients in our MoreFiber product, however some oats are more toxic to some people, regardless of purity. Oats may have only a trace amount of gluten & the gluten portion is in the protein part of the kernal. The oat fiber is basically gluten free, however not labeled as certified GF. Reactions to higher fiber foods are many times the same as those of a celiac gastrointestinal reaction. Oats are in a unique position because of the occasional cross-reactivity of averin with celiac antibodies. If any of our consumers have concerns, they can use any of our other GF products.”
So even thought the oat fiber is gluten-free it is not certified gluten-free.
Hope that helps!!
Thank you so much for going to the trouble of e-mailing the company! You’re wonderful!
No problem!! That was a great question! Hope you’re having a great start to the New Year =)