You know those two-bite brownies that seem to be gracing every grocery store shelf lately?
My young nieces are obsessed with them.
Hence, I set out to make a two-bite brownie of my own–> determined to please their taste-buds, but without the hydrogenated oils and sugar. Mine are just as cute and bite-sized, but they also happen to be grain-free, naturally sweetened, and properly combined.
Most importantly, they passed the taste-test with flying colors. 😉
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Grain-Free Brownie Bites
makes about 30 bites
adapted from this recipe
Ingredients:
1 cup almond flour (store-bought or homemade)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup melted butter, or coconut oil
3 flax eggs (or 3 whole eggs)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup walnut pieces (optional)
Directions:
Preheat your oven to 350F, and grease a mini-muffin tin with butter or coconut oil. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix until a gooey, thick batter forms.
If you use flax eggs for this recipe, not only will your batter be properly combined, it will also be salmonella-free–> making this the type of brownie batter you could eat with a spoon. Straight from your fridge.
Or maybe that’s just me.
Spoon the batter into the greased mini-muffin cups, and bake for about 15 minutes at 350F, or until the edges are golden brown and the tops start to look cake-like.
Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then use a knife to transfer each brownie to a wire rack to cool completely.
I added walnut pieces to half the batch, and noticed that the walnuts made the brownie bites stick to the pan a bit more than the plain version–> but, my family loved the texture of the added walnuts, regardless of the fact that they were breaking apart a bit. If you prefer, you could always make a traditional pan of brownies instead, baking in a greased 8″ x 8″ pan, and increasing the baking time by 10-15 minutes.
These brownies should last a few days stored at room temperature, but as always, I prefer storing them in the freezer for a lasting shelf-life. They have an amazing, chewy and fudgy texture when eaten cold, too!
Enjoy!
Grain-Free Brownie Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1/2 cup melted butter , or coconut oil
- 3 flax eggs (or 3 whole eggs)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/2 cup walnut pieces (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350F, and grease a mini-muffin tin with butter or coconut oil.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine all of the ingredients and mix until a gooey, thick batter forms.
- Spoon the batter into the greased mini-muffin cups, and bake for about 15 minutes at 350F, or until the edges are golden brown and the tops start to look cake-like.
- Allow to cool in the pan for 20 minutes, then use a knife to transfer each brownie to a wire rack to cool completely.
- These brownies should last a few days stored at room temperature, but I prefer storing them in the freezer for a longer shelf-life. They have an amazing, chewy and fudgy texture when eaten cold, too!
Notes
Nutrition
Per Serving: Calories: 110, Fat: 8g, Carbohydrates: 8g, Fiber: 1g, Protein: 2g
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Reader Feedback: What’s your favorite store-bought treat? Any recipe makeover requests?
LOVE bite sized brownies!!! They were my favourite as a kid- great to see a nutritious version 🙂
mmmmmm i have missed these.
so, are these not properly combined then if you use eggs?
Eggs + almond flour would be a mis-combination, but I’ve noticed that they don’t affect my digestion too much if eaten in moderation, after a juicy salad. 🙂
Flax eggs do make it properly combined, since they fall into the nut/seed category, just like the almond flour.
oh ok. I guess there are a few schools of thought on this as well. I have read in places that eggs and almonds go together because they are both proteins. But what you’re saying makes is seem “cleaner” (if that makes sense) – keep the nuts and seeds together! Thanks so much!
Oh wow, you are totally rocking the desserts these days Megan! These are so cute and look just like the 2-bite brownies in stores. I know some chocolate lovers that would be very happy with me if I turned up with a batch of these! 😉
Another beautiful sweet treat!
I agree; who needs brownies when there’s brownie BATTER?!
Pretty sure NONE of my baked goods would ever get past the “batter” stage, if I had things my way. 😉
Would this work with rice flour instead? Plus a little bit of xanthan gum?
I have no idea… but you never know until you try. 😉
yum yum love bite-size brownies!!!! these look great Megan!
Oh goodness those look amazing!!!! I love brownies. I recently found out I was gluten intolerant and have been craving peanut butter cookies ever since. Do you have any recipe recommendations!
Yes, these are the BEST flourless peanut butter cookies I’ve ever tasted!!
https://detoxinista.com/2012/02/flourless-peanut-butter-chip-cookies/
I happen to be baking a batch as we speak, so you have amazing timing. 😉 Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
These are so cute and look amazing!!! Fantastic creation!
I haven’t tried almond flour yet, but I just started making a brownie with black beans instead of flour. If you are interested: http://practical-stewardship.com/2012/02/22/no-flour-black-bean-brownies/ I want to try your recipe with almond flour; thanks for the inspiration!
Wow, these look so good. Too bad I already decided to make apple cake today. These will have to wait until another time:)
Oh, now I want apple cake, too! Sounds delicious. 🙂
these taste way better than the store bought ones! I had my 2yr old help me mix a batch up, she had so much fun!
Thanks so much for this. 🙂 I’m always looking for grain free, low carb, and gluten free recipes. Our oven is broken right now, unfortunately… but I’m going to see how these turn out via stovetop. 😛
I hope they turn out well for you– let me know how the stove top goes! 🙂
I couldn’t figure out exactly how I would go about cooking them stovetop, so I microwaved them for 5 minutes instead, and them let them cool for 10 minutes…
They were PERFECT! 🙂
They tasted even better the next day after being in the refrigerator all night.
Thanks for the recipe! These are going to be one of my go-to treats.
These are AMAZING! I just made a batch using homemade almond flour, and they ended up with a pretty good texture. I’ll be making these again for sure.
Thanks Megan! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Just made these in a 9X9 pan, for bars instead of brownie bites and also used a combo of almond flour and coconut flour. It worked and they are My new faves!!! Love your blog! Thx for all you share with us 😉
Hi there, I can’t have honey, do you think I could use stevia? Does the honey bind the brownies? Or will it be fine to use Stevia? Thanks
The honey does help bind the brownies, but perhaps you could add an extra egg to the batter, and then use stevia instead. Please let us know if you have any success! 🙂
Do you think this would work k if I bed maple syrup for the honey? I am worried it might be too liquid-y and the finished product won’t hold together.
I try to cut back on the honey due to the sugar so I did 1/4 cup honey and 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce but I bet you could sub the honey completely with the applesauce and add the stevia if you like. I really don’t like stevia in my baked goods though I use it every morning in my coffee. Perhaps you could try erythritol? I LOVE baking with it!
Megan, you are my hero!!!
I just made these…I only had 2 eggs in the fridge but they turned out beautiful!!! My kids loved them!
So I mixed some flaxseeds meal and water and made another batch!! My husband is a brownie fanatic and he’s gone wheat free. when he tastes this he will go bananas!
I ground my almonds in my coffee grinder that I use to grind my flax seeds and sometimes herbs. It worked out great!!
Megan, your blog has been such a great source of encouragement to me. thank you thank you. 🙂
I tried the one with flax egg and they didn’t turn out as cakey as the first batch. I added 1/4 of sorghum and 1/4 of honey. Could that be it??
they are still very moist almost too wet when I took them out of the oven. I was afraid of leaving them there longer and burning them.
They are OILY!!!
I had a batch that turned out oily, too– I’m can’t remember what I did differently, but storing them in the fridge does make that “oily” texture go away!
I think my first batch with just 2 eggs and honey were the best one. They were cake like..I didn’t have time to put them in the fridge, they were gone! but I think I will make them again and put them away and see if they hold a gooey texture.
I made your cinnamon muffins this morning. They were another success! 4 kids ate them all up. Now I need to buy more almonds to make more almond flour to keep on baking your recipes!!
They are so good!! I am eating your stuff and losing weight too! 🙂
What can i use instead of almond flour? any other flour sub?
Please see my FAQ for substitutions: https://detoxinista.com/about/frequently-asked-questions/
These were really oily. I did the flax eggs and they didn’t turn out cakey at all. They were super chocolately and very rich but they gave me a belly ache. My husband loved them though.
I had the same problem – I cooked them in a pan (instead of the muffin tin) and cooked for 25 mins to start. The top was bubbling with oil! I cooked another 5 mins, and the edges were starting to set, but the middle was still bubbling (not cake-like at all). I tasted one of the edges and it was starting to taste burnt so I took them out. The brownies were swimming in oil – mopped up LOTS from the top with paper towels. Letting them cool now. They do smell great though! Wish I knew what went wrong, but I’ll definitely be trying them again & adjust some things to see if that helps. 🙂
Update: The brownies were good. The chocolate tasted burned to me (though I baked them per instructions), and the amount of oil was off the charts. Texture wasn’t cake-like to me with all of that oil, but a fudgey brownie isn’t bad either 🙂 Don’t think I will try this recipe again as written (for my taste), but I definitely want to experiment with it!
OMG! I just made these….they are the best. I am sooo thankful to have found a brownie recipe that actually taste’s like a brownie that isn’t loaded with flour/sugar. YUM Thanks…can’t wait to try out more of your recipes.
Not sure what I’m doing wrong, I’m a rookie at alternative baking. Everytime I make a brownie or cake the batter is always too dry, I have used brown rice flour and today I tried coconut flour. I am allergic to wheat/grain flours. Haven’t tried almond flour yet, could it just be I’m using the wrong flour?
Yes, you can’t substitute grain-based flours or coconut flour for almond flour– they bake VERY differently!
Okay, thanks. I will try almond flour for sure, should I be using almond flour for all baking or just the recipes that call for it?
Thanks
Most recipes will specify which type of flour you should use– only use almond flour when it is called for.
What if I want to convert standard recipes with alternate flours, what type of flour would work best?
Mine bubbled out of the cups and all over the pan, today 🙁 About 7 minutes in, I smelled burning…there was almost NOTHING left in the cups. Some of the stuff that bubbled out cooked to the right texture, but because it started burning, I pulled them out. Any idea as to what caused this?
These are scrumptious!
The second time I tried this recipe I doubled it. Used all butter instead of coconut oil and did not have a problem with there being lots of extra oil. I used 3 duck eggs and 3 regular (chicken) eggs. I’m sure the duck eggs really added to the texture of the brownies! I also added about 3/4 to a cup of chocolate chips. Spread the batter in a 9×12 pan (there was even enough batter left over to fill an 8×8 pan). Baked up in about 30 minutes.
My mom served the brownies topped with a fresh strawberry and chocolate syrup drizzled on top. Very, very delicious!!! They tasted the like “real” brownies (the batter too) :).
If you have access to duck eggs, I would totally recommend trying them in this recipe!
Hey Megan! I love your recipes! Everything I’ve made from your site has been amazing! I have a request for a healthier and gluten free pink square kinda like this http://www.food.com/recipe/pink-lady-squares-186363 I’ve had something like this from bake sales before but would love to be able to make a gluten free healthy version at home! Hope you are up for the challenge and can help me! Thanks! 🙂
Megan…I think you might be my new favorite person and DEFINITELY my favorite food/recipe website. I made these just about 20 minutes ago and I already ate 8. Yes… 8! I had to pack them up and put them in my car to keep them away from my hunger little fingers. They are delicious! The only thing I did differently is I only did 1/4 cup honey and then I added 1/4 unsweetened applesauce and about 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and about 1/2 cup of granulated erythritol. They did not sink at all and were the PERFECT texture, and truly look (and taste) just like the ones at the grocery store (without all the crap, of course) Thank you SO much for being so creative and amazing at what you do.
I followed this recipe to a T and used flax eggs and these bubbled over and started burning and didn’t seem to really come together …they weren’t really edible:( HELP!
These didn’t taste like brownies at all…more like really healthy muffins. But my kids ate them, so there’s that.
Perfect treat! Had to make them again 🙂