I was tempted to shape these into balls again but I don’t want to overdo the ball thing. So here we have little brownie towers. :)
I love these things. No bake. Not so much sweetener and they’re actually tasty. They don’t really taste like brownies or cake, though. Just a little disclaimer. And the chocolate avocado frosting doesn’t taste like frosting with tons of butter and sugar, but I’d take this version over the sugar filled one any day.
Something else I love about these is that you can easily make a small batch and overeating, something I have a problem with, is no longer a problem.
I’ve had one loooong headache for 13 months now. Not headaches every day, but one long headache. Every second of every day. No matter what I do or don’t do. And pain relievers don’t work. If I get an “extra” headache, they get rid of that, but the base headache is always there. But it’s really light and more annoying than anything. I’ve been to every doctor imaginable (and I’ve been going to physical therapy for almost a year) and they can’t find anything wrong with me, so my neurologist put me on some “pain management” medicine. She warned me that I’d gain weight and crave sweets, but I really thought, “Eh, whatever. I already do that.” What I didn’t realize is that I’d basically be living off of sweets. Seriously. I hadn’t had vegetables in weeks when I realized that I had gained tons of weight. And my fat pants were now too small. Whoops.
Sonia mentioned that she needed to lose weight, and I know I definitely had to, and since then we’ve been weight loss buddies. In 3 weeks, I’ve lost 3.5 kilos (7.7 pounds). YAY! I’m well aware that’s more than you’re supposed to lose, but I’ve been getting more than enough calories and hardly exercising (because it makes my head hurt more), so I think my body is just in shock. In shock from not having sweets as every meal of every day.
I definitely recommend getting a weight loss buddy if you want to lose weight! I could have never done it without Sonia, who cheers me on and reads my food and exercise diary every day. And if you know someone’s going to read your food diary, you don’t really want to write down that that you ate 4 cookies for breakfast, half a pan of brownies for lunch, and pizza for dinner, which was totally typical for me just a month ago. I’ve even cut back to two sweets a day! That’s probably a lot to some people but that’s a miracle for me. And yesterday? My first sugar free day ever (with the exception of tons of fruit). It wasn’t intentional… it just sort of happened. WEEEEEE! :D
So having a baking blog and not having anyone to really share the goodies with kind of became a problem and that’s why you’ve seen more non-baked goodies around here lately. You can easily make 1/2 or even 1/4 of the batch and these are no exception! They’re soft, chocolately and satisfy any sweet craving you might have.
I found this recipe on The Wannabe Chef last week and made them the next morning. I just couldn’t wait. Evan’s picture just made them look so sinful!
Raw Hazelnut Chocolate Brownies
- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 5 2×3-inch frosted cakes
Ingredients
- 2 cups (254 grams) raw, unpeeled hazelnuts
- 1 heaping cup (172 grams) dates
- ½ cup (50 grams) cocoa powder
- ¼ cup (60ml) maple syrup (I used 3 tablespoons and it was fine)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 avocado (avocados come in all different sizes so I'll just say mine was 287 grams with the pit and 212 with just the meat)
- 6 - 7 tablespoons (88 - 103ml) maple syrup
- ¼ cup (28 grams) cocoa powder
- 1 - 3 teaspoons espresso powder (not instant coffee!)
For the cake:
For the frosting:
Directions
- In your food processor, process the hazelnuts until it's a fine flour. Add the dates, cocoa powder, maple syrup and vanilla and process until a sticky dough forms.
- Place the dough between two Silpats or pieces of parchment paper and roll out to about ¼ of an inch thick (or really, however thick you want it). Cut them however you like (I used 1½" circular cookie cutters) and form the excess dough into a ball, roll out again and cut out more shapes.
- For the frosting, in the bowl of your food processor, combine all the ingredients until thoroughly combined and no chunks of avocado are left. It took me a few minutes to do this but it was possible. If it's not sweet enough, add more maple syrup.
- The espresso flavor was really light even with quite a bit of powder, but I still liked the difference it made. Add the frosting to the cake and store in the fridge.
Recipe adapted from Chocolate Hazelnut Cake {Raw/Vegan} - The Wannabe Chef
41 comments on "Raw Hazelnut Chocolate Brownies" — Add one!
I have no idea if your headache situation has been resolved or not, but I felt compelled to comment as I went through a similar situation a few years ago! I had a headache for 21 months – tried every medication, diet, therapy out there (fortunately I live in Canada (where MOST of our medical care is completely covered) the theories and treatments ranged from blood-pressure, to allergens, to tension, stress, etc etc etc. I felt like a pharmaceutical guinea pig! Finally on my (SECOND) MRI, the technician mentioned that it might be what they referred to as a 'low pressure headache' – that may sound strange, but it actually has to do with your cerebral spinal fluid (the fluid runs inside your spine and up into your cranium and it is under pressure enough to 'cushion' your brain in there…the short story is that this apparently happens to 1/10000+ people, and usually after having had an epidural during pregnancy (or a spinal tap from other medical treatment etc), which causes a small tear in the membrane that holds the precious fluid in there…mine was never found, but the treatment CURED me of my headaches almost instantly! I sincerely hope that you are already headache free (as these posts above are MONTHS old…but if not, it may be something worth looking into.
I sympathize immensely with having a headache/chronic pain — it's so hard to tell people that it is constant, especially when they don't see you doubled over in pain, or with cuts/bruises/scars etc – without any visual clues, people often assume that you are exaggerating or they will 'forget' that you are hurting.
Sending you healing vibes from Canada! thanks for your blog of delicious goodies. can't wait to try a bunch of them~~~ S here's the link to the Johns Hopkins med centre info re: CSF PRESSURE HEADACHES. http://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/neurology_neurosurgery/specialty_areas/headache/conditions/low_CSF_headache.html
Hi! Thanks a bunch for your comment. I'm so happy to hear that your headache is better! And what you said about people not understanding that it's constant is exactly right. Nobody seems to understand that it's there every moment of every day of every month, no matter what I do. I still have my headache and nothing's helping. I read the link you sent me (thanks! :)) and some other pages about low pressure headaches but I have none of the symptoms, or rather, the opposite (like the headache is worse in the morning, headache isn't in the back of the head but in the front). Darn! I was hoping that could be it. I'll still mention it to the neurologist next time but the symptoms don't match. It gives me hope to know that there are other people out there who have been cured of their constant chronic headache. :) Thanks again for the comment and I hope you like the goodies!
Have you looked into taking magnesium for your headache? If the doctors haven't helped it couldn't hurt…
http://integrativemed.kumc.edu/school-of-medicine/integrative-medicine/health-topics/the-benefits-of-magnesium.html
http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-5534/6-Powerful-Ways-to-Boost-Your-Magnesium-Levels.html
:)
They haven't helped. :( And I've been taking medicine since the beginning of the year and it does nothing. Really annoying.
I've had every blood test imaginable so I'll have to see if they tested my magnesium levels. If not, heck, I'll try it. Can't hurt, can it? Or maybe it can. Will definitely research. Thank you for the links and the tip! I appreciate it. :)
Alright, I saw this on wannabe baker 5 minutes ago and then again here. It's a sign–I must make. Mmm, can't wait! Gorgeous, mouth-watering photos btw!
Thanks! And haha. Definitely a sign! :)
Thanks :) If anything, I'll cheat here and there…can't give up chocolate forever. lol
amy L – Oh. That stinks. I hope you're eventually able to add everything back to your diet! Probably not very realistic but it's what I'm hoping for anyway. :)
Hey no prob, I'm only on the computer sporadically anyway. I appreciate you taking the time to answer me :) You're gonna love this…citrus fruits, including lemon juice, yep you guessed it, on the naughty list. lol White distilled vinegar is allowed, but I didn't even think of it at the time…not that it would have tasted very good but you work with what you can.
amy L – Aww, that stinks. And I'm someone who uses a lot of nuts. Sorry. :( I hope that you're able to add nuts back to your diet! And hopefully nuts don't turn out to be a problem for me. It's too bad that it's so difficult to find good subs. If you add lemon juice to the canned milk as a sub, does that still count as buttermilk and is therefore not allowed? And sorry I've been slow to reply… things are just too busy lately! I haven't even made a post since Monday. Yikes.
You are so very welcome :) The problem I find with healthier cereal bar or cookie bar recipes is it still has the nuts or nut butter. Hopefully I will be able to re-introduce nuts into my diet and find it's not a trigger. I hear ya … it was a bit daunting. The funny thing is, it's not the stuff I love (like chocolate) that I miss as much as the ingredients that are difficult to find a substitute for in my cooking/baking, like peanut butter and yogurt. I ended up making a curry dish with canned milk since yogurt/sour cream/buttermilk are all out. It was "ok" but I missed the tang of the traditional dish. Good luck going nut-free for a while. You may find you can have them in small amounts or occasionally.
amy L – Don't be sorry about the long comment! It's very helpful and I really appreciate it. :) What is it about my recipes that you can't eat? Sorry about that. I try to include grain-free and gluten-free recipes to be more inclusive, but I realize there are so many more allergens out there. I do eat a lot of nut butters and bake with a lot of nuts, but I didn't used to. I wonder if that could be something. And when I started eating them was about when the headache started. I'll go nut free for a while and see what happens! I guess I'm supposed to cut out all the dietary triggers but… hmm. I don't know if I can do that. I'll look into this book! I am happy that it helped you and that your headaches are better. :) And thanks for the caffeine and meds tip! My mother-in-law is a doctor and has warned me about those before too. They've already been thrown out. :) I'm going to read up on nuts and headaches now. Thanks again for your very thoughtful comment!
Followed Pinterest over to your blog…neat stuff! Sorry bout the long comment but as I was looking at your recipes thinking "ok, I can't eat most of these" I wondered if maybe nuts and or chocolate are a trigger for you?? I've suffered with migraines most of my life so I just read a book 5 weeks ago which has really helped. The book is called Heal Your Headache by David Buchholz (USA) and I got it from our local library. It said there are so many different triggers that we can't avoid, so the best way to manage migraines is to cut out ALL potential dietary triggers for 8 weeks and then you can try to re-introduce them one at a time (except for, sadly, caffeine) and having it daily for a week to see if it is a trigger for you. Top ones are caffeine, chocolate, MSG (in most all prepackaged foods), processed meats, all nuts and nut butters, citrus fruits n pineapple, bananas, aged products like cheese n yogurt n sour cream. Hope you find some relief!! Also avoid like the plague any pain meds with caffeine – excederin migraine has it – or you end up with rebound headaches! I am happy to say I don't feel on the verge of a headache every day like before, and if I do get one plain tylenol or motrin actually helps.
Gabrielle – Wow, you baked them?! I'll have to try that! Thanks for the idea. :) I'm so happy that you liked the brownies. Thanks for leaving feedback!
I found the topping a bit over powering (although I use a similar recipe to make a mousse), but the brownies themselves were ABSOLUTELY DELICIOUS! I baked them for 5 minutes to give them that crunchy "brownie" texture. Definitely my new go-to brownie recipe:)
I had headaches everyday too. Come to find out it was sugar and caffeine. Been almost completely without the two since July of last year (of course when my monthly comes I crave sugar and have had a few relapses, which I end up regretting). Best thing I've ever done for myself. No more pills!
Angela – Thank you! That's very nice of you to say. :) But I hope you noticed my note about these not really being like brownies! The original recipe called them cake, but it's way too dense for me to be cake. So… brownies. :) Hope you like them!
I'm in love with your blog. The food looks heavenly – I don't know where I want to start – but thinking it is going to be these brownies! I love love a brownie!
Christine – Haha. At long last? I posted them SIX days ago! :) I'm so happy to hear that you've liked what you've sampled already! I hope hubby will enjoy them too. It's great that you've got a guy that enjoys these date desserts. Lucky girl, you! Vanilla is a great addition to the frosting. Thanks for the tip and thank you so much for leaving feedback. As always. :)
Just visited, brand spanking new to your blog. But I hate hearing of a headache to last that long – I once had a cold that lasted over a year, terrible. I know headaches and I know migraines – what stressing you? In any case, what works for me – the salty, delicious ocean. The marinating of my body and mind in the salty, bashing, massaging waves. Give it a whirl, if you can.
Hi Erin,
Made these today at long last! I had no hazelnuts so substituted almond meal and that's worked well. Also, I used maple flavoured agave instead of the syrup. Then I added an extra little vanilla into the frosting. They are currently 'setting' in the fridge whilst we digest supper (however I did enjoy spoons, etc as I was making and they taste AMAZING!). My Hubbie is going to be delighted! I did exactly half the quantities of everything and made 12 double decker little circles (instead of the triple deckers). Super!!!!
Heidi – I know! It's terrible. I never look at myself in the mirror so the only way I realize it is if my pants don't fit any more. Strict isn't such a bad word to use with this. I have to be strict with myself now. I'm sitting here all by myself and have this chocolate cake in front of me. And it's got gooey chocolate ganache. I "only" ate 1.5 pieces. It's killing me!
Love how you presented these! They do look so good :) And GREAT for you on the weight loss! Isn't it amazing how weight can creep up on you like that? Ugh, it's ridiculous. I have to be really strict with myself or else I slowly go back to eating nothing but junk. Maybe strict isn't the right word, more like I have to be very mindful about everything I eat, and how much of it. Anyways, I'm so sorry to hear about your headache problem. How strange! I hope it goes away, or at the very least I hope they figure out why it's happening :(
Evan – Thanks! Happy you like the brownie tower idea. :)
Ally – Thank you!
oh. my. goodness. these look to good to be true! perfect job, as always!
xo
http://allykayler.blogspot.ca/
These came out terrific! Love the lighting and glad you liked them. I think I have to steal the brownie towers idea :)
Erin – Thanks a bunch! It is difficult when you kind of "have" to bake. But I'm sure you can do it! I'm gonna email you.
sweetpeaskitchen.com – Yeah, it's kind of weird but it works!
Kathryn – Thanks! I had one for about three weeks too and it went away. I kind of thought it'd happen again with this one, but nope. At least ir's light. Thanks for the nice comments. :)
My Italian Smörgåsbord – You'll never see artificial sweetener over here. :) I've put Stevia in my smoothies a few times, but that's it. Good luck with your diet changes! I honestly don't know how you can do it, with all that amazing bread you bake. If I had hot bread or hot sweets, I would be all over the bread. I can't resist hot bread. But I'm sure you'll be successful! And thank you for thinking my goodies are good enough to sell. :) I hope you enjoy these!
congrats for your diet plan. I have kind of started one myself and I am liking taking paying a little extra attention to what I eat. you know, when you wrote that these raw brownies need just a little sweetener I got scared. just hate artificial sweeteners in food. so happy that you are not going that way even if dieting. so I can continue to drool over your amazing creations :) I think you should start a company for healthy treats or something. you really have a talent (and I am so going to make these!).
Woah, I had a headache for 3 weeks and it was bad enough. I can't imagine suffering for that long! I hope you feel better soon. And congrats on the weight loss, that's very impressive!
I love hazelnuts so these brownies look amazing, I think I have all the ingredients on hand too!
Avocado in the frosting? I love it! :)
These look incredible! Congrats on the weight loss! I am trying to lose a couple pounds, and it is slow going :( Baking for the blog doesn't help! Hope you get answers on your headaches soon.
Gwen – Thanks for the tip! That's pretty much the only thing I haven't tried yet. And Chinese medicine. But it's the next step. I'll have to see what (private) insurance covers concerning that. Thanks again. :)
Mellissa – Thank you! And yes, I've started eating my veggies. It's always an ordeal but I'm trying. I sometimes even eat them for breakfast just to get it out of the way. But I try to eat lots of fruit. It's a lot of sugar, but veggies… they're just so difficult to get down!
Sonia – I will totally take it and run with it! I'm certainly not complaining about losing too much. :) I am proud of myself but you know, I'm super proud of you too! And I do think of this as a lifestyle change. Not a temp thing at all. Although I'd probably like to have some more calories. That'd be nice, but not that many more. I really hope I don't go back to the sweets craziness. I had never experienced anything like it before! I don't know if it was really because of the medicine, but I'm not on it any more and things are clearly a lot better. :) Thanks for pinning this and for the nice comment! And I'm sure these do freeze well. Gotta try it next time!
Katrina – Thanks!
Yes please! These look fabulous!
Erin, you are doing FANTASTIC my friend! I am so proud of you when I see all those veggies in your diary, even SPINACH, and very little sweets and junk. I think it's only normal for your body to shed more pounds at first, from the shock of the drastic change, so I wouldn't be overly concerned with that. Just take it and run with it!
You ought to be extremely proud of yourself and think of this as a long term lifestyle change, not only a temporary situation. Sure, you'll be eating a little bit more calories when the weight is all gone, but still not that much more, and your food choices should always be pretty similar. You NEED the veggies inside of you. They might actually help with that darn headache (hey, they might scare it away…)
Wouldn't be much use making all those sacrifices, losing all the weight only to go back to your good old ways and putting it all back on, now would it? ;)
Hey, know that I am extremely proud of you and that I am there to support you every step of the way! You rock girlfriend.
As for these little brownie bites. OMG! They were so pinned to my Must Try List and I will so be making them when my sugar free challenge is over! THEY LOOK SOOOO YUM! And I bet they freeze fantastic too!
These are gorgeous!!!!! Hope your headache situation gets resolved and congrats on the weight loss. PS. Eat more veggies!!!! :)
hi Erin,
Im from NY, working on my MFA in Berlin, love to bake.
Looking forward to trying this recipe.
Im sorry to hear about your headache. Just a thought: homeopathy has great remedies for headaches. maybe you could try homeopathy or tissue salts. BioPlasma is a great start and see if you can meet with a homeopath that an recommend a headache remedy. Berlin has many wonderful alternative doctors thankfully. I hope you feel better soon. gwen
Miryam – I know. I was very bad. But seriously, all I wanted was sweets. And as eating vegetables literally makes me gag, they just didn't get eaten. And throwing veggies in my smoothies just ruins the lovely fruit! But I always use avocado. I know it's a fruit but it should totally count as vegetables. They're green and disgusting by themselves. This meets my vegetable criteria. :) But I've changed! I'm off that medicine, on a new one, and eating vegetables. I had a big bowl of lettuce for breakfast. :D Thank you for the encouragement and telling me how bad I was. You're just so awesome. And the headache thing is just a mess… over one year and they're all clueless. It's really annoying. And yeah, having Sonia around makes it all possible. If you ever notice things getting out of control, Sonia and I will kick your butt. :)
Amy – Thank you! :) I'm happy that you like the look of these brownies. They're kind of weird looking, aren't they?
Jolee – I haven't heard of it but I'll check it out! Thanks for sharing. I'm desperate and will look into anything at this point. :)
Becca – Becca! I was the same. I never tried avocado until a few months ago when I put it in a smoothie or something and the green color went away. So if I can like it, me, Miss I HATE ALL GREEN THINGS!!!, then you can like it too. Put it in a frozen raspberry smoothie. Problem solved! And thanks. :)
I'm not sure if I would like the avacado frosting, just because I don't like the look of avacado (and therefore I must automatically hate it :P) but that cake part looks absolutely delicious!
Congrats with the weight loss. It' sure does help a lot when you're doing it with someone else, that way you're never alone with just your thoughts. Good luck!
OK, the brownie cake things look awesome – I cannot wait to try them.
Also, my family has had some luck with oil pulling to cure headaches… Have you heard of it? http://www.oilpulling.com/
Congrats on the weight loss, friend – that's awesome! You know what else is awesome? These raw brownies. I could definitely eat a ton of these. YUM!
Ok now,
Number one, These look awesome and the ingredient list is superb,! My favorite part is the frosting that reminds me of the avocado pudding that we love :-)
Number two, no veggies for 3 weeks? Bad, bad girl,! Why don't you make some smoothies and throw some veggies in it?
Wow, your headache situation is horrific. Why can't those Dr's figure out? I feel for you and I hope it gets resolved soon!
Good luck on your weight loss journey. It sure helps having a partner which also makes yourself more successful.