Not only are these the fudgiest brownies ever, but these grain-free and dairy-free fudge brownies are entirely date sweetened and have a healthier peanut butter chocolate fudge frosting!
First of all, I just have to say this – if you put these brownies in the fridge, they are like straight up fudge. Seriously. They do not taste grain-free! I took these pictures when the brownies were at room temperature because it was sunny (a rarity around here at this time of the year!) and I was sleepy and wanted to nap. But now I’m kicking myself for not waiting so you could see what they look like refrigerated!
I’ve been working on this recipe since I started grain-free baking about a year and a half ago. But the other day I realized… there’s no fat in there. Why have I never added fat?!

The brownies below are the fat-free version. Or I guess I should say the added-fat free version. If you want to make those, just omit the coconut oil from the recipe. I’m sure these would also work well with only 2 tablespoons of oil! The oil-free version is good and all but why have fat-free good brownies when you could have the best ever fudgy brownies?!
I used coconut oil in these brownies and don’t know if any other fats would work. So go with coconut oil! And I only have access to refined coconut oil (which has absolutely no coconut taste) so if you use unrefined, I don’t know if it’d have a slight coconut taste or not. But even if it did, I bet these would still be delicious!
The most amazing thing about these brownies is that they’re entirely date sweetened! No honey, no coconut sugar, no maple syrup. Just dates!

You whip the batter up in the food processor, meaning that the dates are totally processed to a paste and nobody will have a clue that there are dates in there!.
I don’t normally like recipes with just coconut flour in them, but these are an exception. And I’m afraid that there are no subs for coconut flour here. You have to use coconut flour. It’s expensive but you use so little at a time!
I also used Dutch process cocoa powder, just because that’s all we have over here. When I was in the US this summer and did some baking, I was a little surprised by the difference between Dutch-process and normal or even Hershey’s dark cocoa powder. I definitely recommend getting some of the Dutch-process kind! It just makes baked goods taste more intense and somehow more developed. If that makes any sense.

I’ve also tried these with prunes but I found them a bit gross. You could definitely taste the prunes! Stick with dates. :) I just used normal dates because I’ve never seen Medjool dates around here, so if you want to use Medjool, get out your scale and go by weight.
After posting my healthier Halloween sugar cookies, I asked on Facebook what other Halloween goodies people would like to see healthified. The first answer I got was anything with chocolate and peanut butter – so I jazzed these fudge brownies up with a little peanut butter! It’s in both the batter and the frosting. While you can’t really taste it in the brownies, you can taste it in the frosting, although it’s not super peanut butter-y.
The frosting is the same one I used in my spiderweb cupcakes but I doubled the peanut butter. And the frosting does have a tablespoon of honey in it. I couldn’t make that date sweetened. It just didn’t work.

The frosting is like dark chocolate peanut buttery fudge when refrigerated. When at room temperature, you can see what a mess it is. I didn’t refrigerate my brownies before cutting them, but you should to avoid a mess. And if you don’t want to use peanut butter, you can use any nut butter or maybe even coconut butter (not coconut oil!) And for a nut-free version, I bet SunButter would work just fine!
You can see my pathetic attempt at Halloween-ifying these fudge brownies. At least it was quick, easy, and free of super processed junk! It was just a little white chocolate but you could use anything that’s pipe-able.
If you try these, let me know how they come out! I’d love to hear what you think. :D
Grain-free Fudge Brownies

- Prep Time:
- Cook Time:
- Ready in:
- Yield: 8 brownies
Ingredients
- 80 grams (this is 11 regular, non-Medjool) dates1
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 cup natural peanut butter (the kind with no added fat or sugar!)
- 2 tablespoons milk of choice
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup (25 grams) coconut flour
- 1/3 cup (38 grams) Dutch process cocoa powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (21 grams) coconut oil
- 1/4 cup (64 grams) natural peanut butter
- 2 1/2 tablespoons (~12 grams) Dutch-process cocoa powder
- 1 tablespoon (20 grams) honey
Brownies:
Frosting:
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Prepare a 9" x 5" loaf pan with a piece of parchment paper for easy removal of brownies. If you don't have parchment paper, you can spray the pan with baking spray.
- In the bowl of your food processor fitted with the S-blade, process the dates until it becomes pasty. It'll be spreadable, but not a liquid.
- Add the vanilla, peanut butter, milk and coconut oil and blend until homogeneous.
- Add the egg and pulse just until combined. Do not over mix here!
- Add the remaining ingredients (coconut flour, cocoa powder, and baking powder) and pulse once or twice to get it mostly combined, and then use a plastic spatula and finish mixing it in.
- Bake the brownies for 10 – 12 minutes or just until the top appears set. If you press down into the brownies with your finger, they will be very, very soft.
- Let cool completely before frosting.
- For the frosting, melt the coconut oil, natural peanut butter and cocoa powder in a small pan over low heat. When completely melted and smooth, take the pan off the heat, add the honey and stir until well combined.
- Frost the brownies and place the loaf pan back in the refrigerator to allow the frosting to set (to allow for easier cutting).
- Once the frosting is set, cut the brownies and store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
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188 comments on “Grain-free Fudge Brownies (gluten-free, dairy-free)” — Add one!
Could I use something other than dates (or prunes) to sweeten this? I don’t have a food processor or anything else to blend them. I like this recipe because it uses coconut flour and not teff flour.
I hate to say it but unfortunately not! The dates are the base of the recipe and subbing another sweetener wouldn’t work. Sorry about that!
Can I use almond flour or regular flour if I don’t have coconut flour?
Coconut flour is unfortunately not interchangeable with any other flour as it absorbs so much more liquid. Sorry about that!
I made these last weekend and double the recipe to fit an 8×8 pan. They we okay once they cooled down on the counter but they were AMAZING after being in the freezer! They tasted like a regular sugar, flour, butter brownie. I use past tense because they are all gone! I didn’t make the peanut butter frosting but I will next time. Thank you so much!!!
That’s awesome! I like refrigerating my brownies for a fudgier texture but I haven’t ever tried freezing them. Thanks for your tip and for your feedback!
Question, if I am using different brands of coconut flour or almond flour than your recipes call for, should I go by the measurement in your recipe (such as 1/4c., etc.), or the weight in grams?
I’d go by weight in grams! It’s always the most accurate way. :)
I am making these today for the third time! My daughter is having to follow a strict diet for now and these are so helpful as an occasional treat for her!! The texture is fantastic and it’s just sweet enough to feel like dessert. We have to use almond butter and I used 1T of coconut sugar instead of honey for the topping. I also add some vanilla. So good….thank you!
I’m happy that you found a recipe that your daughter can enjoy and that you like them enough to make them three times! And it’s great to know that coconut sugar works in the topping. :) Thanks so much for your feedback!
Erin, these brownies are seriously amazing! I want a constant supply of them in my fridge. I’m definitely going to make a double batch next time!
Aww, yay! So happy you liked them. What’s weird is that I tried a double batch recently and they were awful. I must have made a mistake! I hope you have better luck. :)
One question about this recipe- I’m making for a friend who is avoiding dairy AND eggs… any suggestions for a substitution? I was going to try 1/2 of a mashed banana or just try leaving it out altogether… thoughts?
So sorry I’m just now seeing your comment! I wouldn’t recommend just leaving out the eggs and not adding another binder. Unfortunately, I don’t have any experience with adding mashed banana as an egg sub. Perhaps a flax egg would work? I’m sorry I’m not more of a help!
Thanks! And no worries… it forced me to do some experimenting :) I tried half a mashed banana, and while it wasn’t bad, I wouldn’t recommend it… it made the brownies taste more like banana and less like a brownie… of course, we still ate the whole pan :)
Will try a flax egg as you recommended next time around!
I’m happy they were still edible! Hopefully the flax egg version will come out better. :) Thanks for letting me know how the banana sub came out!
I wonder if applesauce would work
Flax eggs work very well. The brownies may be more crumbly than egg brownies (not sure) but thw texture and flavor is very good ans fudgy.
Thanks a bunch for your tip! :)
I made these last night. They were quite good. I need to add a little water to the dates. I think the dates i bought were low quality. I also left them in the oven too long ( I should have heeded your warning)! The only thing I didn’t care for was the peanut butter frosting. I am making these again today. Thanks for the recipe!
I hope your next attempt will go better! That’s strange you needed to add some water to the dates. I haven’t had that issue before. Thanks so much for your feedback! :)
Do you think I could use sesame paste instead of peanut butter?
I’ve never used sesame paste so I honestly have no idea. Sorry about that! I hope you’ll enjoy them if you try it out. :)
AMAZING recipe- I changed a few things because of food sensitivities:
Used 1/4 almond butter instead of peanut butter, 1/4 butter instead of coconut oil, replaced cocoa powder with raw cacao powder, and just used 11 medjool dates… turned out SO well!
Only complaint is that it was small so I wish I did 2 batches!
I need to come up with a recipe that fits an 8×8 well! And I’m so happy you enjoyed the brownies and that they came out well with your changes. :) Thanks a ton for your feedback!
Thank YOU for the recipe! I had serious doubts about any “healthy junk food” recipes, but you proved me wrong!! Very happy to come across this and looking forward to trying more of your recipes!!
Well I hope you’ll enjoy the others just as much! I used to have doubts about healthy desserts, too. There are a lot of bad ones out there! I think they kind of scared me. Thanks a bunch for your nice comment. :)
Made them, loved them, making them again tonight. My only complaint was that they didn’t make enough so will doubling tonight’s recipe. I have never made the frosting though as I add some berries with extremely thick homemade coconut and vanilla yoghurt. Yum!
I love your yogurt and berry topping idea! Sounds delicious. And I agree about the yield. I need to convert this to fill an 8″x8″! Thanks a ton for your feedback. I’m so happy you liked them. :)
I found this recipe a while ago while looking for something dairy and gluten free that would be tasty. I love chocolate but I’m limiting my sugar intake to the minimum. The dates caught my attention and my god am I happy I found this! Just after making these amazing brownies. I used dessicated coconut that I put in my food processor to make it more powder like due to lack of coconut flour and subsitituted the peanut butter for almond butter.
Will definitely be making them again!! Thank you!
Your changes sound great! I’m so happy that they turned out well. :) Thanks for the feedback and sorry for my slow reply!
My family and I love these brownies, and make them often (I make a 1 and 1/2 recipe, and use an 8 X 8 pan). I do want to mention, though, that baking powder often has cornstarch in it – therefore not grain free – but I sub baking soda just fine.
Good to know that 1.5x the recipe works well for an 8×8 pan! And thanks for the tip on baking powder. I’ll add that to the recipe! Thanks so much for your feedback. :)
These look absolutely insane! I will definitely try this! I was wondering…can i substitute egg or just not using it?
I definitely wouldn’t just leave it out. I haven’t tried it but perhaps a flax egg would work? One of the commenters used that and it worked out for them! I hope you’ll enjoy the brownies. :)
These are seriously to die for! I’ve made them five times now in the last week {guilty!} but always without the frosting. I make them with cows milk and butter and I add a few extra dates (100g total, after being soaked) because my hubs camplained that they weren’t sweet enough when I made them with 80g. I used my magic bullet and it works great. Also, once I was out of milk and used yogurt, worked great too. I LOVE a recipe that gives measurements by weight. So much easier to get a good result, especially with ingredients like coconut flour. Thank you!! I made them for friends and they scarfed them down.
I am curious about a substitute for the peanut butter, I don’t want to gtive them to my daughter with peanuts but maybe with almond butter but I wonder if there’s any non but or seed sub for that. Just a pondering though because these suckers are SO good as written! Thanks again!
I’m so happy that you’ve enjoyed them so much! And I like the idea of adding more dates. I think I’ll try that next time. I’m totally with you on the measurements thing. Today I was scooping out some coconut flour with a tablespoon and I realized I had no idea if most people pack their spoons or measure coconut flour like regular flour. Same thing with almond flour! I haven’t tried it but I’m assuming almond butter or any other nut butter would work. And I’ve never tried this in anything, but I’m guessing it’d work, too. Thanks so much for your feedback! :)
Just to update,
I tried making these with homemade cashew butter instead of peanut butter and they were so, so good! I just blended cashews and added a little ghee. The batter wasn’t as thick but they were just as fudgy and delicious. There wasn’t the peanut butter aftertaste (which I enjoued but my hubs didn’t) and I feel better giving them to my daughter (and about eating half the batch in one night since too much peanut butter does agree with me). Seriously. These are so amazing!!
I’m glad you shared that about the sunflower seed flour! I’ll have to try that to break up the monotony of almond flour from time to time!
That’s great that cashew butter worked! Sounds very interesting. I’m not even sure if I like cashews yet (I’m taking my time deciding ;)) but I’ll definitely recommend it to other commenters who ask about a peanut-free sub. If you try the sunflower seed flour, let me know how it goes! I’ve never tried it but I’m curious if it’s actually a good sub or not. :) Thanks so much for coming back to let me know how they came out!
Ha. Sorry. Did I really miss the part in the post about subbing out the peanut butter for almond or sunflower? I was just skimming the post again and saw it in bold. Oops. I think I skipped that part because I wasn’t making the frosting. Also.. I meant to say peanut butter doesn’t agree with me. Wish you could edit comments like on FB ;).
While the cashew butter is a good compromise for our family, I wonder what role the nut/seed butter plays in a recipe. Is it just a binder? What I was originally wondering is what might sub out the need for a nut or seed butter altogether. I have tried a few other recipes that call for nut/seed butters but not as key flavor elements and I wonder why they’re there, what’s their function. Not asking you to answer that because this recipe works great as is and I’m not trying to be one of those annoying commenters that asks you to give advice on how to completely change a recipe in ways you haven’t tested ;). Just pondering out loud! Thanks again!
Haha. It’s a long post. ;) I guess I should just add that bit to the recipe box to make it easier for everyone to find! The nut butter here is used as a binder. I guess you could try them without it but I don’t think they’ll come out as nicely! I just posted some gluten-free oatmeal cookies that completely fell apart in the first batches without almond butter. I added some almond butter and that made them so much better! And haha. You’re a very aware commenter. It’s awesome to see that the readers also notice how sometimes the questions can get a little silly. (“What can I sub for the 12 eggs in this angel food cake? I don’t like eggs. And how can I make it grain-free, nut-free and dairy-free? Thanks.”) You’re totally not being annoying and I’ve appreciated your thoughtful comments! :)
Big winner with the friends who thought they were eating conventional brownies :) When I said there was neither sugar nor flour in them, they were flabbergasted. I didn’t have coconut flour, so I just put some coconut flakes in the food processor before processing the dates. When I wanted more bulk from a batch, I added pureed chickpeas. I’m sure other pureed beans would work just as well.
That sounds like an interesting change! How much chickpea puree did you add? I’m so happy that you and your friends liked them! Thanks for the feedback. :)
In case anyone is like me and didn’t have coconut flour on hand and REALLY wanted to try this recipe out, I just used some fine dessicated coconut I had in my pantry and whizzed it around in a mortar and pestle for a little bit and my brownies came out great!
Wow! That’s awesome that that worked. Thanks for sharing your trick with us! So happy that you liked the brownies. :)
Ooooh my!!! I was so scared to try these because of the dates. Your picture looked so good though. I’m so happy I gave them a try. I put them in cupcake pan for ten minutes. I think they could have come out in 8. I loooooooved it to much. I want to eat the whole batch. So amazing. And only 250 calories
I’m so happy that you liked the brownies! I’m also scared of dates but I’m happy I got over it for these brownies. Thanks so much for your feedback! :)
Wow, I just made these and they are indeed amazing and super easy! They are so rich tasting that I decided to leave them unfrosted. I substituted ground flaxseed and water for the egg so my vegan friends can also enjoy them :) I’ll definitely be making these again. Thank you for sharing!!
Oh, wow. Good to know that a flax egg works here! Thanks for letting me know. So happy that you enjoyed the brownies and thanks for the feedback. :)
just made these, they are great. Didn’t make the frosting, they are great on their own. Excited to have a dessert to hand my kid that is actually a pretty well rounded meal by its self!
Sorry for my slow reply, Mackenzie! I’m happy that you and your kid enjoyed the brownies. And I love that you referred to these brownies as a well-rounded meal. I like how you think! :D Thanks so much for the feedback and sorry again for my slow response!