Vegan Date Brownies

These vegan date brownies, which are also gluten-free, are about as close as brownies get to health food while still being unmistakably brownies. They are sweetened solely with dates. There are no stealth sugars in the form of syrups or coconut sugar, no highly processed sugar substitutes, just lovely wholesome dates.

The toffee-ish sweetness of dates pairs so well with cocoa, and their sticky texture is so well suited to brownies, you would think it would be straightforward to create a successful date brownie, but it has still taken some time to arrive at a recipe worth sharing.

Some date varieties are sweeter than others, and some are even reputed to have a chocolatey flavour. I’ve used an ordinary brand available in the supermarket. Whatever kind you choose, dates are the only super-sweet food that’s also considered a superfood because they’re loaded with fibre and antioxidants.

These are not quite as sweet as most brownies made with sugar, but they’re not one of those sugar-free cakes that leave you pining for a proper cake either. If you’re cutting out or cutting down on sugar they will satisfy a craving, and they’re quite intense so a small slice might be enough.

Vegan Date Brownies…

Ingredients

• 320 g stoned dates
• 40 g cashew nuts
• 310 ml oat milk (one without added sugar)
• 1 tbsp natural vanilla extract (or seeds from 1 pod)
• 40 g flavourless coconut oil
• 220 g finely ground almonds
• 45 g cocoa powder (ideally Dutch-processed)
• 40 g gram flour (chickpea/garbanzo flour)
• 1.5 tsp baking powder

method

1. Before you start baking, place the cashew nuts and 240g of the dates into a bowl or the jug of a blender. Warm the milk for a minute in the microwave, then pour over the dates and cashews. Leave to soften.
2. Set the oven to 180°C/360°F and lightly oil/line the base of an 8″ square tin.
3. Unless you have managed to find superfine ground almonds, grind them a bit further in a food processor (you can also do this in three or four batches in a bullet-style blender). Stop before they turn into paste or they will be difficult to mix.
4. Place the almonds in a large bowl with the sifted cocoa powder, gram flour, and baking powder. Use a fork or a whisk to mix until there are no little clumps of almonds.
5. Chop the remaining 80g dates quite small (raisin-sized is good) and stir these into the cocoa and almond mixture.
6. Add the coconut oil and vanilla extract to the milk, date and cashew mixture, and blend until it is smooth.
7. Pour the thick liquid mixture into the dry mixture (try to get as much of the liquid out of the blender as possible). Turn over with a spoon until everything is well combined and there are no little pockets of dry mixture.
8. Transfer to the pan and level the top before baking for 25-30 minutes. It will only rise a little.
9. Allow to cool in the tin. Dust the top with an extra teaspoon of cocoa powder if you like.
10. Ideally, leave in a cool place for several hours to settle completely before cutting.
11. The brownies will store for several days in an airtight container.

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