Because I’ve been getting quite a lot of requests lately for healthy dessert recipes and because I had a pound of organic prunes that needed to be used up, I decided I would develop a gluten free prune cake recipe.
After a string of successful and not so successful prune cake experiments, I had a different, yet satisfactory result: Chocolate Prune Bars. All in all these are basically fudgey prune brownies. Whatever they’re called, I like ’em.
In fact, as I drove home from a lunch in Denver this afternoon, I was thinking about eating one of these little Paleo/primal friendly treats. Prunes or no prunes, a chocolate dessert recipe is a chocolate dessert recipe, and when it’s an easy dessert recipe that tastes good too? Well there’s nothing better than that! I walked in the door grabbed a chocolate prune bar and it was as good as I had recalled.
So here I am sharing it with you all. And don’t be afraid of prunes, they’re just another dried fruit, and are actually the dried version of European plums.
Chocolate Prune Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup prunes, pitted
- ½ cup apple juice
- 4 large eggs
- ¼ cup coconut oil
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon stevia
- ⅓ cup coconut sugar
- 2 tablespoons cacao powder
- ¼ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Place prunes and apple juice in a saucepan over medium heat
- Gently simmer for 10-15 minutes until just a little apple juice remains and prunes are plump
- Meanwhile, pulse eggs, oil, vanilla and stevia in a food processor
- Pulse in coconut sugar, cocoa, salt, and baking soda
- Remove prune mixture from heat and place in food processor, then pulse until combined
- Pulse in chocolate chips (they may melt a bit due to prune mixture)
- Grease an 8 x 8 inch baking dish
- Pour mixture into baking dish
- Bake at 350°F for 20-25 minutes
- Cool and serve
If you want to make this dessert into a chocolate prune cake, bake it up in a , which should work just fine. I tried this in one of my test batches, though can’t recall how long I baked it for so if you do so please leave a comment for all of us with your baking time.
Now, a brief commentary on the ingredients in this recipe. You will notice that rather than agave, I have chosen coconut sugar as the sweetener for this recipe (if you do want to make it with agave, feel free, however I’m not sure how much it would need, or if it would actually work as I haven’t tried it myself). I also used coconut oil (of which I am a huge fan) rather than my staple grapeseed oil (feel free to experiment with your oil of choice).
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Finally, a little bit about prunes, or “dried plums” as they are often now referred to. Prunes are a very tasty and healthy food, full of unique phytonutrient antioxidants, potassium and soluble fiber. So don’t be shy, grab yourself some prunes, or try to hide them in this deliciously chocolatey dessert and fool your children, big and small.
More healthy recipes with prunes:
–Chocolate Prune Truffles
–Fruit Pudding
–Roasted Chicken with Olives and Prunes
What are your feelings when it comes to prunes? Like? Dislike? Or don’t care? Leave a comment below with your prune history.
Kirsten says
Hi Elena,
I have made your guilt free prune chocolate brownies twice now and they are delicious, thank you. However both times the cake has sunk considerably upon being removed from the oven. Any idea what I might be doing wrong? They have been cooked in an aga. Kirsten
Jess says
How many prunes are in a cup?
Anna C. says
I made these with prunes and they were great. Made them again with figs instead – different, but also wonderful.
Mary Simonson says
I love prunes. Can’t wait to try these recipes, especially the chocolate bars.
Marsha says
Thank you Elana! I made this tonight for my constipated daughter :)
with a few substitutions – no liquid Stevia, replaced coconut sugar with Natvia (powdered stevia) and replaced choc chips with finely chopped Green & Blacks 85% dark chocolate.
Turned out great!!
Anja says
Hello Elana,
I have been browsing through your pages full of information and yummi recipies since several month now. Today I had the urge for chocolate brownies. Following a wheat free diet I was glad to find these super tasty treats. I love your web page and recommend it to every one looking for healthy food ideas. Please never stop :)
Amy says
I told my kids these were called “Prownies” and it worked,they totally love them too. Hooray for a healthy desert option. My next goal is to make them Vegan.
nathalie says
Blehhhh, prunes! :s
Yummm, chocolate prune bars :]
Dawn says
Very nice texture. I would call them “fruity brownies”. Unfortunately, they didn’t pass the picky kid test, but I enjoyed them and shared the link with my Facebook friends. One more comment- I wish you had more recipes without almond (or other nut) flour, or offer a gf substitution. Thanks! Great photos, too!
Jeana says
Top it with coconut whip cream….a can of organic, unsweetened coconut milk. Don’t mix the water from the can with the milk, put in fridge to seperate or drain the liquid off. Just a dollop will do!