Almonds are a superfood and highly nutritious. I love baking with almond flour, and wrote the The Gluten-Free Almond Flour Cookbook in 2008. Fans often call me the “Queen of Almond Flour.” Still, I sometimes get requests for nut-free paleo dessert recipes and often people need egg-free recipes as well. There are as many food allergies as there are colors in the rainbow. That’s why I created this easy paleo brownie recipe! It’s for all the nut-free, egg-free, refined sugar-free, gluten-free, paleo vegans in my life. You keep me on my toes! And I love it.
This recipe uses sunflower seed butter, which is similar to nut butter, though totally nut-free. Sunflower seed butter is gluten-free, high-protein and made from highly nutritious sunflower seeds. You didn’t think I was going to use rice flour to make these paleo nut-free brownies, did you?! I’m still as grain-free as I’ve ever been since I went on a paleo diet in 2001. All of the recipes on this website are gluten and grain free recipes.
Vegan Nut-Free Gluten-Free Brownies
Ingredients
- 2 small bananas
- 1 cup sunbutter
- 2 tablespoons ground chia seeds, mixed with 3 tablespoons water to form a paste
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons honey or agave nectar
- ¼ cup xylitol
- ⅛ teaspoon stevia
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup cacao powder
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- In a food processor, combine bananas, sunbutter, and chia seed mixture
- Pulse in coconut oil, honey, xylitol, stevia, and vanilla until smooth
- Pulse in cacao, salt, and baking soda
- Transfer batter into a well greased 8 x 8 inch baking dish
- Bake at 350°F for 30-45 minutes
- Serve
These Vegan Nut-Free Gluten-Free Brownies are based on a gluten-free brownie recipe that was posted on my Facebook page. That recipe used ½ cup of honey which is a little much for where my blood sugar is at these days. So I decreased the amount of honey and added in some xylitol and stevia. I also increased the fat and made a couple of other changes to the recipe. This is a very fudgey brownie –it won’t seem totally cooked through when you pull it from the oven. I took mine out when the edges were just about to burn, that was how I determined it was done.
Now, a word of caution. Do not feed this dessert to your pets. Chocolate and xylitol are highly toxic to animals. Have any of you been feeding my other desserts to your pets? If so, why are you doing this? Please leave a comment and let us know!
If you love these gluten-free, grain-free, egg-free, nut-free, refined sugar-free, everything-free brownies, you’ll love these desserts:
Cynthia says
My dog loves anything with almond flour, but gets nothing with things he shouldn’t have–chocolate, xylitol, macadamia, raisins. However too much almond and we increase our time outside. :)
Elana says
Thanks Cynthia!
Christine says
Thank you so much for all you do Elana and for spending the time to share it all! I have recently gone grain free (I went gluten free 2.5 years ago due to Celiac diagnosis, and just learned of the danger in the rest of the grains) and I’m so thankful for your blog, recipes and cookbooks! What a blessing you are to so many of us! A million thanks! x
Elana says
Christine, what a wonderful comment! I’m so happy to hear you are enjoying my blog and books :-)
sheryl mcfarlane says
Hi Elana, what can I subsitute for the Xylitol please?
Karen Reiling says
I subbed 1/4 cup lucuma powder…ended up with more of a cake-type brownie that only had to bake for 25 minutes. Lovely recipe!
Elana says
Thanks Karen!
Eeva says
I’ve been eating this way for a while so I’m excited to try it out! Sounds delish!
Elana says
Thanks Eeva!
Anastasia @Healthy Mama Info says
YUM! Do these brownies taste kind of creamy or are they more on a lighter side?
Elana says
Anastasia, they’re a fudgey brownie :-)
Amy says
Elana, have you ever had them turn green on you?? I had made something similar but with pumpkin purée and the combo of sunflower seed butter and baking soda makes a “green” brownie!
Durga Fuller says
Sunflower seeds will turn green sometimes when they react with baking soda. It’s harmless. I bill it as a benefit with my kids – “look! Weird green food!”
Adrienne @ Whole New Mom says
Hello all. I read that if you cut the baking soda by about 1/3 it should take care of this problem. Alternatively, you could add a splash of lemon juice to the recipe to take care of some of the “greenness”.
Valerie says
Oh my gosh, this is hilarious, I had that happen in cookies and thought it meant the Sunbutter was moldy- the green parts were only on the interior of the cookies and I thought perhaps the temp wasn’t high enough. So I chucked them all and the Sunbutter in the trash! Hee hee- Thank you for commenting about this, now I won’t hesitate to try the sunflower butter again.
Maria says
Well, no wonder the inside of my sunflower seed butter bars were green! Actually, a little bluish-green. I thought it was something else entirely. Thanks for the info.
Tea says
Lovely! (tho, hardly can be called vegan if it has honey used in it…)
Alisa says
Use the agave nectar she suggests instead of honey.
Sarah says
THANK YOU for the nut-free recipe! I’m so excited to try it!
Elana says
Sarah, you’re welcome!
Louisa says
Wow. A dessert everyone in my family can actually eat! I have GOT to try this!
Elana says
Thanks Louisa, I hope you love it as much as we do!
J3nn says
They sound delicious! I love sunflower seed butter.
Elana says
Thanks Jenn!