This recipe for Fudgy Hazelnut Brownies is full of chocolatey deliciousness. It’s vegan, gluten free, has no added oil, and can easily be made refined sugar free. But most importantly these brownies taste absolutely amazing.

Now this brownie recipe is really as simple as mixing the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients. Bake it and you’re done. But read on to ensure your brownies work out perfectly.

Brownies may be one of the most beloved foods anywhere. Some people like cakey brownies while others enjoy their brownies dense and fudgy.

Me, I love dense, fudgy chocolatey brownies. And these healthy vegan brownies are just that – dense, fudgy, chocolatey and delicious.

How to make Fudgy Hazelnut Brownies

To begin preheat the oven to 160°C/325°F.

Pop the hazelnuts onto a baking pan and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and while the hazelnuts are still hot, pour them onto a clean tea towel and rub, with the tea towel, to remove the skins. Discard the skins. Roughly chop the hazelnuts and reserve for the topping.

Now heat the oven to 180°C/350°F and prepare the brownie.

First weigh out your oats and, using a highspeed blender, blend them into a fine oat flour. *see notes about ingredients.

Into a large mixing bowl add the oat flour, hazelnut meal, tapioca flour, cocoa, salt and bi carb. Give these ingredients a whisk to ensure there are no lumps.

Now set up a double boiler to melt your chocolate and once melted add in the coconut sugar, coffee, almond spread and vanilla essence. *See notes about setting up a double boiler.

Mix well to combined.

Next pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix. The key here is to mix until just combined. The mixture will be quite thick and not pourable, this is normal.

You can now add the reserved nuts and choc chips and gently mix through or save them for the topping.

Spoon the mixture into a lined 20cm square tin, smooth out and if you saved the choc chips and hazelnuts for the topping, press them on.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180°C/350°F for 12 to15 minutes. You’ll know your brownie is done because it will be slightly firm to touch. Don’t worry if it seems slightly under-baked, the brownie will firm up as it cools.

Be careful not to overcook your brownie. Overcooking will result in a dry brownie.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack.

How to store these gluten free vegan brownies

Once cooled completely, store in an airtight container in the fridge, they are great for about 5 days. For longer storage store in an airtight container in the freezer. When storing in the freezer line the container with a piece of baking paper and place a layer of baking paper between layers, to allow for easy removal of the pieces.

How to cut and serve brownies

For neatly cut, professional looking, pieces allow the brownie to cool completely and refrigerate for about an hour before cutting with a warmed knife.

If you’re not concerned with neatly cut pieces, just cut and enjoy.

These healthy hazelnut brownies are great served warm with ice cream for a healthier vegan dessert. Or a drizzle of chocolate sauce. Or indeed both. 😋

Ingredients and substitutions

• If you don’t have a blender, use bought oat flour. And be sure to weigh it as the cup measurement for whole rolled oats will be different to that of oat flour.
• I use a 70% dark vegan chocolate to make these brownies. Using a good quality chocolate will ensure a delicious tasting brownie.
• For refined sugar free brownies use chocolate that is refined sugar free.
• Use an almond spread/almond butter, that is 100% almonds and has no added stabilisers or sugar.
• You could use hazelnut spread if you like, I honestly just found it to be crazy expensive in comparison to almond spread and I find these hazelnut brownies to have enough hazelnut flavour.
• The coffee added to these enhances the flavour of the chocolate without leaving a coffee flavour. If you can’t tolerate caffeine try using decaff coffee instead.
• Completely change these hazelnut brownies to almond brownies by swapping the hazelnut meal for almond meal and the extra hazelnuts for almonds.

Extra tips for the best healthy, fudgy hazelnut brownies

• For best results when baking use kitchen scales to weigh the ingredients rather than cup measurements.
• When baking without butter or oil, you will often find nut spreads, applesauce, mashed banana or even pumpkin puree used as healthier options to refined fats. This recipe is filled with healthy fats from almond spread/butter and hazelnut meal, to make fudgy vegan brownies that stay moist and delicious.
• When baking with oats try not to overmix as the mixture can become gummy, no one wants gummy brownies.
• You can melt the chocolate in the microwave, but be careful chocolate burns easily.
• If melting in the microwave, do it in short bursts at medium heat, stop and stir after every 10-20 seconds until melted. Personally, I prefer the double boiler. It’s easier to control and there is much less chance of overheating or burning the chocolate.
• If you’ve never set up a double boiler before it may seem a bit tricky at first but it’s really simple. If you are going to be cooking with chocolate it’s worth doing, chocolate is expensive and I don’t want to waste any. Read on for instructions.

How to set up a double boiler

• To set up a double boiler, also known as a bain marie. You’ll need a medium sized saucepan and a heatproof bowl that sits firmly on top of the saucepan, allowing minimal steam to escape.
• First fill the saucepan with approximately 5cm of water. The water should not touch the bottom of the bowl.
• Now with the lid on the saucepan bring the water to a boil, once boiled lower the heat until the water is barely simmering. Remove the lid and place the bowl on top.
• The chocolate will melt from the indirect heat of the steam and it is much less likely to overheat or burn.
• If you struggle to keep the heat low enough, just turn your burner off, then turn it back on low, as needed, to heat up the water a little more.
• You don’t want the water to be bubbling and spluttering with heaps of steam escaping which can not only ruin the chocolate but increases the danger of burning yourself.
• When removing the bowl from the saucepan be sure to wipe any moisture off the bottom of the bowl to prevent it from dripping everywhere, especially into your mixing bowl with the other ingredients.

 

Contact

If you have any questions or comments about this recipe please leave a comment in the comments section below.

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Want more vegan baking recipes, I think you’ll enjoy these

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or how about a homemade apple pie

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