Some days you just gotta have an instant brownie fix. And by instant I mean forget-about-the-baking-altogether instant! And no long list of ingredients either, this is for when only the shortest list of required items will do...
If you've just come home from work on a weeknight, or you've got a big chocolate craving and 10 minutes to spare on a Saturday afternoon, these little brownie bites will save the day. I've been making these darlings for weeks now in all sorts of shapes and forms (you might recognize them as the brownie fudge bits in this peanut butter banana and fudge swirl ice cream), so it's only proper they're documented here.
Despite the absolute simplicity of this recipe, it's a total winner for covering those chocolate cake / fudgy brownie hankerings, and I love that it's a nut-free, oil-free, and grain-free recipe, along with the usual "free-froms" you'll find around here...
The other day I shared these blueberry coconut bliss balls that unexpectedly went a bit viral (who knew those little cake bites would become so in demand?! ?) These brownie bites actually inspired those blueberry bliss balls in the first place, because I was so enamored with the lovely cake texture, that I had to try out more flavors.
Most bliss balls out there are nut / date based, which is great, but, you know... nutty, chewy, truffly, crunchy... If that's what you're after, perfect (not a knock against any of those things at all by the way -- I LOVE all those varieties). But sometimes you just want a cake or baked-goods texture without having to turn on the oven, and that's where these coconut flour-based bliss balls really shine.
They're pretty simple in flavor by the way, but if you're feeling wild you can easily customize with a few tweaks. I added freeze-dried raspberries to one batch... loved it. They'd also be great with a pinch of cinnamon or cayenne... or tiny chunks of chocolate folded in. And even ginger -- a weird one, I know, but sometimes chocolate with a hint of ginger can be refreshing. Or, if you're feeling plain, leave them to be the naturally mellow, brownie-ish cake bites that they are -- sometimes simple is best!
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No-Bake Brownie Bites
Prep Time: 10 minutes- Total Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 8 balls
Category: Bliss Balls
Method: No-Bake
Cuisine: Dessert
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
No-bake fudgey brownie bites made with coconut flour. Instant brownies with a baked-goods texture. Gluten-free and vegan and super easy to whip up!
Ingredients
- ¾ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup maple syrup
- ½ cup plant milk (I used unsweetened almond milk; use coconut, rice or soy for nut-free)
- optional: ¼ cup coconut cream (the white thick layer from a chilled can of full fat coconut milk
- 1tsp pure vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp salt
- optional: ¼ cup shredded coconut for rolling
Instructions
- Process all ingredients, except shredded coconut, in a food processor into a uniform mixture. Allow it to sit for a minute. Meanwhile spread the shredded coconut on a plate. If your mixture seems too liquid, add a few more tablespoon coconut flour and process again to combine.
- Use a 1 tablespoon cookie scoop or just pick out even amounts of the dough with your hands and roll the mixture into balls. Roll each ball in the shredded coconut and set aside. Let them rest a few minutes and enjoy fresh or chilled! (I liked mine refrigerated).
How many days will it last in fridge/
Hi Che, the longest I've had these around was a week and they kept well refrigerated. The might be good even longer than that, but I never had the occasion to check.
Do these freeze well?
Thanks in advance!
Hi Kathleen, I've not tried freezing them myself, but have had a reader share that they froze well and she enjoyed them even better that way.
I think these are delicious! I made it how you suggested and added 1/4 tsp peppermint extract the second time. So yummy!
So happy you enjoyed these, Tasha! Chocolate and peppermint is def always a good way to go :)
Delicious. Thank you! Love making your stuff. These were a breeze to make.
★★★★★
So glad you liked them, Laura. Thanks for sharing :)
Great recipe and very easy to make. I've been packing them as a school snack this week with no complaints -- a huge deal around here! :) Thank you! I look forward to trying the blueberry ones next.
★★★★★
That's awesome -- glad these are working well for you, Bella :)
We made this and it was completely liquid!!!!! I had to had lots more flour and almond bitter and refrigerate it..... we’ll be using as a spread but it was very disappointing
Hi Maria, thanks for your feedback. Was anything changed in the recipe at all? Or was something left out by accident by any chance (like the coconut flour)? Wondering because this recipe should not be liquid at all, so trying to figure out what might have gone wrong for you.
My mom is coming to town to visit me and my boyfriend, and she recently had her birthday! I made these instead of cake and really liked them. Crossing fingers my mom will love them too!
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Awesome. I hope she likes them too. Thanks for the lovely feedback, Sigrid :)
I substituted the coconut flour for gluten free pre mix flour and it was basically liquid. Other than changing out the flower I followed the recipe exactly what went wrong?
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Hi Ashling. Coconut flour is the main essential ingredient in this recipe and can't be substituted with another flour. Coconut flour is unique in that it's extremely absorbent, so it requires a lot of liquid to dry it out. If you use another flour, including a gf mix, they just won't be as absorbent, so you'll basically end up with what you ended up with -- a lot of liquid.
Sorry it didn't work out for you this time around. Hope you can give it a go again with the coconut flour sometime.
Last week I made the Blueberry Bliss Balls (and Raspberry, and Strawberry) and they were wonderful!!! Being a chocolate monster I was racking my brain trying to figure out how to make the Bliss Balls with chocolate instead of jam. Today I went looking for some ideas and found these on your site (the first place I looked)! I made a double batch, because Brownies, and rolled some in toasted coconut, some in crushed toasted pecans, a few in raw sugar, and the last four I crushed up some vegan chocolate chips and mixed them into the dough and rolled them into balls. We just have one problem...deciding which ones we like the best!!! Thanks for a fantastic recipe that turned out great and will definitely be repeated. Again. And again. And again.
★★★★★
Hi Judi. Thanks so much for the amazing feedback. I had a good chuckle at the recipe search story -- I'm glad you found the chocolate version in the end! :)
I didn’t care for the texture. Maybe I’ll stir something with texture into them, like nuts.
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Thanks for the feedback, Teri. These are great with nuts too, or stirred into a quick ice cream, like in this recipe (especially if you're looking to re-purpose your current batch):
https://www.unconventionalbaker.com/peanut-butter-banana-fudge-swirl-ice-cream/
Thanks. I added peanut butter to half the batch and then rolled them in peanuts. They are better but I guess I just don’t care for the texture of the coconut flour. This is my first time using it. I think I will chop some nuts and mix them in to the other batch.
Ah, yes, coconut flour has a very particular texture / taste that can take some getting used to.
I did the whisking and I loved It very much!!! But we used coconut milk and it turned out to be a little Wobbly so we added more flour and they held their shape! My mom and I got 14 balls instead of the 8 you promised; so lucky us!!!
★★★★★
Thanks so much for sharing :) I'm glad you were able to get them to work and even got extra balls out of it!
It's very good, the texture is soft. Since it's delicious I'll do it repeatedly. I made them different size balls!
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Thanks so much for the feedback, Crys -- glad you liked them :)
These are great. Made them yesterday. Skipped the food processor part and did a quick fork whisk action-it worked, used coconut nectar in place of maple syrup, coconut milk (omitted the coconut cream), added some cinnamon and some almond butter (about 2T's).
Make these - you won't regret. Quick and easy with not a lot of effort or loads of dishes to do.
★★★★★
Oh, those swaps (esp. the addition of almond butter and cinnamon) sound divine! Thank you for sharing and for the lovely feedback :)
Can I use regular flour for these. I don't like coconut flour. Thanks.
Hi Debra, regular flour won't work well in these particular ones unfortunately (because the coconut flour is extremely moisture absorbent -- many, many, many time-fold any other flour. I'm about to share a new truffles recipe later today thought that might work better (no coconut :) ), so stay tuned. Also, not sure if these might work better for you in the meantime:
https://www.unconventionalbaker.com/decadent-spicy-raw-carob-hemp-bites-refined-sugar-free/
https://www.unconventionalbaker.com/gluten-free-vegan-carob-truffles-paleo-raw/
Hi Audrey, it took me a long time to make this recipe as my habitual organic grocery doesn't sell any coconut flour. At last, I got everything today and I did your receipe (I wrote it a month ago in my to-cook-book... ).
The result is great but a little dusty (it might be an inadequat term ... I translate directly my French).
I was about to ask you about it ... but now that I read your blog again and the comments, I understand !!
Well, without any plant milk and no coconut cream, it still works. My kids love them. I'll try the "new" recipe very soon (I've plenty of coconut flour now). Thanks for your honesty :-)
Thanks so much for sharing -- I'm glad your kids like them either way. Hope you like it the new way! :) I love mine with the coconut cream lately.
I tried the purple ones, with blueberry "sort of "jam, and it was great. And not dusty anymore ! The colour is really impressive. I'll try these with coconut cream soon...
Yay -- glad the jam sorted it out. You could even add some jam and chocolate together -- I expect that would be a good combo with some fruit (like raspberry jam + cacao) :)
Hey Audrey, can I use agave instead of maple syrup? It's super expensive where we live...
Hi Emma, absolutely. Feel free to use agave (or coconut nectar or rice syrup) in pretty much most of my recipes (unless it's something specifically meant to be maple flavored -- like maple pie -- you're good to go).
Hi I need some help please! I followed your recipe, not packing in the coconut flour but scooping loosely as you suggested. I did use raw cacao rather than cocoa powder. However after blending the mixture was super dry and I added rice milk gradually to moisten it... Ended up adding close to half a litre and on tasting they still left a dry aftertaste, also lacking that beautiful fudgy look and colour :( what would you suggest please?
Hi Bec. Oh my goodness... I'm so glad you left your comment because seeing as you're the second person who mentioned this came out dry I went to re-check the recipe and realized I left out an ingredient by accident when I posted it ????? So sorry about that. The original had 1/2 a cup almond milk or another plant milk in it. But the trick to working with coconut flour is that you have to get all the liquid in there in the beginning. It's an incredibly "thirsty" flour and once it clumps up it's extremely difficult to re-hydrate later. But if you add most of the liquids in at the beginning it's a much easier process (easier to end up with a wetter mixture and add in a bit of coconut flour at a time instead until you reach the best consistency for rolling).
I also went and remade it tonight before posting this just to make sure I got it right with that almond milk and all, and for some reason felt inspired to add in some coconut cream (the top white layer from a can of full-fat) and loved the added creaminess it added, so that's something else you can try.
So sorry for messing up your previous batch though with my missing ingredient recipe :S Hope the next batch makes up for it :)
It's so cool that your recipe contains no nuts or dates because a lot of people might not have them or can be allergic! This is actually amazing because it's so simple but so delicious!!
Thanks so much, Cassie! I try to do a variety of things so that there's something for everyone :)
Thanks so much for sharing this Audrey! Your site is amazing - I've been so inspired to shake things up a bit!
★★★★★
Aw, good! Enjoy the recipes :)
If I have that bit of unused almond flour on hand, will that work too??
Hi Jamie. You can incorporate some of it in no problem, but it wouldn't work as a substitute for the coconut flour (because coconut flour is super moisture absorbent in a way that no other flour is).
Just like the purple ones, that inside texture looks amazing! It's funny how the easy unexpected ones are often the ones that really take off...proof that we are all lazy at heart lol ? And these would be a great way to use up that coconut flour I have because goodness knows it never ends well when I try to bake with it?
Haha. Actually... shameful confession time: I really don't like baking with coconut flour. Like I've had the same bag of it sitting in my cupboard for the last year and a half (I should prob go throw it out ?)... I have some recipes on here using it -- occasionally it makes great stuff, but on the whole it's just not my cuppa tea. I was at the store and saw a huge sale on what I thought was coconut oil by my favorite brand (it was like a 1/4 of the price I normally pay) so I grabbed two massive tubs of course. When I got home I realized it was 2 huge tubs of coconut FLOUR ?????? And so with this generous overage of coconut flour on my hands I began making all these balls and bites and such -- I'm glad it went to good use ? The blueberry balls and these brownie bites were amongst my favorite things to make with it -- glad I got some winners out of it after all that. Still have a tub and a half to go through though ??
So it's not just me! Yeah that stuff is impossible to bake with, I don't know how those paleo people do it? Oh man, that's an unfortunate mistake? Props to you for actually making use of it, I would probably just wait till the next food drive and shove that stuff right out the door...not that I've ever done that before???
Well, I won't say the donating option wasn't tempting... ??