Makes 12 brownies
If there’s a better combination than chocolate and raspberries then I don’t know it. These brownies are dense and truffle-like, with lots and lots of melt-in-your-mouth raspberry flavor from both jam and whole berries. And here’s the amazing thing…they’re low in fat, high in fiber and made with whole wheat pastry flour! But don’t let that deter you, you’d never know it.
I’ve been hard at work developing healthier dessert recipes for the upcoming Forks Over Knives cookbook! I said “healthier” not “healthy” because dessert, no matter how healthy, is an indulgence. But if we’re going to indulge (and we definitely are), why not try to make those treats as nutritious as possible? Developing these treats has been a fun challenge and I’m getting a kick out of experimenting with whole grain flours, natural sweeteners and alternative sources of fat. I also like that the recipes don’t have to be too restrictive; some fats are cool to use in moderation, like nut butters, avocado and chocolate.
But back to these brownies! Valentine’s Day is coming up and you’ll surely want to make these for the one you love. Maybe you’d like to scatter brownies on the bed instead of rose petals?
A few recipe notes:
~This is one of those rare occasions where frozen fruit actually works better than fresh, so don’t worry about raspberries being out of season. The batter is very thick and I’m pretty sure that fresh raspberries would get crushed as you tried to knead them in.
~Use a naturally sweetened fruit spread if you can find one.
~For the dry sweetener, I use Sucanat, but any sugar will do.
~To get brownies as fudgy as possible, be careful not to overbake. These really benefit from chilling in the fridge for a few hours.
~To slice brownies, use a blunt knife (a butter knife or a plastic knife) and dip in water after each slice.
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup raspberry fruit spread
1/2 cup sugar or other dry sweetener (see note)
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup frozen raspberries
Preheat oven to 350 F. Line an 8 inch pan with parchment paper and lightly mist with non-stick cooking spray.
Melt the chocolate in either a double boiler or the microwave. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, vigorously mix together the jam, sweetener, and apple sauce. Stir in the extracts and the melted chocolate.
Sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Mix very well until a stiff dough forms. Fold in the raspberries. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan. It will be very thick, you’ll probably need to use your hands to evenly spread the batter.
Bake for 16 to 18 minutes, they should still be soft and gooey. If a tester toothpick comes out clean, they’re overbaked. Remove from oven and let cool completely. These taste especially good and fudgy after being refrigerated for a few hours.
I got the Forks Over Knives Cookbook for Christmas and was so psyched to see the desserts your recipes! So awesome, congrats on that, and I cannot wait to make these!
I made these and they came out great! Even though I may have overcooked them a tad, when I tested them first time the toothpick was like super batter, so I put them in a bit longer, till the toothpick came a little like totally oncooked batter. My oven also sucks.
Thank you! I love this recipe. It’s just perfect for V day! <3
I made these for my son’s pre-school Valentine’s day party. Total win! Thank you Isa, you have been helping me make non-boring vegan food for my son since he was born 🙂 You’re great!
Do you think this would work well with other fruits or is the TANG of the raspberry really necessary? Strawberry or cherry? Just subbing the appropriate jam and frozen fruit?
Mmm… I am making a grocery list of things I need to make various recipes of yours. I see a few things that I definitely need to add!
Yummmmmmmmmy! For the person that asked about pastry flour I just used half whole wheat flour and half all purpose flour and they turned out great.
I’ve made these 3 times in the past week. (and will make another batch – i don’t usually use preserves, so i figure might as well make brownies for when i am blue). I made one with mint extract instead of almond, and while they were deliciously amazing, the “truffle” aspect was lost. I feel it’s the almond extract that = truffle. the mint just made it one forking good fudge brownie.
(I’m going to assume that almond/vanilla/mint WITH raspberry and chocolate is just one flavour too many). I’ve also bake it for 15 minutes isntead of 16. I find 16-17 borders on that “overcooked” stage, and I have a oven therm.
I just love that they aren’t that sweet at all, not a lot of sugar (I made one with sucanant and some with coconut palm sugar).
I haven’t tried these yet (going to this weekend) but to the people who question the cooking time, I have to say that I had trouble with everything I baked — either came out over- or underdone — until I bought an oven thermometer and found out that my oven was seriously under-heating. That oven thermometer changed my life. Could this be the problem with some of you?
Any ingredient to replace the applesauce? We don’t have it in Brazil…
Marina, you can make your own applesauce really easily. Just peel and core some apples, put them in a saucepan with a tiny bit of water, and cook until mushy.
These look amazing but quick question, do you defrost the raspberries first or lot them in the recipe still frozen? Thanks!
Can I use a gluten free all puspose flour instead of whole wheat??
I just made these and wow. They were simple, and the results were amazing. I’m testing veganism this month, and having tried two of your recipes now I am excited at how much easier (and tastier!) a vegan diet is than I initially thought. You and your recipes are awesome thank you so much!
Awesome, thanks for letting me know!
I made these and they came out really gooey… like, too gooey. The batter tasted delicious, but I’d prefer my brownies to be brownie consistency.
any suggestions? I left them in for at least 25 minutes.
I served these with chocolate and vanilla Swedish Glace ice cream for dessert at my last vegan dinner party, and even the meat eaters said they were the yummiest, gooiest brownies they’d ever had! Thank you! 😀
These are quite good! Agree that they definitely need to be refrigerated afterwards, as they tended to be quite cakey and rubbery post baking. Refrigerating seemed to magically make them better in both texture and taste. I couldn’t find any vegan baking chocolate so I used a Lindt 70% cocoa (which was vegan)
Yummy! I’m not a big fan of chocolate and raspberry together so I used marmalade and a little splash of orange extract. They turned out great! All your recipes do! And in my world, “healthier” means I get to eat the whole pan.
Made this for a dinner with friends last night and this is the first recipe that I wasn’t a fan. I’m going to guess it was user error though because every other recipe on this site/in the books has been amazing. After reading through the other reviews, I would recommend trying this recipe before serving to guests because it seems it may be difficult to get just right the first try. I made the pumpkin chocolate loaf as a backup and that was delicious!
These are absolutely “off the hook” good!! Joined plant based revolution about 2 months ago and these little yum yums can go up against any oily/fatty brownie AND WIN! Great recipe. I doubled recipe and put in same 8″ pan making very thick layer. NOT a good idea. Go with larger pan if u are doubling recipe otherwise outside gets done and middle is not done at all.
These are truly amazing! I also love the chocolate chip cookie recipe you did for Forks Over Knives. You should do a book of healthier dessert recipes, you definitely have a gift for this.
I keep coming back to these brownies! Any time I have berries that are about to go bad, I chop and boil them down into a fruit spread for these brownies. Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries… whatever you have in the fridge or freezer. This recipe is also very forgiving in terms of substitutions/additions. I’ve used extra cocoa powder when I’ve been out of baking chocolate, used water or soymilk when I don’t have applesauce, I even completely messed up the proportions once when I tried to double the recipe but realized once they were in the oven I had only doubled some of the ingredients… and the brownies still turned out delicious. These brownies are so good you simply can’t mess them up.