These vegan and grain-free chocolate brownies are swirled with sunbutter, a nut-free alternative to peanut butter! Perfect for a seriously delicious, healthier dessert.
If you’re looking for a dessert that will impress with minimal effort, you’ve found it. These Sunbutter Swirl Brownies are eye-catching and delicious, but they’re easy to make with simple steps.
You would never know these brownies have no flour, refined sugar, eggs, or dairy! They also pack a fiber and protein punch thanks to chia seeds and sunflower seed butter.
Don’t have sunflower seed butter? You can make these with any nut or seed butter! Just pick one that’s ‘drippy.’ Typically a freshly-opened jar will be best.
I love having a healthier dessert in the kitchen that will satisfy any cravings. The creamy chocolate texture is rich and fluffy with a crispy, chocolatey, nutty top. You might want to make two batches… these went QUICK!
This recipe is:
- vegan + vegetarian
- gluten-free
- refined sugar-free
- oil-free
- paleo
- dairy-free
- corn-free
- soy-free
- peanut-free
Recipe FAQs:
You can use any drippy nut or seed butter. A fresh jar of nut or seed butter will work best, as nut butters can tend to dry out towards the bottom.
You can either drizzle lines of sunbutter and then drag a chopstick or knife through in a ‘S’-shape, or you can drop dollops of sunbutter and then run a chopstick or knife through vertically and horizontally.
I use a plastic knife to cut these down the middle, then into 8 total brownies. Avoid using a metal knife if you have a non-stick pan, as it can scrape off the material. These brownies are delicious by themselves, or get creative and serve with coconut milk ice cream!
If you don’t like chia seeds, you have a few options! You can use a similar seed like flax seeds. You can grind up the chia seeds so they become powder. Or you can simply use a powder egg replacer, like Bob’s 1:1.
Yes you can! Just skip the swirl step and everything else will be the same.
Sunbutter Swirl Brownies
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon chia seeds chia eggs
- 6 tablespoon water chia eggs
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup sunflower butter plus more for the swirl
- ½ cup cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips vegan
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º. Prep 2 chia eggs (or egg replacers) by mixing the water and chia seeds. If you'd like to avoid the chia seed texture, grind them in a coffee grinder before mixing. Let sit for a couple minutes.
- Mix wet ingredients together: maple syrup, vanilla extract, sunbutter, chia eggs.
- Mix dry ingredients together: cacao powder, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips. Then mix with wet ingredients.
- Line a 9×5 pan with parchment paper or grease with vegan butter or coconut oil.
- Top with a couple tablespoons of sunflower seed butter. Drag a chopstick or knife through to create a swirl.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. When you lightly shake the pan, the brownies shouldn't move much. You can also do the toothpick test. If the toothpick is wet when you poke the center of the brownies, they need more time. It should come out clean when they're ready.
- It's important to let these cool for 25 minutes to set and finish setting once outside the oven. This will ensure they don't fall apart, but they will still be rich and creamy.
Notes
- Cacao powder or unsweetened cocoa powder will both work. I’ve used half and half and it works great too!
- If you don’t have sunflower seed butter, you can use any nut or seed butter.
- For dark chocolate chips, look for a brand that’s vegan, refined sugar-free, and allergen-free like Hu Chocolate.
- Leftovers are best stored in the fridge.
easy and tasty. I was skeptical that there is no flour, but they came out great and looked pretty too