Grain Free Hot Chocolate Brownies! Basically hot cocoa in bar and super delicious! These grain free hot chocolate brownies can me made two ways; rich milk chocolate or lower sugar with dark chocolate and an egg free option! Either way, they are great to pair with cup of coffee, steamer, or hot chocolate of course! Ready in less than an hour!
Something you might not know about me.. Hmm.. Well, I really wasn’t into baking until I had to change my diet and eat gluten free. Sure, I baked cookies and breads from time to time, but I would say I was more into cooking versus baking. I think most are more into one or the other, yes?
But when you have to learn to replace something you REALLY REALLY enjoy in your diet, you learn new ways and MAKE IT HAPPEN! At least that was my thinking. So eight years ago I started experimenting with gluten free and grain free baking. I have had TONS of baking flops along the way, but also some pretty tasty combos.
There’s one combo I’ve had been dying to try but had yet to tackle. Until a few days ago.
Grain Free Hot Chocolate Brownies!
These bars. Err.. HOT CHOCOLATE Brownies? They have one mission. To taste like a cup of hot chocolate and/or to be eaten with hot hot chocolate.
But of course, I had to first struggle a little with these grain free brownies to get where they are today. Let me expand on that.
And P.S I only struggled with this recipe so YOU DON’T have to! Cool?!
You see, Better Body Foods reached out to me about this FAB new grain free product idea and a challenge. I was intrigued. I inquired about more. As always.
Their idea?
A challenge called, “Blend A BetterBody Food.” The primary goal of this challenge would be to create a recipe that combines the best ratio of coconut flour to almond flour! Why? Because this will make for a perfect budget friendly grain free flour! Plus it would make gluten free and grain free baking/cooking EASIER! You won’t have to guess at what ratio of coconut flour/almond flour goes with what. Trust me, I’ve done that way too many times. You’ll see why below.
Oh, and you save a pretty penny just by by buying one blend of flours! Makes perfect sense to, right?
So here’s the thing. There’s a challenge, but there’s also a winning prize! If you submit a recipe yourself, you could have it featured on the Better Body Foods package, win a huge gift basket from them, a Blentec Blender and a $100 gift card to Walmart!
Now you know why I was so intrigued. Plus I’m always up for a good gluten free baking challenge (well, most of the time).
So here goes, my grain free hot chocolate brownies recipe for this challenge. And I’m not going to lie, I made this recipe 4x. Seriously! First I made it low sugar, then eggless, then paleo, then vegan, etc. But I think I found the best 2 options with the best two ratios of coconut/almond flour blends.
PrintGrain Free Hot Chocolate Brownies – 2 Ways
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
Grain Free Hot Chocolate Brownies – 2 Ways
Ingredients
- 1 cup almond meal or flour
- ½ cup coconut flour
- 3–4 tablespoon mini chocolate chips -Enjoylife chocolate chips are vegan and gluten free.
- 1 cup chocolate almond or coconut milk
- 2 eggs (see notes for eggless option)
- ⅓ cup Hot Chocolate mix of choice (use cocoa powder if dairy free)
- 2 tbsp melted coconut oil
- 1 tsp organic Vanilla
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cream of tartar
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- Topping – powered sugar
- Optional add in – few tablespoon mini marshmallows.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Oil a brownie pan 8×8.
- Combine your flour mix in large bowl. Works best if you sift coconut flour to make it less clumpy.
- I’d also try to thin out the almond meal so it’s less clumpy.
- Add in your chocolate chips to the flour mix
- In a separate measuring cup or bowl, combine your milk and hot chocolate mix. Heat in microwave or on stove top.
- stir hot chocolate with milk until blended.
- Pour hot chocolate into flour mix and then fold in your eggs. See notes for egg/vegan option.
- Add in your extracts, melted butter, baking soda/cream of tartar, and salt.
- Mix until smooth or batter is even. Batter might be a little grainy due to almond flour.
- Pour batter into pan and spread it evenly into sides.
- Baking for 30-35 minutes
- Let cool and sprinkles with more cocoa, powdered sugar, or even chocolate sauce if desired. Dip into your hot chocolate and enjoy!
Notes
To make egg free, use 2 teaspoon egg replacer mixed with 2-3 tablespoon water.
If batter is too dry, add in 1-2 tablespoon coconut milk again.
For less sugar use real unsweetened cocoa powder versus hot chocolate but you might want to add honey in more chocolate chips for a little more sweetness but still less sugar.
- Prep Time: 10 min
- Cook Time: 35 min
These two Hot Chocolate Brownies recipes are super moist and delicious! You can make them super sweet or keep them taste more bitter and rich with dark chocolate. You’re call! But you must, I repeat you MUST dunk them in hot chocolate for the best results! Just sayin..
The BBF contest will run from today through November 4th 2015. For their complete Contest rules –> Go HERE!
Now, I have EVEN BETTER NEWS! A BONUS giveaway. YEA BUDDY! You can enter that giveaway contest and mine below. Because I really wanted to be able to share some of their amazing grain free products.
So, thanks to Better Body Foods for being so gracious and offering Cotter Crunch readers another chance to WIN!
Here’s what you get in this BBF Gift Basket COTTER CRUNCH giveaway!
Betterbody Foods organic PBfit peanut flour, coconut oil,chia, agave nectar, vanilla, superfood blend, coconut sugar, coconut flour, and quinoa!
Seriously! All so amazing to cook and bake with!
Okay, go enter, go bake, go enjoy some chocolate. Winning Wednesday for sure!
[Tweet “Must try these HOT CHOCOLATE Brownies made 2 ways and Grain free! #chocolate #grainfree”]
Favorite type of brownie? Do you use coconut flour often when baking?
Cheers!
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This looks great! Any idea how well they keep? Or whether they ship well? Have som GF folks on the Xmas list 😉
i think they should! as long as you don’t put any any melted chocolate topping on them. Just powdered sugar or maybe cocoa. Are you shipping states? or overseas?
These brownies look quite amazing! I can’t wait to try them!!
let me know if you do denise!
I love making grain free red velvet cake.
These look amazing. I’m allergic to almonds. Is there another kind of flour I could use?
can you have peanut flour or hazelnut flour? I woudl try those for the nutty texture. If not, try oat or plain GF multipurpose! keep me posted
My favorite grain-free dessert is straight-up hot chocolate.
Healthy Bites!! Duhhhh!! 🙂
These look amazing! I’d love for you to share them on Savoring Saturdays Link Party! http://onlytastematters.com/savoring-saturdays-6/
★★★★★
Thx Elle!! I’ll look into it
I like grain free peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
I love to make grain free granola bars!
Mmm homemade brownies are the BEST! These look like the perfect complement to a hot mug of hot chocolate 🙂
I love both cooking and baking….not sure which one I enjoy more hehe.
Brownies! My all time favorite treat. Served warm. Lindsay, you knocked it out of the recipe park with this one!
I’ve been craving hot chocolate!! I love this challenge of making an affordable grain free flour! Brownies are literally one of my favorite snacks, and these sound delish!
These look so great! My favorite grain-free treats are the 3 ingredient peanut butter cookies that have been floating around the blogosphere for awhile. So easy and so good!
YUM..making this asap! My favorite grain free treat is microwaveable mug cakes since I’m always baking for one haha. But they’re so versatile, I can have a different flavor every time. I bet these Hot Chocolate brownies would be perfect to bake and then put half in the freezer to save later;)
MMMM yes please these bownies! Bars and cookies with almond meal are my favorite grain-free baking treats.
What an awesome recipe and giveaway! Even though I don’t need to be gluten free I love using gluten free alternatives for baking- coconut flour is just delicious!
totally! you can enjoy either way!
I am drooling over these photos. I’ve always been a big fan of brownies. I wish my husband felt the same way. But hey, at least I don’t have to share with anyone.
While I haven’t dabbled in gluten-free baking much yet I can easily imagine the trouble of it. Flours binding characteristics are one of the key components of ‘traditional’ baking after all. Your dedication to going through all the trals to find the best way is wonderful – and with brownies like this as a result worth it!
haha trials indeed! but at least it’s with chocolate, right?
Oh yum! Brownies are a totally acceptable dinner right? I want some now!
totally! chocolate = antioxidants
My favorite treat is a homemade pb cup!
Oh, wow…these look incredible! I’d be on a mission to replace a standard brownie too if I suddenly learned that I couldn’t have gluten. A life without brownies is NO GOOD. This version looks delicious…gluten-free or otherwise! 🙂
amen to that!
Grain free Hot Chocolate Brownies!! Seriously, what will you think of next. You’re amazing.
i dunno. we shall see… mwhahahahhahaha
WOW!!!!!!!!!! I need you near – I would never make myself & as you know not a cook or baker so not entering but how fun!
There are just no words! Oh wait… when you come over for Sunday dinner bring these for dessert! 😉
you got it!
yes, i’m on it! be there this weekend. 😉
black bean brownies!
I so need to make those!
I’m sorry to say this, but if your gluten problems brought you to baking – then they need a thank you – because – lady – these are freakin Fantastic! I like my brownies with beets – but hot chocolate brownies are a close second!
I recently started messing with coconut flour and teff flour and sorghum – there’s a South Asian store that sells a ton of gluten free flours for next to nothing and I’ve been stocking up! 🙂
I’m all about coconut flour chocolate chip cookies. yum.
These brownies look awesome, though!
I would have to say that it would be chocolate chip brownies
you have the most amazing recipes! I want to make ALL of them!!
yum, brownies are my favorite desert besides ice cream/frozen yogurt! Must try these!
MmM.. these looks incredible & I need to bake asap! Plus they look pretty simple, like maybe I could do them one handed 😉 I LOVE coconut flour, I use it lots!! Beautiful photography too… So proud of you for following your dreams & goals!!!
yum! I love to make tofu mousse!
These are amazing Lindsay!! I love them!!! O the chocolate and the 2 flours I never use…but have…haha, almond and coconut 😛 Perfect brownie goodness! This is a winning Wednesday!
You are totally speaking my love language… chocolate!!
These are perfection!! Brownies are my all-time favorite dessert, and I’m all about baking with a combo of coconut flour and almond flour. I’m fantasizing about dipping these amazing hot chocolate brownies in a vat of hot chocolate, ha! Loving how healthy and tasty these look!!
Brownies are my favorite grain-free treat to make, although banana bread comes in at a very close second.
Confession: there’s nothing I won’t do for a good brownie. Well… almost nothing. 😉
Oh.my.GAWL. How amazing do these look?!!? And the shot of a brownie swimming in all that milky foam? Dying. I do a lot of no-baking with coconut flour, but I’m still figuring it out when it comes to baking. Seriously love that stuff, though.
Yum yum yum! Your food photography is ON POINT! Love your style xo C
The only grain free treats I make are brownies and cookies, I think they are the most forgiving for a rookie GF baker like myself 🙂 At least I have you and your brilliance to learn from.
I have yet to bake with coconut flour, must try!
Everything I eat is gluten free, so its hard to pick a favorite. I guess my “Morning Cookies” which I make with coconut flour, coconut oil, cassein protein, pumpkin, and eggs. DELICIOUS.
Hot chocolate meets brownie?! Yaaaassss! This is genius! Seriously, these look absolutely fabulous! I’d say challenge mission accomplishe, girlfriend! Pinned! Cheers!
★★★★★
After reading your posts I always wonder why we don’t live closer? Then I realize that if we did all we would do is bake, eat and drink wine. Not that I’d hate having those problems. LOL
Genius idea!! My favorite grain-free treat to make is peanut butter cookies 🙂
my hot chocolate could use a friend like this 🙂
Dunk in hot chocolate–noted! Thanks for perfecting these for us 🙂 They DO look perfect.
I find myself making brownie and blondie and cookie recipes over and over to find the best ratios! Luckily it’s hard to go wrong with these recipes. I’ve been really pleasantly surprised how delicious grain free baking is. These look SO good!
I’m not gonna lie, I’m a sucker for a cream-cheese swirl brownie 😀 That or just plain dark chocolate really. These products look AWESOME. And I love baking with coconut flour, I just dislike how many eggs you have to use to get the ratio right. It is fun to experiment though!
ahh yes! so true! and gimme that brownie swirl!
Hi – sorry to chime in. to replace eggs, i grind up chia seeds and add to the coconut flour and use a whisk to blend the two “powders”. then i add water to that chia/coconut flour mix. It kind of binds everything together and without any eggs! (i do eat eggs on their own but usually replace with chia in recipes). just an idea if you wanted to try it.
perfect! glad you shared! I tried it with pea protein too. do you mind me putting this suggestion in notes?
I don’t mind at all! And thank you for not minding me chiming in 🙂
Your first two paragraphs? How I got really into cooking. I think that is how many of us get into it!
As I’m drooling looking at the pictures, I can hardly read the words in the screen.
haha well I hope that’s a good thing!