Healthy Fudgy Brownie Bites – These bites are rich, dense, ultra fudgy, and taste like they’re made with eggs, butter, flour, and sugar, but don’t include any of those ingredients.
Sometimes you need to get your chocolate fix on without getting your gluttony on.
And these are just the little bites to do it.
There’s NO added white or brown sugar, NO butter or dairy, and NO flour used.
They’re vegan, gluten-free, grain-free, soy-free and you’d never guess they’re healthy.
They’re a revamp of my 2009 Raw Vegan Dark Chocolate Fudge Balls and are made in minutes. Noteworthy changes include increasing the ratio of cocoa powder and adding a dash of agave. The net result is bites that taste even more like real brownies. Rich, supremely fudgy, and satisfying. And are made entirely from plants.
The new batch size is slightly larger, but still yields just 2 dozen small bites, about 3/4-inch to 1-inch in diameter. If you roll them larger, approaching golf ball size, one dozen is a realistic yield.
I used cashews and highly recommend you do the same. Cashews are the vegan, plant-based equivalent of butter. They’re softer, richer, and creamier than other nuts. They blend smoother and are more flavor-neutral.
I prefer cashew to almonds because almonds are chalkier, harder, coarser, don’t blend as easily, impart more nutty-flavor rather than buttery-flavor, and aren’t what I’d reach for. If my choice was almonds or peanuts, I’d go with peanuts. At least that way the finished bites would taste peanut buttery.
This is a wet-ish dough, but it shouldn’t be sloppy wet, nor bordering on Chocolate Cashew Butter. If it is, you need to dry it out. Add more cocoa powder or nuts, one tablespoon at a time. In this batch size, one tablespoon makes a difference, so add slowly. If the dough is too dry and is sandy, moisten it either with an additional squirt of agave or another date or two.
Because natural ingredients vary so widely; just how creamy or dry your cashews are, how soft and moist the dates are, and just how finely your food processor can pulverize, are all variables to account for. Use my recipe as a guideline, adding a pinch of this or squirt of that as necessary to get the dough to combine into a big softball that slaps around the interior of the food processor canister. If you have the choice of a food processor and a Vita-Mix, I prefer a food processor.
Remove the dough, put it on a large plate or in a bowl, cover it, and allow it to chill for a few hours, up to a week, before attempting to roll it into balls. If it’s too warm, you’ll have a sticky, tacky, chocolate sauce-like paste all over your hands. Not the worst problem in the world, but rolling will be more annoying, stickier, and more time-consuming than it needs to be. Chilled dough is much easier to work with.
Optionally, dredge the bites through sprinkles. Only good things can come from sprinkles.
I wouldn’t say it if I didn’t truly think so, but they taste like rich, fudgy, full of eggs-and-butter and melted chocolate brownies. They pack some serious fudge factor and are dense, chewy, rich, and so satisfying. They keep for weeks, months really, in the refrigerator or freezer and it’s nice to have a dozen around to snack on.
I have tupperwares full of dough balls in my fridge and freezer to be baked off or snacked on at a later date. Some is raw-vegan and some is the real thing. Unless I label it or have a clear memory of what I stashed, these healthy bites could easily get confused as the real thing.
If you’ve never made a raw vegan chocolate treat before, or something that fools everyone, this is the one to try.
The bites remind me of 2009 when my blog was full of Dessert Bites, Balls, Cookie Dough, and Truffles Recipes. Things change, life moves on and ebbs and flows, but this recipe is full of nostalgia. And chocolate.
I like to think of putting teeth marks into one of these is as guilt-free.
Get your chocolate on without getting your gluttony on.
Pin This Recipe
Enjoy AverieCooks.com Without Ads! 🆕
Go Ad Free
Healthy Fudgy Brownie Bites
Ingredients
- ⅔ cup cashews, I use raw, unsalted, whole from Trader Joe's
- ⅓ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 cup soft, moist medjool dates, pitted and loosely packed (I used 20 medium dates)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 to 4 tablespoons agave nectar, or as necessary (maple syrup, honey, yacon, or corn syrup may be substituted but all impart more flavor than agave)
- sprinkles for dredging, optional (many brands are inherently vegan)
Instructions
- To the canister of a food processor or Vita-Mix (I prefer my food processor for this job), add the cashews, cocoa powder, and blend to pulverize into fine crumbs, about 15 seconds. Do not over-process because you will make chocolate-cashew butter very quickly.
- Add the dates, vanilla, and process until mixture begins to combine. It's likely the mixture will be sandy, coarse and not combining. As necessary to get it to combine, add agave, one tablespoon at a time, pulsing to incorporate after each addition.
- You'll know the consistency is right when the dough combines into a softball-sized mound and the mound travels around the canister in one big ball. It will still be tacky and sticky, but it shouldn't be wet and sloppy. Dough that resembles the consistency of nut butter is too runny and loose and dry ingredients must be added to help it solidify. Add a tablespoon or two more cocoa powder or cashews, as necessary, to dry out the dough. Dough that's too pebbly, dry, or sandy will benefit from anther couple dates or tablespoon of agave, as necessary, to moisten it.
- Transfer dough to a plate or bowl, cover with plasticwrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 1 week, before rolling into balls. Dough that's warm is difficult to work with; it's stickier, messier, and it leaves a chocolate paste-like layer on your hands. Wait until it's chilled before pulling off small hunks and rolling between palms until smooth. Work quickly because the warmer the dough gets, the harder it is to roll. I roll the balls about 3/4-inch in diameter, up to 1-inch.
- Optionally, dredge balls through sprinkles. This has the added benefit of absorbing some of the tackiness or stickiness of the dough.
- I prefer the bites chilled and store them in the refrigerator. Bites will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for many weeks, or in the refrigerator for many months, or in the freezer for 6+ months.
- Adapted from 5-Minute 3-Ingredient Dark Chocolate Fudge Balls
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
©averiecooks.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited.
Related Recipes:
Raw Vegan Dark Chocolate Fudge Balls (GF) – 5 minutes and 3 ingredients to make an extremely rich and satisfying treat. This recipe inspired today’s recipe
The Ultimate Fudgy Caramel Brownies – My new favorite brownie recipe. Made in one bowl with a whisk and ready in 30 minutes. The brownies are dense, fudgy, rich, supremely moist, and not at all cakey
No-Bake Vanilla Cake Batter Chocolate Truffles – Vanilla cake batter in the middle that’s coated in chocolate, perfect for the holidays or to set out at parties any time and one of my most pinned recipes
Pretzel Peanut Caramel Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Truffles (no-bake, with vegan & GF options) – For those who enjoy salty ‘n sweet treats, these truffles pair savory pretzels and peanuts with sweet peanut butter cookie dough before being dipped in chocolate
Fudgy Nutella Brownies with Cream Cheese Frosting – A longtime favorite brownie recipe that works like a charm every time to produce flawless, fudgy, rich brownies in just minutes with one bowl and whisk
Quintuple Chocolate Fudgy Brownie Cookies – The richest cookies I’ve ever made and the best chocolate cookies I’ve ever had. Five different types of chocolate is used, creaming a supremely rich, decadent cookie
Nutella Brownie Truffle Bites (no-bake, GF) – None of the work of rolling the bites into little balls and instead, the dough is pressed into a pan and sliced to save time
Chocolate Covered Oreo Balls (no-bake) – Crushed Oreos, mixed with cream cheese, and coated in chocolate make for a rich, decadent, and very chocolaty treat that are especially popular around the holidays
Soft and Chewy Brownie Cookies – They taste like a fudgy, moist, decadent brownie in cookie form and are almost flour-less, making them even richer tasting
Raw Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls (vegan, GF) – Consistently one of the most viewed pages on my site, day in and day out, for the last 4 years since I posted this recipe in 2009. Made them in minutes and they taste like real chocolate chip cookie dough
Have you ever made no-bake bites or balls?
Making no-bake 40+ Dessert Bites, Balls, Cookie Dough, and Truffles is easy and there is no wrong way.
Combining nuts or seeds with dates, raisins, or other dried fruit; sometimes adding peanut butter, agave, maple syrup or other glue-like ingredients, and blending them is always going to result in something wonderful.
If you have favorite recipes, please share links.
Very cute. I make these often and store them in my freezer, but I’ve never thought of rolling them in sprinkles. Cute idea.
These balls are so darn cute and I love how you threw the colorful sprinkles on them. These would be the perfect after lunch snack that you wouldn’t feel guilty snacking on! I tend to have a bite or two of dark chocolate some afternoons and it really hits the spot! I love the addition of dates and cashews to give the chocolate some nutritional punch! Yum!
xoxo, Jackie
I think you’d love these, Jackie! They hit the spot for exactly what you’re talking about – that couple bites of dark choc that’s so needed some days :)
I Love how healthy these are! Seeing as my family east chocolate after EVER meal I think I need to make these!
For the choclaholics, these would go over super well I’d imagine :)
I’m a huge fan of your no-bake vegan dessert bites, and these sound fantastic. Totally making these for Easter…I love fooling family and friends with decadent treats that are actually healthy! Thanks for the recipe!
LMK if you give them a try!
I’ve made healthy brownies that are similar to these brownie bites. You are right – they are so, so good and rich and fudgy! You thought of something that I totally missed though… sprinkles! Duh! How could I forget those? This recipe looks wonderful, as always!
Sprinkles just make everything better and glad you’re already a fan of the nobake bites that are similar to these!
I love these things but haven’t made them in months. I got a new food processor last week and haven’t used it yet–this would be the perfect recipe to give it a test run. The fun thing about raw vegan nut bites are all the various nut and dried fruit combinations…but I’ve probably made chocolate ones most frequently (dried cherries are a tasty addition)! Ani Phyo’s raw donut holes are another favorite and work well with cashews instead of almonds.
I have all of Ani’s books and in 2009, that was what I made and tons of it! I have this post which has links to raw vegan donut holes and like 40 of my fave balls recipes https://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2010/01/ball-recipes.html
Also chocolate/cherry bites, too.
Congrats on your new food proc! Woot!
This is a dangerous post to be reading before breakfast! I’m fascinated by the idea of using the cashews as butter. I’m wondering if pecans would work, too because they seem to have a similar texture. I have to get experimenting, thanks for the inspiration.
Pecans add way more flavor than cashews. It’s much more distinctive and don’t blend into as creamy of a state as cashews. Better than almonds but on par with walnuts. Nothing beats a cashew is raw/vegan ‘unbaking’! :)
Is it so wrong to say that the sprinkles are my favorite part?! They’re so bright and colorful… makes me happy :)
They’re sort of my fave part, too :)
I would LOVE to have a bag of these laying around for late night cravings (which always happen!!!). So cute and fun too with the sprinkles!
You and me both! Better these than tons of cookies, chips, or other junky snackfood which I am prone to at that hour :)
It’s so nice to have guilt-free options like this that still make you feel like you’re indulging a bit! These look just perfect! Loe the addition of cashews.
They actually feel and taste super!! indulgent, which is so nice!
I love having healthy dessert options to curb a chocolate craving. Once I get my hands on some cashews, I’ll have to give this a try. Thanks!
Enjoy and LMK how they go for you!
These are so cute! And I sure could use a balance of healthy desserts in my diet! Thanks Averie (love the sprinkles :)
May as well include sprinkles in everything I possibly can is my theory :)
The sprinkles are the perfect touch to make these extra decadent!! I need these in my life so that when that sweet craving hits at night, I can reach for these instead of a tub of ice cream!
Having a stash of these in the fridge/freezer prevents me from reaching for cookies, real brownies, or whatever else I seem to find!
I’m very tempted to make these right now! I have a question for you. I’ve tried processing dates before, and they’re super hard to work with in my sub-par food processor. Now, I could try to work with it again by chopping them up before adding them into the bowl. However, I’ve seen dates that are already processed into almost a paste at the international store. Would this be okay to use? It’s just processed dates pressed into a brick shape, but it crumbles apart fairly easily.
Just soak your existing dates in warm water for a half hour or so; and then if need be, chop them into smaller bits before adding to your food proc. If your dates end up getting VERY water logged, you may need to play with the ratios a bit but by and large, this is way easier, convenient and cost effective! than buying those pastes. I know what you’re talking about…ripoff IMO. Just soak your own dates and make your own paste :)
Thanks for the tip!
OMG, this is so healthy that I need to do it. And it’s not at all because it’s chocolate ;)
Glad you like them!