Vegan Chocolate Brownies (Candida Diet Friendly)
These vegan chocolate brownies, which also happen to be gluten-free, sugar-free, and are candida diet-friendly, are super easy to make and require less than 40 minutes.
For all my candida-diet friends out there, it’s perfect with a dollop of plain coconut cream to break up the richness of this beautiful chocolate brownie.
Alternatively, you can serve it with a scoop of vegan coconut ice cream!
Why I HAD to make this vegan chocolate brownie recipe
Outside of the obvious reasons for making any brownie recipe, this one is particularly special to me. See, at the time, I was doing an elimination diet so that I could be de-sensitised to wheat, as well as detox.
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With my love for pasta, pizza, bread, etc., this was a big deal for me. But only good quality stuff, none of the cheap, processed crap. However, every time I took a mouthful, I would look like I was six months pregnant and had other symptoms that gave me a lot of discomfort.
So, trying to get my health right meant that I had to eliminate all types of sweeteners (including fruit), starchy vegetables, mushrooms, legumes, beans, corn, rice, wheat, soy, some nuts, and anything that came in a packet. I was eating similar foods pretty much every day.
The only sweeteners allowed were stevia (which I’m not a fan of) and xylitol. Now, I’ve used birch xylitol before and was familiar with it, so using it in desserts wasn’t an issue. It’s a great sugar substitute for people with diabetes as well.
My search for a candida-friendly dessert
I explored a few different recipes; however, they had ingredients that I couldn’t have like sugar, maple syrup, arrowroot, cornstarch, and tapioca. I played around with what I could have, and this is how I created this recipe.
This recipe turned out so well that I even surprised myself! Even now that I’m not on the super strict diet anymore, I still make it.
If you don’t want to use xylitol, you can substitute it for regular raw sugar or coconut sugar instead. And the chocolate used can be just plain vegan dark chocolate chips.
Please note: Xylitol is highly toxic to dogs. So please be very careful when using it!
Now, get excited. You will fall in love with the simplicity and deliciousness of this recipe.
If you’re currently on the candida diet protocol, these vegan chocolate brownies will be a saviour!
Other tasty desserts you’ll love:
- Sugar-Free Chocolate & Hazelnut Granola (Vegan and GF)
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Cake
- 3-Ingredient Chocolate Puffed Rice Slice
- 4-Ingredient Vegan Ginger Chocolate Truffles
- Classic Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Chocolate Orange Cake (Vegan & Gluten-Free)
If you try this recipe, let me know! I would love for you to leave a comment and rating below. If you want to go that extra mile, tag us on Instagram or share your photo of the recipe on Pinterest.Â
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Vegan Chocolate Brownies (Candida Diet Friendly)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Bake Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 8 brownies
Description
Quick and easy satisfying sugar-free brownies that everyone can enjoy. They’re the perfect guilt-free treat!
Ingredients
- 2 cups / 200g almond flour*
- ½ teaspoon bicarb soda
- ½ teaspoon aluminium-free baking powder
- â…“ cup / 70g birch xylitol*
- 2 tablespoons cacao powder
- Pinch of salt
- â…“ cup / 90g almond butter
- ¼ cup / 40ml coconut oil, melted
- ½ cup / 120ml water or almond milk*
- 85g / 2.99 ounces xylitol-sweetened chocolate chips (I used a block of Little Zebra chocolate)*
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 190 degrees Celcius (375 degrees Fahrenheit) and line a bread loaf tin or small baking dish with baking paper.
- Mix all ingredients well in a bowl until you get a cookie dough-like consistency. If it’s too dry, add a couple more tablespoons of water.
- Spread the batter evenly inside the lined baking tin and bake for 20-25 minutes or until it starts to become a slightly darker brown on the top and doesn’t appear raw when you jiggle the baking dish. Brownies are meant to be a little under, so don’t be afraid to take it out of the oven if it appears still a little soft when you touch the top.
- Let it cool completely before cutting and serving. This will help everything to bind together well when cooled.
Notes
Almond flour: Here in Australia, it’s hard to come by almond flour, so I just used a blanched almond meal. It works just as well.
Birch xylitol: Make sure you use xylitol that is from the birch tree, not corn-derived. Check the ingredients. You want 100% birch tree xylitol. If you’re not after a sugar-free alternative, then raw sugar or coconut sugar will also work.
Almond milk: I make my own almond milk to avoid any fillers and sugars. Here’s the method – Soak ½ cup / 80g of almonds overnight. Drain and rinse them the next day, adding to a high-speed blender with 750ml / 25.36 ounces of water, and blend until smooth. Strain the almond milk through a nut milk bag or muslin cloth and bottle the liquid. I add the almonds that remain in the nut milk bag to porridge, smoothies etc.
Chocolate: If you can find plain xylitol-sweetened chocolate chips, use those. I used a chocolate block and chopped it up into small pieces. If you don’t want to use a xylitol-sweetened one, use dark vegan chocolate chips instead.
- Diet: Vegan
This is so delicious! I will be making this many more times in the future, haha.
I’m so happy to hear you liked them! Happy eating 🙂
I mean…like I guess the flavor was there but it fell apart like sand. It was like chocolate sand for me, but I did only wait five minutes for it to cool down. Maybe next time, I’ll wait longer for it to set?
Hi Natalie, the recipe states in step 4 in the instructions to let it cool completely. This is why they fell apart. They will crumble if you try and cut them while warm. If you want to speed up the process, you can let them cool down a bit before letting them set in the fridge. I hope you have better luck next time.
I made these and the flavor was so spot on! I didn’t have compliant chocolate chips at the time so I omitted. However, I found that it fell apart easily. But was still moist if that makes sense. I followed the recipe as written. Any idea why they fell apart so easily? Thank you!
Hi Erika, did you let it cool completely? You could try and refrigerate it before cutting. They can be on the softer side otherwise. That should help keep them together.
I love this recipe!! Thank you so much!! Second time making these brownies. I didn’t have the sugar free chocolate chips so used walnuts and added a tsp more cocoa powder. For the second batch I added a little extra Monk fruit sweetener and I used walnuts and pecans. Hopefully this batch last until Christmas lol. Great addition to my Candida diet 💙
Yum! Love the idea of adding nuts to it 🙂 Glad you love this recipe x
For a person going through a candida diet this is a very nice alternative snack/ dessert! I used munk fruit sugar and only put in 1/2 a cup instead of their 2/3 cup. And instead of using chocolate chips ( which I cant have right now) I used extra coco powder and it still turned out great! Nice and moist!
Yay! So glad you enjoyed these 🙂 Thanks for sharing the changes you made.
This is an absolute treat without all the bad stuff! Thank you for creating and sharing.
I’ve made this two times now and it’s been delicious both times. Today I had an overripe banana so I added that and cut down on the nut butter to around 55g – I appreciate it’s a candida-friendly recipe so the fruit sugar may not work for everyone but did add to the flavour and juiciness. I also added a bit of freshly grated ginger for the health benefits and it worked really well.
So glad you like it, Lolly! Yum, I love the addition of banana and ginger. Thanks for sharing 🙂
OH MY! This recipe is so easy and the brownies turned out awesome! I added a scoop of vanilla protein powder and bittersweet choc chips. Just delicious!
I’m so sorry I missed your comment. So glad you enjoyed them, Debra 🙂
Can I use all cacao powder if I don’t have vegan chocolate/chocolate chips?
You can just leave them out 🙂
Hi there, I’m allergic to coconut. Do you know what I could use instead of coconut oil? thanks!
I haven’t tried any other oil in these brownies but you could try something like macadamia oil. A neutral candida-friendly (if you’re on that diet) oil should work in place of coconut in the recipe.
Can I use stevia in place of xylitol? Stevia is the only sweetnerI can have.
If it’s not the liquid variety, it should be fine. I’m just not sure how much you would have to substitute it for as I find stevia tricky to work with. It would have to be less than xylitol. Let me know how you go with it 🙂
Thank god I found you and this recipe otherwise I don’t think I’d have made it through my candida diet. They are DELISH. Thank you x
Can we use organic jaggery instead of xylitol
Thanks.
Please post answer on my email address only.
Thanks again.
I haven’t used jaggery in my baking before, so I’m not sure how it would turn out in this recipe. I would say that it might make them a little too soft.
Can I use carob powder instead
I personally haven’t tried it, but I don’t see why not! Let me know how they turn out if you do use it.
Thank you for this recipe. I’m on the 10th day of an antifungal diet and was craving a treat. These came out perfect. I halved the recipe out of fear it wouldn’t turn out but it surpassed my expectations. My whole family loved them including the kids. I did use homemade coconut milk which made them extra rich. Thank you again.
Yay! So happy to hear you all enjoyed them 🙂 Make sure to double the recipe next time haha
I used coconut flour and brown rice flour. It resulted in another flour. Lol. Do you think I could crush it up again and add eggs to make it into something cakey. I could use it as a cereal maybe. Hahaha
Oh that’s a shame it didn’t work for you. I’m not sure sorry, but it’s worth a shot!
I absolutely LOVE these! They are such an indulgent treat on such a restrictive diet.
Everyone else I’ve offered them to loves them too. They are a constant ‘go to’ for me now even now I’m moving off the diet, so easy and quick to make, Thank you so much!
I have one question, can they be frozen? I hate waste especially with something so expensive as almond flour, I would love to be able to freeze half of what I make.
So glad you love them, Kate! This is why I had to create something when I was on the diet, I couldn’t find anything out there that satisfied my cravings but that was allowed. I haven’t tried freezing them myself as they don’t last that long in my house. However, I imagine that it should be fine. Please report back and let me know how you go 🙂
Yay! So happy to hear you all enjoyed them 🙂 Make sure to double the recipe next time haha
Can I omit the almond butter as I don’t have any at home?
It, unfortunately, can’t be taken out, the brownie will fall apart. You can use any other nut or seed butter instead.
Hi, is there anyway you could do the gram measurements? I think i royally messed this up trying to convert the measurements.
Hi Elizabeth, I’m so sorry it wasn’t a success for you! I have just updated the recipe with the measurements for you to try again. They’re worth it! Please let me know how you go the second time around.
I substituted the almond flour for 1/2 a cup coconut flour and 2 eggs. Needed an extra 10 minutes to cook but was amazing! I also added some chopped walnuts.
Glad you enjoyed them!
I cant have almonds, what other flour can I use with this recipe?
Hi Donna, I haven’t tried it with any other nut flour, sorry. But you can try walnut meal instead?
Can you substitute stevia for the xylitol? If so, how much?
Thank you!
I don’t think that stevia would work in place of xylitol, sorry.
I just bought monkfruit. Could I use that instead of xylitol? I’ve never baked with either before.
Is the monkfruit a liquid sweetener? I haven’t used it before so I can’t really say, sorry.
My friend made these for me, as I’m on the candida diet. WHOA. They are unreal and incredibly delicious. Can’t wait to make them myself.
Hi Emily, I’m so glad your friend made these brownies for you. They really give you something to look forward to on the candida diet. I just made some yesterday 😉
Making them now. In high hopes. Needing a yummy dessert!
I must have made a mistake. They didn’t turn out right.
Oh sorry to hear! What do you think could have gone wrong? How did they turn out?
Best brownies I’ve ever had! No feelings of being bogged down which is common when I eat these types of things. And they’re actually healthy (in moderation). Can’t go wrong with this recipe. They are now part of my regular go to list.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these brownies, Rhys! Thanks for letting us know how it went 🙂
Yumo! I will be sure to try this! Thanks
Hope you enjoy it! 🙂