Perfect Fudgy Vegan Brownies (Gluten Free and Sugar Free options)

These fudgy vegan brownies are the most perfect fudgy, gooey, chocolatey brownies ever – all while being undetectably vegan and can easily be made gluten free AND sugar free!

I don’t know about you, but when I have a chocolate craving, there’s nothing that satisfies it better than a fudgy brownie.  I’m not sure other desserts even need to exist in the presence of these.  And these fudgy vegan brownies give you a double punch of chocolate, using both melted chocolate, AND cocoa powder! 

(Also if you’re already like, let’s step it up a notch, hit up these Vegan Cheesecake Brownies next!)

I found a fun challenge in creating these – replacing the eggs in vegan baking is always the biggest question mark, but in brownies it’s particularly tough because in addition to usual egg-duties in baking, the egg is what gives brownies that beautiful crinkle top.  A lot of vegan brownie recipes taste fantastic, but don’t get any crust on top at all. Some vegan brownies work so hard to get that crinkle crust without eggs that the techniques or ingredients are tough to replicate in your own kitchen.

What you will find here is that these use a traditional method – melting chocolate and fat together in a double boiler – but we take it a step further and also mix the sugar in.  Heating the sugar in that way gives a faux-crust layer without adding any extra steps or dirty dishes as you go!

Already salivating thinking about melting chocolate??  Let’s get started..

How To Make Them:

This recipe succeeds best if you have all your ingredients ready to go before beginning any work.  Better known as “mise en place”, or everything in place, this is crucial here because the batter bakes best when it goes in warm.  Aka, you don’t want to pull your chocolate off the double boiler and then realize you forgot to measure your flour.

Here is the prep you need to get together:

• Dry ingredients – mix your flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl, and set it aside.
• Double boiler ingredients – get your vegan butter and chocolate into a big bowl that can be used on a double boiler.  Not sure what this means?  I will explain in this section!
• Have your sugar (see the Ingredients Needed section to learn how to make these sugar free!), vanilla extract, and milk measured out separately and ready to go near your work station.  The sugar especially should be next to your stove top as it will go into the double boiler bowl while it’s still on the heat.
• Line your brownie pan and preheat your oven!  In the photos you can see that I used binder clips to hold my parchment paper in place.  I do this so the batter goes in cleanly without risking pulling down the sides of the lining.  Once the batter is in the pan, I remove the clips before sticking it in the oven.

After the prep is done..

Once all of the above is ready to go, it’s time to get that double boiler going.  If you have not done this before, it’s very simple!  The idea here is you will boil a little bit of water in a pot, and rest your bowl on top of the pot so the steam from the boiling water melts your chocolate and vegan butter together.  The most important thing here is to be sure the water from the pot does not touch the bottom of the bowl. 

Once the water is boiling, and all your ingredients are fully prepped, let’s get to melting!  Put the bowl on top of the pot and use a rubber spatula to mix together the chocolate and the vegan butter until it’s fully smooth.  This will take just a few minutes.  As soon as that’s done, add the sugar into the bowl while it is still on top of the pot and mix it together.  Within about 1 minute, the sugar will be fully combined into the liquid chocolate and butter mixture.  See the photo below if you want guidance.

Remove the bowl from the double boiler, and let it sit for about one minute.  You want the mixture to still be very warm as you do the last few steps and get the batter into the oven, but you don’t want it to be HOT.  Add in the vanilla and the milk and mix until fully combined.  Finally add in your dry ingredients and mix just until they are smooth.  If you overmix, it runs the risk of getting a bit less fudgy and a bit more cake-y.  The batter will be fairly thick, as you can see in the second photo below.

Time to bake!

Put them in the oven at 325 for 30 minutes.  The lower temperature here helps cook the brownies throughout and really keeps the insides moist and fudgy.  Once they are out, put the pan on a cooling rack so air circulates to the bottom of the pan too, and let them cool before removing the parchment paper.  It’s tough to wait, the smell is amazing!, but 1-2 hours is necessary to let them set fully before cutting them into squares.

And that’s it! Time to eat your PERFECT fudgy vegan brownies!! Nutritional info can be found in the Notes section below the recipe instructions.

Storage:

After they have cooled, seal in an air-tight container and store at room temperature.  They will stay good for around 5 days.

Pro Tips & Tools:

• Make sure you are measuring your flour either by weight or using the spoon and level method.  Do not scoop directly from the container, as you will wind up with too much! This is so important! If you want to buy a pre-made gluten free flour blend, make sure it’s King Arthur’s Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour, it is BY FAR the best one for my recipes, NOT Bob’s Red Mills or any others. If you want to make a homemade blend, here is a link to the one I use.
• Make sure you measure your liquid ingredients using liquid measuring cups.  This will ensure accuracy!  I love this set.
• The chocolate I use is 56% cacao.  I’d recommend staying around this zone.  These are the bars I work with, which are so easy since each piece has the ounce amount stamped right into it.
• In case you skimmed everything above but are reading this, the #1 tip for this recipe is mise en place!  Prep all your ingredients and have them handy before beginning, as the batter works best when it’s warm, so you don’t want to be scrambling for something in the middle of baking.   

Ingredients Needed:

• Vegan butter – I use Earth Balance sticks. Also, I have not tried these with oil, though I know a lot of vegan brownie recipes use oil instead of butter.  Try at your own risk!
• Vegan chocolate for melting – I use these chocolate bars for my melting chocolate.  You can use any you want, but if you are using chocolate chips I strongly recommend weighing them to make sure it’s the right amount, as this recipe is specific on measurements. If you don’t use this exact one, try to stick to something around 56% cacao.
• Granulated sugar – If you want to make these sugar free, I love using this Monkfruit Sweetener in place of granulated sugar.
• Non-dairy milk – any type should work here.  I usually use soy or almond.
• Vanilla extract
• Flour – Make sure you are measuring your flour either by weight or using the spoon and level method.  Do not scoop directly from the container, as you will wind up with too much! This is so important! If you want to buy a pre-made gluten free flour blend, make sure it’s King Arthur’s Measure for Measure Gluten Free Flour, it is BY FAR the best one for my recipes, NOT Bob’s Red Mills or any others. If you want to make a homemade blend, here is a link to the one I use.
• Cocoa powder
• Salt   

What To Bake Next:

• Want these but slightly modified? Try them in cookie form with these Vegan Fudgy Brownie Cookies, or try them with cheesecake ON TOP with these Vegan Cheesecake Brownies. Or for other chocolate goodness, try these Vegan Classic Chocolate Cupcakes, or these Vegan Copycat Thin Mint Cookies.
• Need even MORE chocolate options? Try these Vegan Copycat Entenmann’s Donuts, or these Vegan S’mores Cupcakes, or this Vegan Triple Chocolate Cake.
• Want more use out of your 8×8 pan? Try these Vegan Lemon Bars, this Vegan Coffee Cake, or these Vegan Pecan Pie Bars.