This past Friday evening, my guy and I put my parents’ season tickets to use and drove over to the stadium to watch my favorite team’s baseball game. With thicker traffic and more freeway accidents than usual, we barely made it to the off ramp before the scheduled start time, and we joined the long snail-paced line of cars eager to make it into the parking lot.
As we crept closer, we spotted extra police cars and parking attendants directing vehicles straight past the entrance. We glanced over and noticed that half of the parking lot had been blocked off—for the deserted remnants of a kids’ basketball camp.
All of those empty spaces!
However, the parking attendants randomly selected our car to enter the very full regular parking lot, so we wandered up and down the rows of cars for half an hour, desperately trying to find a spot. Eventually, we gave up and made our own along the barricades separating the basketball camp (and after the game, we saw that tons of cars ended up doing the same thing!).
Finally inside of the stadium, we sank into our seats and settled in to watch the game. As I pulled out snacks from my purse, I noticed a dad and his 5-year-old son sitting to my left out of the corner of my eye, and the boy practically bounced up and down in his seats, begging for a treat.
His dad reached into their backpack, pulled out a plastic container, and as he snapped off the lid, the sweet smell of chocolate wafted over the seats. Being a huge chocoholic, I couldn’t help but glance over to see what it was: a big frosted store-bought brownie.
As much as I wanted a chocolaty reward too for circling the parking lot while searching for a space for so long, I didn’t try to ask for a bite… I knew I had these Fudgy Dark Chocolate Strawberry Brownies of my own at home!
Although these brownies are healthier than store-bought or boxed mixes, they’re just as simple to make! You’ll whisk together the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet in another; then stir them together and pop everything in the oven to bake. Easy peasy!
To make things even easier, all of the chocolate flavor comes from cocoa powder. That means no messy chocolate chips to melt! But because of this, it’s really important to measure the cocoa powder correctly using either a kitchen scale or the spoon-and-level method. Do not scoop it directly from the container. That results in adding 1.5 times as much cocoa to the batter, which would make them taste almost as bitter as 100% baker’s chocolate. We’re aiming for 72% ish chocolate flavor, so lightly measure!
To keep them clean-eating friendly, these brownies are sweetened with pure maple syrup. With how much cocoa powder goes into the batter, you won’t taste any maple flavor at all! It simply adds sweetness. If you prefer, honey or agave would work too, as well as brown sugar and milk. For those substitutions, see the Notes section beneath the recipe.
And now for the special star—the strawberries! I opted for frozen unsweetened strawberries because they’re generally cheaper and readily available all year round. (Plus I always seem to snack on the pints of fresh berries I buy and forget to save some to bake with…) We’ll add a full cup to the batter so every bite has a sweet bit of fruit!
Here’s my secret to extra fudgy brownies: bake them low and slow. Just 300°F. This ensures that the center of the pan sets without the edges turning crisp and crunchy. Just remember to pull the pan out of the oven when the center is still glossy! The brownies will continue to bake a little bit more as they cool on the counter due to the warm pan, so don’t overbake them.
And after letting them rest, it’s time to slice and dig in!
| Clean & Fudgy Dark Chocolate Strawberry Brownies | | Print |
- ¾ cup (90g) white whole wheat flour (measured correctly)
- ¾ cup (60g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured correctly)
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tbsp (28g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup (120mL) pure maple syrup
- 1 cup (140g) frozen unsweetened strawberries, thawed slightly and diced
- Preheat the oven to 300°F, and lightly coat an 8”-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, eggs, and vanilla. Stir in the Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Stir in the maple syrup. Mix in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated. Gently fold in the frozen strawberries.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 300°F for 20-24 minutes (20 minutes yields the fudgiest brownies; 24 minutes yields slightly cakier brownies). Cool completely to room temperature in the pan, and let the brownies sit for at least 8 hours at room temperature for the fudgiest texture before serving.
Regular whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted in place of the white whole wheat flour.
Honey or agave may be substituted in place of the maple syrup. Alternatively, ½ cup of brown sugar plus ¼ cup of milk may be used instead.
If using fresh strawberries, the bake time may be reduced by a few minutes. The brownies are done when the edges look firm and the center looks glossy but mostly set.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
This recipe looks amazing; the brownies look delicious – can’t wait to try it out. Is there a good substitute for the eggs? Can golden syrup be used instead of maple syrup?
Thanks! Yes, golden syrup may be substituted for the maple syrup. My favorite egg replacer is Ener-G. It’s shelf-stable and keeps for ages, and it works perfectly in nearly all of my recipes, including all of my brownie recipes! For each egg, you’ll need 1½ teaspoons of Ener-G + 2 tablespoons warm water + an additional ½ tablespoon of butter or coconut oil (to compensate for the missing fat from the egg yolk). 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these brownies!
Amy, these brownies are the best “healthy” brownies I have made and I have tried many recipes. I substituted Whole Earth Organic Blue Agave which is half agave and half stevia, Red Grape Seed flour, and fresh strawberries, everything else was the same and I think I ate 7 the first day! Soooo yummy! Thank you!
Oh my goodness Barbara, that’s such a huge compliment — thank you SO much! I’m truly honored! 🙂 And thanks for letting me know about your recipe tweaks. I always love to hear what works!
What about if I want to use dark chocolate instead of cocoa powder? How many gram of chocolate should I use?
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Emy! These brownies were specifically designed for cocoa powder. Unfortunately, melted dark chocolate won’t work. I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to try these!
I tried making these tonight but after 30mins in the oven they still aren’t set- is the 300° temp right? I followed the recipe, except I substituted half-frozen raspberries for the frozen strawberries. I am right on the beach at sea level and it’s pretty humid so maybe that had an influence.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Lisa! Yes, the 300°F temperature and baking time are correct. When the brownies are done baking, the edges will look fully baked through, but the center will still look glossy and underdone. If your brownies begin to pull away from the edges of the pan within about 10 minutes after removing them from the oven, then you’ve baked them for the correct amount of time! The center will continue to cook through while you let the brownies cool to room temperature, and it’ll then fully set while you let them sit for those final 8 hours. 🙂
Girl, you are a genius. These are for sure the best brownies ive ever had. Thank you so much : )
That’s the best compliment ever Katie — I’m so glad you loved these brownies!! Thank you so much for taking the time to let me know! 🙂
I am new to clean eating. It’s snowing outside, so we are staying indoors. I decided to google something sweet to bake. I just made these with almond meal, just because I didn’t want to go to the store. Everything else I kept exactly the same! They came out perfect! Absolutely Delicious! Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved these brownies Rachel! That means the world to me! 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to let me know!
Could i use half the honey in this? What adjustments would i need
Or liquid stevia ?
I’m so sorry I’m just now replying to your comments, Amun! I’ve been out of the office for over a week, and I fell behind on blog comments as a result. I believe you wrote me a Facebook message about this recipe as well… So if that was you, I’m really glad you enjoyed these brownies, and thank you for taking the time to send your picture as well! That really meant a lot! 🙂
Hi Amy, I am planning to bake these brownies in my microwave on the “convection” mode (I had DM’d you on Insta as well a couple of months ago on another recipe). I will also be using fresh strawberries. What is the temperature and baking time I should use?
It means so much that you tried making these brownies, Sneha! I loved seeing your picture of them on Instagram. They looked wonderful — so fudgy and perfect!
I’m really sorry I’m just now seeing this. I had to take more time off than I anticipated to take care of some family things, but it looked like your brownies were a huge success!!
Hi Amy
Just took this out of the oven. Looks really good and thankful I didn’t make it tomorrow on Valentines Day. 8 hours to have it sit until it can be served. Also, I couldn’t find a Pinterest Pin?
It means so much that you tried my recipe to celebrate Valentine’s Day, Kim! I really hope you enjoyed them – and that you had a lovely Valentine’s Day too! ♡ If you’d like to save this recipe on Pinterest, here is a pin you can use. That’s the best kind of compliment, if you’d like to save this brownie recipe! 😉
I tried this recipe for my in-laws’ kids who eat organic desserts with natural sugar only. It turned out pretty well and the brownies had a nice texture and appealing appearance. They tasted like dark chocolate and strawberries. The kids enjoyed the brownies and liked that you couldn’t really “tell” they were healthy. That said, if you’re used to eating regular sweets, this definitely won’t taste the same. Great for what it is though as I have tried various recipes and this was the most impressive, so I will be saving it.