After finishing our finals during my senior year of high school, a few of my friends and I celebrated with lunch at the newly-opened Cheesecake Factory, located at our town’s mall about two miles away. Since we arrived shortly after they started service, the hostess immediately seated us at a table outside.
As my first time at the restaurant, I took my time browsing through the menu, scanning the descriptions of any dish that sounded interesting or appealing. If you’ve dined there before, you know how long that menu is: with over 250 items, it’s nearly as thick as a textbook! (Only a slight exaggeration…)
I finally settled on the fresh vegetable salad with chicken (still my favorite meal that I order whenever I go!), and I tried to tide myself over by slowly nibbling on slices of the fresh sourdough and molasses-oat bread. With five of us at the table sharing the same complimentary basket, that wasn’t hard at all, and we each saved plenty of room for our entrées.
Knowing I’d spend the next few days at graduation parties and indulging in lots of treats to celebrate, I opted to skip dessert when our server dropped off those second menus. However, most of my friends ordered something sweet to end their meal, including a classic strawberry-topped cheesecake, chocolate cheesecake, and brownie sundae.
While the cheesecakes looked incredibly rich, I started eyeing the brownie dessert as soon as I spotted it on the waitress’s tray. Three thick triangular brownies, the fudgiest I’d ever seen, served with two scoops of sweet vanilla ice cream and finished with a generous amount of hot fudge sauce. My chocoholic heart literally skipped a beat, and when my friend proclaimed he was done, he offered me the rest… And I happily sampled (or, umm, maybe finished off…) the brownies!
When I drove past the Cheesecake Factory last week, I thought of that celebratory lunch, especially the brownie sundae. Although highly tempted to stop my car and order dessert, I headed straight home and immediately started to mix up a healthier batch of my own. But if you read my last recipe blog post, you’ll recall that I realized I had completely run out of flour!
So I improvised and whipped up these Practically Flourless Extra Fudgy Brownies instead! They’re just as chocolaty and fudgy as the ones from that original Cheesecake Factory dessert, but they contain absolutely no butter, heavy cream, refined flour or sugar.
And with just 74 calories, I don’t feel guilty about sneaking seconds!
Have you read the first Harry Potter book or watched the movie? Do you remember the scene where Hermione asks the Gryffindor ghost, “Nearly headless? How can you be nearly headless?” I’m guessing a similar thought floated through your mind when you saw this recipe title! “Practically flourless? How can these be practically flourless?”
They’re practically flourless because you’ll use homemade oat flour instead of regular all-purpose flour! Oat flour is almost exactly what it sounds like—ground up oats—and it’s incredibly easy to make your own. Just follow my quick instructions here. It only takes a few minutes, and it’s much cheaper than store-bought!
Next, you’ll add an equal amount of unsweetened cocoa powder to the bowl. That’s right—a full ¾ cup! When it comes to brownies, I’m too lazy to melt chocolate, and as a chocoholic who considers chocolate to be its own food group, I basically want to dive into my dessert ASAP. Just remember: it’s very important to measure the cocoa powder correctly, using a kitchen scale or this method, because too much will dry out your brownies and make them taste bitter.
With only 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, the brownies get the rest of their fudgy texture from my favorite ingredient in healthier baking. If you’ve been around AHB for a while, you already know what it is… Greek yogurt! Greek yogurt provides the same moisture as extra oil or butter for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your brownies a protein boost too.
To sweeten these, you’ll skip the granulated sugar and use pure maple syrup instead. Make sure you buy the good kind! Avoid pancake syrups or sugar-free syrups; those contain corn syrup or artificial ingredients. The only ingredient on the label should be “maple syrup,” and it generally comes in thin glass bottles or squat plastic jugs. I’ve even bought it online here at a slightly discounted price!
I have a special trick to extra fudgy brownies… You’ll bake them at a low temperature, just 300°F, and pull the pan out of the oven when the edges look done but the center still appears glossy and not fully set. The heat from the pan will continue to cook the center while they cool without drying out the edges. If the brownie edges begin pulling away from the sides of the pan within about 15 minutes of removing the pan from the oven, you baked them for the perfect amount of time!
Who’s ready for a treat?? You better believe I am… Brownies are actually my favorite dessert! ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your brownies and feature them in my Sunday Spotlight series!
| Practically Flourless Extra Fudgy Brownies | | Print |
- ¾ cup (90g) easy homemade oat flour (measured like this)
- ¾ cup (60g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup (80g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup (120mL) pure maple syrup
- 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.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 300°F for 15-19 minutes (15 minutes yields the fudgiest brownies; 19 minutes yields slightly cakier brownies). Cool completely to room temperature in the pan, and let the brownies sit for at least 3 hours at room temperature for the fudgiest texture before serving.
Regular whole wheat flour, whole wheat pastry flour, white whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the oat flour. Gluten-free flour may be substituted as well. For the gluten-free flour, I recommend as follows: ½ cup (60g) millet flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) brown rice flour, 2 tablespoons (15g) tapioca flour, and ½ teaspoon xanthan gum. Most store-bought gluten-free flour blends will work as well, if measured like this.
I don’t recommend using Dutched or special dark cocoa powder. The brownies already taste very rich and dark chocolaty without it!
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.
{gluten-free, clean eating, low fat, low calorie}
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You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♥ Fudgy Dark Chocolate Frosted Brownies
♥ Fudgy Dark Chocolate Raspberry Brownies
♥ Fudgy Mocha Brownies with Coffee Drizzle
♥ Fudgy Raspberry Mocha Brownies
♥ Fudgy Dark Chocolate Strawberry Brownies
♥ Fudgy Peppermint Mocha Brownies
Oh my gosh, fudgy brownies are my FAVORITE and these look fantastic Amy! 🙂 Now I know why you posted DIY Oat Flour the other day! I should’ve known you were cooking up something delicious. 😉
That’s exactly why we’re friends Marina — brownies are my all-time favorite dessert too! 😉
Haha, LOVE the Harry Potter reference… 😉 These sound fabulous! I’m a big fan of anything with oat flour. I’ve been meaning to get to Whole Foods to see if I can find some unsweetened coconut milk yogurt- when I do, then I can totally make these (subbing the eggs for some Ener-G)!
Ener-G is SUCH a life saver! I hope you find some non-dairy yogurt soon! Can you have almond-based yogurts? (I’ve had better luck finding those than coconut milk ones; that’s the only reason I ask!) 😉 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the brownies sweet pea!
Amy. I could definitely have almond milk yogurt- the trouble is finding a non-dairy yogurt with no cane sugar added, as I have to avoid that too!
Totally getcha — that’s on my list too! 😉
I live in Mexico and can’t get Greek Yogurt here. Can you use regular yogurt instead?
Yes, regular yogurt is fine! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the brownies Debra!
These look amazing! Could I use honey instead of the maple syrup if I can’t get hold of any proper/ pure maple syrup?
I actually answered that already in the Notes section underneath the Instructions. 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of the brownies Laura!
I certainly do remember that Harry Potter scene! These brownies look super delicious – and right up my street! They sound like my perfect dessert – extra fudgy….chocolate….and brownies!! I love how this recipe skips out the melting process on the hob, as it is so much quicker and easier this way. Considering these brownies contain oats and Greek yogurt (two common breakfast foods), I could have one for breakfast…or maybe two or three, right? ? Haha I can’t wait to try these Amy!?
I’m ALL for eating these brownies for breakfast Katie!! I’m picturing one crumbled over Greek yogurt with some diced fruit and maybe even a sprinkling of chocolate chips… 😉 I can’t wait to hear what you think of them Katie!
Hi Amy,
I just tried this recipe and I measured everything out to avoid it being overly dry, but it didn’t come out anything like your picture. Question: Is the batter really thick to begin with? Mine was really thick and difficult to spread. I don’t have any glossy look at all … not from the beginning or the end.
I used melted coconut oil instead of butter and I used a maple syrup/agave blend from Trader Joes instead of maple sugar.
I suspect the measurements are off and hence it’s really dry, but I swear I measured everything down to the gram or ml. 🙁
I have tried many of your recipes and they’ve turned out great, but this one seems to be an epic fail on my part. 🙁 🙁
Cheri
I truly appreciate your interest in my recipe Cheri! It means a lot to me that you’ve tried many of my recipes and they’ve turned out well, so let’s work together to figure out what happened here. 🙂 Did you use homemade oat flour or store-bought, and did you measure it with a kitchen scale? Also, how did you measure the cocoa powder, and what brand did you use? Did you make any other substitutions besides the ones you listed? The batter should be thick but easily spreadable with a spatula, so it sounds like there was either too many dry ingredients or not enough wet. We’ll solve this — I promise! 🙂
I love, love, love oat flour! It makes the best pancakes. I never thought to put it brownies 🙂 Can’t wait to try it
I’m excited to hear what you think of the brownies Jess! 🙂
I made these brownies yesterday and they are absolutely fantastic. I used oat flour which I made and have never used before. The top of the brownies have a shiny mirror effect and they are the perfect gooey consistency, thank you!
I’m so glad you loved the brownies Kelly! That means a lot to me. 🙂
Omg made these today. They are to die for. I used coconut oil and instead of maple syrup I used coconut sugar. Made a touch dry so added a teaspoon of Walden farms syrup. Also have Walden farms Carmel dip so I dropped a couple of teaspoons of Carmel on top. Thank you for a healthy alternative
I’m so glad you enjoyed the brownies Jan! The caramel sounds like such a lovely addition. I’ll have to remember that! 🙂 In the future, if you prefer to use coconut sugar in place of the maple syrup, add ¼ cup of milk (any type will do!) to compensate for the missing liquid. That’ll give your brownies the same taste and texture as the original recipe!
Hi, I love the sound of this recipe as it uses your homemade oat flour instead of gluten free flour! However, I love to make my brownies very chocolatey, and I’m not as worried about the healthy aspect of the recipe, and so would like to include melted chocolate as well as the cocoa flour. I’m guessing I’d have to drop the liquid quantity a little to compensate… What do you think? Thanks!
I appreciate your interest in my recipe Ailsa! These brownies are already extremely rich and chocolaty. I don’t recommend adding melted chocolate to the batter, but you could easily stir in chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bars instead! 🙂 I can’t wait to hear what you think of them!