Pumpkin Brownies (Healthy and Grain-Free!)
I’m a big brownie girl. A good, thick, fudgy brownie is hard to beat. This year, I got creative with my brownie recipes and wanted to create a seasonal variation that was also on the healthier side. After seven rounds of testing, I finally landed on these grain-free Pumpkin Brownies!
Yes, I said seven rounds of recipe testing. I wanted to make sure these pumpkin brownies were exactly what I wanted. There was only one round of tests that was pretty inedible. That was when I learned chia seeds are not my thing. The other trials were pretty tasty overall.
These pumpkin brownies are grain-free, gluten-free, and refined-sugar-free, and easy to make vegan. But they’re still super fudgy, chocolatey, and rich, and definitely don’t “taste healthy.” They’re naturally sweet without being sugary. You don’t really taste the pumpkin itself, but the pumpkin pie spices come through nicely and are delicious with the dark cocoa powder.
These brownies are heavily inspired by the tahini brownies and zucchini brownies from Ambitious Kitchen. I made both of those recipes often this spring and summer and pretty quickly knew I wanted to make a pumpkin version this fall.
Coconut flour hasn’t historically been a go-to flour alternative for me, but I’ve gotten better at using it over the last six months or so. It’s very finicky and is super absorbent, so substituting it into an existing recipe is difficult. It’s better to develop a recipe with coconut flour in mind, rather than sub it in for regular flour. If coconut flour isn’t your thing, or you can’t find it, you can use 3/4 cup regular flour or almond flour in its place.
One trick I learned for baking with pumpkin: strain it! Pumpkin puree has a lot of moisture in it, which can change the texture of your bake. So before you add it into your recipe, squeeze out some of the moisture with a paper towel or cheese cloth. It makes a surprising difference! (Thanks for sharing that tip, Broma Bakery!)
Let’s make Grain-Free Pumpkin Brownies!
To make them, you will need:
- 1 cup Pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup Coconut flour
- 1/2 cup Coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 1/4 cup nut butter or tahini
- 2 eggs (or flax eggs to make them vegan)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 – 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice (depending on how strong you want to flavor)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional, but why would you make brownies without them?)
Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Gather all your ingredients.
Add your strained pumpkin puree, nut butter, eggs, vanilla extract, and sugar to a mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.
Add the coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice, and salt, and mix with the wet ingredients. Fold in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips if desired. The batter will be thick!
Transfer the batter to a lightly greased (or lined with parchment paper) 8″ x 8″ baking pan and spread out in the pan. Tip: use an offset spatula to easily and evenly spread the batter to the edges of the pan.
Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out lightly fudgy. You don’t want a toothpick to come out completely clean; that means your brownies are over-baked and will be dry!
Let the brownies cool for 5 minutes before turning out and slicing. Enjoy warm! Cooled brownies can be stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Did you enjoy this recipe? You might also like:
- Double Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins
- Pumpkin Spice Cake Mix Cookies
- Perfect Fudgy Brownies
- Apple Cider Muffins
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Pumpkin Brownies (Healthy, Grain-Free!)
Ingredients
- 1 cup pumpkin puree
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup tahini or nut butter
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 2 eggs (or flax eggs)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Lightly grease an 8" x 8" baking pan, or line it with parchment paper.
- Add pumpkin puree, eggs, sugar, vanilla extract, and nut butter to a mixing bowl. Whisk to combine.
- Add coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt, and mix until smooth. Fold in chocolate chips if using.
- Transfer the batter to the prepared baking pan. Use an offset spatula to smooth it out.
- Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out lightly fudgy. Let cool for 5 minutes before slicing.
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