What’s better than fudgy peanut butter brownies? Healthy peanut butter brownies that are super fudgy and delicious, but actually healthy. These healthy peanut butter brownies are completely addicting, are made with healthy ingredients so you don’t have to feel guilty about eating them, and as an added bonus, they’re gluten free and dairy free, so they work for a wide range of dietary requirements!
Healthy Peanut Butter Brownies
- 1 cup creamy salted natural peanut butter (mixed well)
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 6 pitted dates (this comes out to about 1/3 cup dates)
- 1/3 cup boiling water
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup oat flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Start by placing the pitted dates in a heatproof bowl along with the kosher salt, and cover them with 1/3 cup boiling water. Let them sit and soften for 15 minutes. Once the dates are softened and the water has cooled to about room temp, add the dates, eggs, and vanilla to a blender or Nutribullet (I love my Nutribullet and use it for everything) and blend until smooth. You don’t want chunks of dates in these brownies.
Add the blended dates, eggs, and vanilla to a bowl, and add in the peanut butter and brown sugar. Mix until everything is well combined. The combination of the brown sugar and softened dates gives these healthy peanut butter brownies great depth in flavor and makes them fudgy and chewy.
In a separate bowl, mix the oat flour, cocoa powder, and baking soda until everything is well combined and you get rid of as many lumps in the cocoa powder as possible.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in two batches and mix so that all of the dry ingredients are moistened. The batter will be very thick.
Finally, add in the dark chocolate chips and stir to distribute them throughout the batter.
Line an 8×8 baking dish or a baking dish around that size with parchment paper and spray lightly with cooking spray.
Add in the batter and smooth the top so that the batter is in one even layer. Bake the healthy peanut butter brownies for 30-40 minutes until they are set and not gooey in the center. Insert a toothpick in the center to test if they are done. You may get some moist crumbs on the toothpick, but you want to make sure that there’s no raw batter.
Let the healthy peanut butter brownies cool completely and come to room temperature before cutting. I actually think these are even better a few hours or a day after baking because everything settles together and becomes fudgier and gets a more chewy texture.
Cut into 16-24 brownies depending on how big you want them. They are healthy but are also rich so I prefer them on the smaller side. Store these covered at room temp for up to a week. Enjoy!