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Zucchini Chocolate Espresso Brownies with an almond butter swirl! Made with almond butter, chocolate, espresso and oats, these brownies are gluten free, vegan and low calorie. Luscious chocolate-y brownies that make healthy eating easy! Gluten Free + Low Calorie + Vegan
This Zucchini Chocolate Espresso Brownies recipe was originally published April 2016. I've retested, updated and rephotographed the recipe for you. Enjoy!
I've decided I need to plant a zucchini garden. This is a scary thing people! Everything I've ever planted dies. Hence, why I live in the dessert and plant cactus. You have to try really hard to kill a cactus. BUT for as many recipes as I make with zucchini, I thought I should at least try because I really do use zucchini in everything.
The only problem? I don't have a garden nor do I have room for a garden because I have a small courtyard. So I asked my all knowing, green finger garden planting mother for advice but even she wasn't sure. So I looked to my friend Google for suggestions and found out I could grown them in pots.
After consulting with Mom, she suggested I buy pots that are low to the ground so the vines could spread onto the patio. I remember her planting squash on the side of the house when I was younger and it literally grew like a weed.
Vines everywhere! Growing up, I mowed the lawn and was always fearful I'd run over a squash and become victim to Mom's wrath.
So now I have a large pot sporting two zucchini plants and already in two weeks the leaves have doubled. I'm taking that as a good sign. Bring on the zucchini!
That means a lot more zucchini oatless oatmeal, zucchini oat cookies, zucchini parmesan fries, zucchini red pepper frittata, zucchini salsa turkey burgers, healthy zucchini chocolate muffins, zucchini cocoa pancakes, zucchini bread and Zucchini Espresso Chocolate Brownies will be happening a lot more around here!
WAIT...back up. Did someone say brownies???
Why yes I did! Zucchini Espresso Chocolate Brownies to be exact!
Zucchini Espresso Chocolate Brownies
And these aren't just any brownies people. They're made with zucchini, cocoa, nut butter, oats and espresso powder. OMG yum! Someone call the chocolate police now.
Now the secret to making these Zucchini Espresso Chocolate Brownies extra creamy is to use creamy almond butter and the key to getting that holy grail chocolate-y chocolate taste is in the espresso powder. If you haven't used it before, I highly recommend it! BUT a little does go a long way. You don't need much and it lasts for-EVER.
What You Need
- Zucchini
- Almond Butter (creamy)
- Maple Syrup
- Applesauce
- Vanilla Extract
- Gluten Free Oats
- Espresso Powder
- Baking Soda
- Salt
Helpful Tips
Allow the brownies to cool completely before removing and slicing into bars. Because they are flourless, they will take slightly longer to cool and firm up.
Use a knife dipped in warm water to slice the brownies into bars and wipe the knife with a towel in between slicing to ensuring you get a clean cut.
I have not tested anything but oats with this recipe, but if you try something new please comment below. This helps others who make the recipe. Now let's bake!
Zucchini Chocolate Espresso Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups zucchini ~2 small zucchini shredded
- 1/2 cup almond butter creamy and unsweetened
- 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons espresso powder
- 3/4 cup Gluten Free Rolled Oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons almond butter for swirl
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F and prepare an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
- Place gluten free oats in food processor or high-speed blender and process until ground.
- In a large bowl, mix together almond butter, applesauce, maple syrup and vanilla until smooth.
- Next add zucchini, cocoa powder, ground oats, baking soda, espresso powder and salt and mix ingredients together until well combined.
- Pour batter into the prepared baking pan. With a toothpick swirl in the 2 tbsp of almond butter into the batter.
- Bake 25-30 minutes until a toothpick can be inserted into middle of the brownies and comes out clean. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan 30 minutes prior to slicing into 12 brownies and devouring!
Notes
- My Amazon shop has more products similar to those used for this recipe and that I recommend to my nutrition clients.
- I have not tested other flours with this recipe. If you do, please comment below to help others!
Nutrition
What I Used For The Recipe
These are so good! I used peanut butter instead of almond and it worked beautifully. Thank you for another awesome keeper recipe.
You're welcome! Glad you loved them.
I am soooo thrilled to have found this blog! GF recipes that look amazing are hard to find. Can't wait to try everything!!!
Should the zucchini be squeezed of as much moisture as possible or do I use the wet stuff as is?
I've never had any moisture in my zucchini to need to squeeze it out. If you do, then yes you should squeeze it out.
I just made these brownies & they were the best i've ever had. I used Justin's vanilla almond butter in the recipe & their hazelnut butter on top, for the swirl. I couldn't find espresso powder at my grocery store, so i subbed in instant coffee & used all organic, high quality ingredients for the rest. Please keep these yummy, healthy desserts coming! I recently started following ur blog & i love it. Thank u!!!
Oh so glad you liked them! You can get the espresso powder at Amazon. Link is in the post. It's worth buying.
So cool! We may be moving to a house with a yard soon and I'm REALLY excited just to be able to grow herbs. Zucchini is even better!
Hopefully you will have better luck than I am!
Careful with what you’re wishing for here ;). By the end of the season you might very well not want to see any more zucchini for a while. Read: we have them in our garden and they grow at an insane speed. Either way, these brownies look amazing.
Haha! There's good and bad with everything, right?
That's so awesome you're growing your own zucchini! I have a small patio garden too and it is so rewarding to grow your own food, even if it's just a little bit.
These brownies look amazing! I love sneaking greens into my chocolate. 🙂
I'm trying! So far...things aren't looking so good. My plants are looking sad. I sure hope they come back to life.
Zucchini plants are the best for gardens - they grow so well! I like to make a chocolate zucchini cake, so I bet these brownies are equally delicious...and way better for me! 🙂
Oh yum! I've put zucchini in a lot of things but never a cake I bet it's really good.
Zucchini is great but it can take over your garden leaving you with more baseball bat sized zucchini then you will ever know what to do with! These brownies look soooo good, almost like fudge. You can't go wrong with adding espresso either!
That's exactly what I want! I eat a ton of zucchini.
My mom grows zucchini... I can't keep anything alive either. I love that you used espresso powder in the brownies! yum!
Espresso powder is the best for baking!
My neighbor across the street has a zucchini garden and there is an insane amount of huge zucchini over there! I was given some once and barely scratched the surface and had to throw many out. I should've shredded and froze but it was too late!
I'm jealous of your neighbor! I have one zucchini plant and it's not looking so good.
All of my favorite things! No, I can't grow anything, can't even keep herbs alive. My mom just got me a mini cactus for Easter! Haha! It came with a tag that said, "I thrive on neglect"!
Now that is funny!
I too have a black thumb. We are going to try again in the new place, which has a balcony. I can tell you right now that nothing will make it..
Some of my plants are already dying. 🙁 Hope you have better luck!