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These easy Strawberry Brownies are gluten-free and made with almond flour. Baked in an 8-by-8-inch baking pan, the brownies are topped with diced, fresh strawberries and a deliciously smooth chocolate layer made from coconut oil, cocoa powder, and maple syrup. For best results, refrigerate the brownies for 1 hour before serving. Paleo-friendly.
I remember when my sister first asked me to try baking healthier gluten-free dessert recipes for her. When I was first learning how to bake eight years ago, it coincided with her discovering her intolerance to gluten. She would come into the kitchen and scoff at me for putting sugar and all-purpose flour into something. She was constantly begging me to please figure out how to make things delicious without all the sugar and gluten that I normally used. I heavily resisted, and for a long while, I held on to skepticism. Finally, my dad decided to try going gluten-free, and I acquiesced. So, the experiments began!
My first trials were definitely not successful. It took a lot of trial and error to figure out which flours I preferred to work with and their idiosyncrasies. Turns out, lots of gluten-free flours just bake differently than working with traditional all-purpose flour. I realized that my favorites in the gluten-free flour world – almond, coconut, and tapioca – are all Paleo-friendly as well!
As I experimented, I became genuinely surprised by how close I could get the taste of old faves into gluten-free + refined sugar-free versions. These Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies and Vegan and Gluten-Free Brownies have become staples in my home. I love to make them for my family, but they’re also recipes I can make for a crowd of people who normally eat gluten and not have one person complain (or really even notice) that they “taste healthy.” So, I started making all sorts of easy paleo recipes!
Even though I know exactly what goes into each of my recipes, sometimes I take a bite of a healthier gluten-free/refined sugar-free/paleo treat and I surprise myself! That totally happened with these chocolate-covered strawberry brownies. Who knew I would end up writing an entire cookbook of gluten-free, dairy-free, and refined sugar-free recipes! Now, let’s get into some commonly asked questions about gluten-free brownies, and what makes these particular brownies so dang good.
Are boxed brownie mixes gluten-free?
Unfortunately, most boxed brownie mixes we know and love, like the Ghiradelli brownie mixes, are not gluten-free. Making a good gluten-free brownie can be tricky, but this one has all the things we want in a good brownie: rich, chocolatey, and fudgy, and thankfully, they’re not too hard to make either!
How do you make brownies moist?
It’s all in the chemistry! To make these gluten-free brownies moist, we make them with only 1/2 cup of almond flour. This keeps them from becoming overly dry because the almond flour has fat in it, which helps keep the gluten-free brownies nice and soft. If you follow the recipe, you’ll have perfectly moist and fudgy almond flour brownies.
What else makes these paleo brownies great?
We sweeten them with coconut sugar, keeping them refined sugar-free and bringing in the delicious caramelly taste that coconut sugar adds. Also, these brownies only use cacao powder for their rich chocolate flavor! There is no need to search for low sugar/high cocoa chocolate.
As for that gorgeous chocolate strawberry topping? We sprinkle fresh strawberries over the baked brownies. Then, we top that off with a mixture of coconut oil, cocoa powder, and maple syrup. After refrigerating, it firms up to create a deliciously smooth chocolate layer. It makes for the most fabulous strawberry brownies you’ve ever tried!
You’ve got to try these chocolate-covered strawberry brownies! They’re seriously perfect as a Valentine’s Day dessert, or whenever you have some gorgeous strawberries to use up. They’re so fudgy, and the freshness of the strawberries is the perfect thing to cut through the richness of the chocolate. You won’t believe these are gluten-free, refined sugar-free, and Paleo – promise! Enjoy :)
Want more delicious brownie recipes?
- Salted Almond Brownies
- The Best Fudgy Vegan Brownies
- Cookie Dough Brownies
- Ultimate Gluten-Free Fudge Brownies
Craving more strawberry recipes?
- Strawberry Chocolate Tart
- No-Bake Strawberry Lemonade Tarts
- Strawberry Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Bars
- Chocolate Strawberry Fudge
Gluten-Free Chocolate-Covered Strawberry Brownies
Ingredients
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons, 130g coconut oil
- 1¼ cups (212g) coconut sugar
- ¾ cups + 2 tablespoons, 70g unsweetened cocoa powder
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup (48g) blanched almond flour
- 1 cup 6 ounces dark chocolate chunks, optional
For the chocolate topping
- 1 cup fresh strawberries, diced
- ⅓ cup 67g coconut oil
- ⅓ cup 28g cocoa powder
- 2 tablespoons 42g maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325ºF. Line an 8-by-8-inch baking pan with aluminum foil leaving overhang on the sides, spray with cooking spray; set pan aside.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine coconut oil, coconut sugar, cocoa powder, salt, and heat on high power to melt, about 45 seconds. Stop to stir, and heat in 10-second bursts until mixture has melted and can be stirred smooth (mine took 45 seconds + 15 seconds). Whisk for about 30 seconds to help dissolve the coconut sugar into the oil.
- Add the vanilla, eggs, and stir vigorously until batter is thick, shiny, and well blended. Add the almond flour and stir until combined. Stir in the chocolate chunks. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.
- Bake until a toothpick in the center emerges slightly moist with batter, about 22-25 minutes. Check with a toothpick – it should come out with moist crumbs attached. Don’t over bake! Let brownies cool completely.
- Spread the strawberries evenly over the brownies. In a small bowl, whisk together the coconut oil, cocoa powder, and maple syrup. Pour evenly over the strawberries. Refrigerate for at least 1 hours before cutting into 16 squares.
- Brownies will keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
This recipe is amazing, I just made it with my sister earlier this evening. At first she was skeptical to try it because it was gluten-free but the brownies won her over! This will definitely be one of my go-to recipes.
Asha
I’m so glad you enjoyed them!! I love hearing about converts :)
Can you use just coconut flour? I have adverse reactions to almond flour…..
Hi Adele. Coconut flour is much more absorbent than almond flour and doesn’t substitute well for it. You could use another nut flour or sunflower seed flour in it’s place, or if you want to use coconut flour, I’d recommend finding a brownie recipe that uses coconut flour and just adding the chocolate strawberry topping. I hope this helps!
I used coconut flour and they turned out perfectly! (Same amount)
That’s great to know – thanks for sharing, Shanelle!
I made these today and they are awesome!! Very rich and decadent for sure. Everyone loved them :)
So glad they were a hit, Michelle!
I love chocolate and strawberry combination. What can you substitute for eggs, coconut and almond items? I am allergic to them all.
Hi Beth. I haven’t tried making these brownies any way except how the recipe is written, but here’s a few suggestions you could try. In place of the eggs, I would try using flax eggs. For the coconut oil, you can substitute unsalted butter. For the coconut sugar, any granulated sugar would work – if you eat refined sugars, you could do 3/4 cup light brown sugar + 1/2 cup white, or sub in maple or date sugar. For the almond flour, I would recommend another nut flour, like hazelnut. Oat flour might would too. Again, none of these are tested. Good luck! I’d love to hear how they turn out.
Holy fudgy-ness!!! These are so rich being Paleo I needed a glass of milk or water afterwards! These were delicious though! Thank you!!!
Hi Rachel,
So I love these brownies, I have been making them without the strawberry topping just as regular brownies, but now I am supposed to only use honey as a sweetener. I was wondering if you could tell me how to sub honey for the coconut sugar, or if you could create a brownie recipe that uses only honey for the sweetener and is similar to this grain free recipe? I am scared to try it on my own and waste ingredients. Almond flour is like gold, lol! Should I sub the honey for the coconut sugar by weight?
thanks,
Robin
Hi Robin. I’m so glad you’re enjoying the brownies! I haven’t tried making these brownies with honey (or just a liquid sweetener) so I can’t confidently give you a recommendation as to how to substitute it and still get the same texture – I do know that subbing 1 1/4 cups of liquid sweetener for a granulated sweetener would definitely mess with the texture though. I can put a honey-sweetened brownie on my recipe to-do list for sure, but I just moved so it might be a little while before I get a recipe perfected. My apologies I can’t be more helpful at the moment!
These look amazing! Have you had any success making these with coconut flour? I’m allergic to nuts so almond flour is a no-go for me. I’m curious to find out if you’ve had success. :)
Hi Betsy – I haven’t tried it, and since coconut flour performs pretty differently than almond flour, I think a unique brownie recipe using coconut flour specifically would be a better bet. I’ll definitely add that to my list of recipes to develop, but in the meantime, you can find a different basic brownie recipe online using coconut flour and use the topping I used here on top! :)
Hi Rachel, I’m having a problem with the sugar dissolving, I know you used cocount sugar, and I’m using orangic sugar. The problem is the sugar isn’t dissolving. Does it matter if the sugar dissolves?
Hi Natasha. Do you mean in the brownies themselves? It doesn’t need to be completely dissolved because it will dissolve when the brownies bake, but the batter should come together and be smooth! Hope this helps.
Heavenly! Hubby who is trying to steer of sweets ate half the cake, I found the rest of fam fighting over who had the biggest piece before and who should have the last one…I think I might have had about a corner of it. Awesome recipe! Thank you!
That’s what I like to hear!! So glad that your whole family enjoyed the brownies so much, Ezra!
Someone may have already asked this, but do you think I could use rice, tapioca, or coconut flour in place of the almond flour? I have a nut allergy *womp womp* Thank you!
Hi Caitlin. I wouldn’t recommend coconut flour since it’s much more absorbent than almond flour. I haven’t worked a lot with rice flour, but from what I know about it, it should work. I wouldn’t recommend all tapioca flour, but you could use part tapioca flour and part rice flour. Because I haven’t tried it, I can’t guarantee the outcome of any of the these changes. Let me know what you end up trying, and how it works. Good luck!