Fudgy Red Dates Brownies

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Asian Fusion

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 20

Total Time: 50

Servings: servings

Calories: 265kcal

Author: Marvellina

These fudgy red dates brownies are rich, deeply chocolatey, and not too sweet, with a soft, dense texture and natural sweetness from Chinese red dates.

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US Customary - Metric

Equipment

Ingredients

Red dates paste:

200 g red dates
½ tsp baking soda
250 g water

For the cake:

100 g eggs
100 g oil
50 g light brown sugar
100 g all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
21 g Dutch-process cocoa powder
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp espresso powder
170 g semi-sweet chocolate finely chopped

Instructions

Prepare the red dates paste:

You should get about 186 grams of pitted red dates (a bit over or under is fine). Cut them into smaller pieces.
Put the dates, water, and baking soda in a saucepan and bring it to a simmer and let them cook for about 5 minutes or until they are soft and most water are absorbed.

The baking soda helps to soften the red dates much faster

You should get a thick and soft paste-like consistency. Let this cool down completely. This can be prepared 3-4 days before and keep it in the fridge

Prepare the brownie batter:

Start preheating the oven to 325 F (160 C) for conventional oven. For a convection oven, please lower the temperature by 20 F (15 C). Oil an 8 x 8 inch square pan. Line with two pieces of parchment paper overlapping perpendicularly and overhanging on the sides
Combine eggs, oil, and light brown sugar in a large mixing bowl. Whisk vigorously until the mixture emulsified and sugar dissolves
Add all the red dates paste you prepared earlier into the egg mixture and whisk again to combine everything. It won't be a smooth mixture as you may still see small bits and pieces of red dates here and there
In another mixing bowl, combine flour, salt, Dutch-processed cocoa powder, baking powder, espresso powder, and finely chopped chocolate chips

Finely chop the chocolate chips/chunks will give you cleaner cut when you cut into serving size

Add this to the red dates mixture and fold to combine.
You should get a very thick and shiny batter
I accidentally added toasted white sesame seeds that were meant for something else to the batter lol! That's why there are some toasted white sesame seeds in there

Baking:

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and use an offset spatula to spread the batter into even thickness throughout the pan. It's a super thick batter
Bake for 18-20 minutes (my oven needs 20 minutes). It is very important not to overbake. If you insert a toothpick at the edges, it should come out clean. If you insert a toothpick at the center, it will come out with moist crumb. The top is dry to the touch but the wide center is soft. Don't be tempted to bake it further. You can look at the photo below for reference

Chill the brownies:

Let the brownie cool in the pan set on top of a cooling rack. Let it cool down completely
Cover with a cling wrap and let it chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours, or best overnight. This helps to set the fudgy texture. Please do not skip this step

To serve:

Grab the parchment paper and lift the cake out of the pan. Cut into 12 serving sizes

Nutrition