Copycat Cosmic Brownies (made with dates!)

These fudgy Copycat Cosmic Brownies are THE MOST DELICIOUS homemade brownie recipe inspired by the Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies recipe! These healthy, flourless brownies are made with dates, and only 4 other simple ingredients, topped with a dairy-free chocolate ganache frosting, and of course sprinkled with the nostalgic rainbow candy coated chocolate chips! They are gluten-free, vegan, and refined sugar free!

I’ve been really enjoying making my own homemade nostalgic treats lately! Not only is it super fun, but I also like to figure out ways to make my favorites with ingredients that I am able to eat. These Copycat Cosmic Brownies are made with real, fresh dates, sunflower seed butter, unsweetened cacao powder, baking soda, and pure vanilla extract. That’s it! By using dates as the main ingredient in these rich and decadent gluten-free, vegan brownies, these don’t require any flour or added sugar! 🤩

Then, in Little Debbie Cosmic Brownie style, these date brownies are topped with a luscious and silky chocolate ganache frosting and dairy-free rainbow candy coated chocolate chips. They are SO freaking GOOD! 🤤

What Are Cosmic Brownies?

If you grew up in the late 1990’s, early 2000’s you’ve most undoubtedly had Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies. They were inspired by the Cosmic Bowling trend (remember how fun that was?!)

If you haven’t actually had them, I bet you’re at least familiar with these store-bought, individually wrapped brownies topped with fudgy icing and colorful chocolate chip candies. This was a super fun copycat recipe to recreate at home, adapted from my popular Fudgy Flourless Date Brownies recipe.

The Date Brownie Ingredients

These yummy brownies are made with just 5 ingredients plus the 2 ingredient chocolate ganache and of course the rainbow sprinkles. They are flourless brownies and don’t include any added sugar, sweetened solely by the dates! 🤗

Dates. Dates will be the main ingredient in these brownies. By using dates, there is no need for an additional sweetener or any flour! I LOVE dates for all kinds of reasons- their health benefits, their sweetness, their versatility… dates are really a superfood in my mind. You will need 20 large pitted dates for this flourless brownie recipe.

Sunflower seed butter. I love using sunflower seed butter for the neutral flavor it offers baked goods. Sunflower seed butter is allergy friendly also, as it is made with sunflower seeds and not nuts. You will need 1/3 cup of unsweetened sunflower seed butter for this recipe.

Cacao powder. I prefer to use cacao powder instead of cocoa powder as it’s less processed, retaining more of it’s nutritional value. I also find cacao powder to be of higher quality giving these brownies that extra chocolatey flavor. You will need 1/2 cup.

Baking soda. This brownie recipe calls for 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda.

Vanilla. Make sure to use pure vanilla extract to keep these brownies gluten-free! You will need 1 teaspoon or pure vanilla extract.

The Chocolate Ganache Frosting

Chocolate ganache is one of my favorite dessert toppings, it adds the wow factor to any dessert you please. Not to mention it is extremely simple to make with just 2 main ingredients: dairy-free dark chocolate chips and plant-based milk. I especially love chocolate ganache drizzled over my chocolate cheesecake recipe in my dessert cookbook, The Beginner’s Guide To Gluten-Free Vegan Baking.

The Rainbow Candy Coated Chocolate Chips 🌈

Making cosmic anything requires some kind of colorful rainbow sprinkles. To remain authentic to the Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies, I am using rainbow candy coated chocolate chips (not sponsored).

I was so ecstatic when I found these Naturally Colored Candy Coated Rainbow Chocolate Chips by Pure Food by Estee! Not only do they not contain any harmful food dyes and artificial coloring, but these rainbow chocolate chips are also gluten-free, vegan, dairy-free, soy-free, nut-free, non-GMO, Kosher, and Hallel!! 👏🏻👏🏻 (not sponsored, just love them!) NOTE: if they are out of stock on Amazon you can also find them on their website (non-affiliate/not sponsored).

How To Easily Bake & Slice These Brownies

Prepare The Baking Pan

To prepare a square 8×8 baking pan to bake the date brownies in, first you’ll want to line the pan with parchment paper. I like to cut two rectangle pieces of parchment paper just slightly smaller than the width of the pan. Place one piece of the parchment paper in the pan, allowing the sides to extend past the top of the pan, then place the second piece of parchment paper crossway over the other piece of parchment paper.

Line the pieces up so they are flush in the pan and then use metal binder clips to hold the parchment paper in place while you’re spreading the brownie batter in the pan.

Lining the baking pan with parchment paper not only regulates the temperature of the baking pan allowing the brownies to bake more evenly, but also allows for easier removal of the brownies from the pan (and less clean up!)

Allow The Brownies To Cool Completely

Allowing the brownies to cool completely will make them easier to slice and avoid the brownie squares falling apart creating a crumbly mess. Allowing the brownies to cool and set up completely is important, particularly for these fudgy date brownies because they are so gooey and soft.

Remove The Entire Brownie From The Pan Before Slicing

Because we lined the baking pan with parchment paper and left an overhang, removing the entire brownie from the pan is so simple and the best method to use for slicing into brownie squares. Simply grab ahold of the overhang on the sides and gently pull the whole brownie out of the pan and place onto a large cutting board to prepare for slicing.

Use The Right Knife

Using a large knife, preferably one that extends the length of the entire brownie- like an 8-inch, straight-edge chef knife, for example, works great. Making one clean cut is better than having to dig the knife in and out of the brownie- that creates more of a mess. It’s also not ideal to use a serrated knife to cut brownies.

Use A Clean Knife

You want to make sure your knife is clean every time you slice into the brownies. If you run the knife under hot water and wipe it dry in between each slice you’ll end up with cleaner cuts and neater brownie edges.

It also helps to pull the knife right back up the way you sliced down into it instead of dragging it through the brownie from top to bottom.

Slice The Brownies Evenly

I’m terrible at eyeballing even slices, haha, so I just grab a ruler and measure three even vertical brownie sections, and then do the same horizontally. 📏

How To Make Cosmic Brownies With Dates

Remove the date pits (if they have them).

Add the pitted dates to a bowl, cover with water and place in the microwave for 2 minutes to soften the dates. Alternatively you can just soak the dates in hot water for about 20 minutes.

💡 Tip! Having soft dates is very important to get the brownie batter the right texture. I suggest softening them in water in the microwave. You may need to let them soak for longer. They should be very soft.

Strain the dates, reserving 2 tablespoons of the water you soaked them in, then add the dates and the rest of the ingredients to a food processor along with 1 tablespoon of the date water (reserve the other tablespoon of water in case you need it).

Pulse the date brownie batter until smooth, but don’t blend too much, just enough so that no date chunks remain.

Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper and then spoon the brownie batter into the baking pan. Smooth the batter out until it’s evenly spread in the pan.

The batter is VERY sticky, so to help, I sprayed a piece of parchment paper with coconut oil and used that to spread the batter.

Bake the brownies for 20 minutes.

When there is about 5 minutes baking time left, make the chocolate ganache frosting. Heat the plant milk in a small saucepan on the stove, or alternatively in the microwave. The milk should be hot and bubbling but not a rolling boil. Place the chocolate chips or chunks in a medium glass bowl and pour the hot plant milk over the chocolate.

Let the chocolate melt from the hot plant milk for a couple minutes and then whisk to combine.

Pour the chocolate ganache frosting evenly over the brownies. Evenly spread the ganache edge to edge.

Allow the ganache to set up for 20 minutes and then sprinkle the rainbow candy chocolate chips over the chocolate ganache frosting. Continue to allow the ganache to set up by placing the brownies in the fridge for 30 minutes.

How To Store These Cosmic Brownies

I prefer these cosmic date brownies at room temperature, they’re a bit softer and more fudgy. You can store them in an airtight container on your countertop for a few days. After that, store these brownies in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Ingredient Variations

You can use another nut or seed butter in place of the sunflower seed butter if you want. I like the sunflower seed butter because it has a neutral flavor and is allergy-friendly, but feel free to use cashew butter, almond butter, or peanut butter. Note: if you use peanut butter, these date brownies will have a peanut butter chocolate taste (still so delish!)

You can use unsweetened cocoa powder in place of raw unsweetened cacao powder. It’s basically the same thing, raw cacao powder is just less processed allowing it to keep more of its nutritional value. I do suggest using a high quality cacao powder though.

If you can’t find these particular rainbow candy coated chocolate chips, feel free to swap them with other rainbow sprinkles, regular chocolate chips, or omit them completely- although maybe a little less fun! 😜

Helpful Recipe Tips

For a cosmic brownie that is more similar to the Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies, make sure you press the date brownie batter into the pan firmly and evenly. This will result in a thinner, yet still fudgy brownie.

Make sure the plant milk is hot or it won’t melt the chocolate! Then be sure to whisk it until smooth and creamy rather quickly before it starts to set up.

Let me know what you think about this healthy alternative Copycat Cosmic Brownie recipe down below in the comments section, as well as giving it a five rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ so that others can discover a simple and delicious brownie dessert! Tag me on Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest if you make them!

Try This Simple Cosmic Brownie Inspired Breakfast!

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