I’ve always wondered…
What if I added cocoa powder to my peppermint toothpaste?
Mint-chocolate toothpaste?
Or black teeth?! 😕
Or maybe toothpaste so yummy it’d be difficult to not eat in mass quantities, straight from the tube. Perhaps it’s a very good thing my toothpaste is just plain peppermint and I keep the cocoa where it belongs: in the kitchen! Yesterday, I used it to make brownies:
I made this secretly-healthy recipe: Thin Mint Brownies.
Mmmmmm they were good!! Much better than chocolate toothpaste. Oh yes. For your convenience, here’s the recipe again:
Raw Thin Mint Brownies
- 1 cup walnuts (120g)
- 1 and 1/3 cups pitted dates (230 grams) (I highly recommend Sunmaid, because they’re softer.)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 5 tablespoons cocoa powder
- A few drops pure peppermint extract (depending on how minty you want them… Start with less; you can always add more.)
- Optional: for even more chocolate flavor, add chocolate chips. Or add cacao nibs.
- Optional: tiny dash of salt (I always add this and recommend it.)
Raw Brownies Recipe: Combine all ingredients, using a food processor. (No need to blend the dates first; I just blend everything all at once. But if you use a Magic Bullet, you might want to do it in batches. I’ve not tried this in a regular blender and therefore can’t vouch for it.)Form into brownies or balls or bars… or even cookie-cuttered shapes!
Edit: by popular demand, I’ve added Thin Mint Brownies Nutrition Information.
Also, I think my photography has improved a ton from last year’s photos.
After publishing that post, more than one person told me the brownies looked like… well, something not very appetizing. And I had to agree; the original photos didn’t do justice to how absolutely delicious these brownies taste! Even though it was a very overcast day yesterday, hopefully I managed to do a better job this time. Sure couldn’t have done worse!
Do you have a favorite toothpaste?
Weird question, I know. But I really do love my toothpaste. (No, not to eat. Don’t worry.) I use Jason’s Powersmile, and it is scary-powerful. Your mouth feels like it’s on fire… in a good way, if that makes sense. Cavities and bad breath would be terrified to stick around in the presence of this toothpaste.
Hi Katie,
I use that same toothpaste, but after visiting the dentist yesterday I will be switching to Tom’s of Maine! I take pretty good care of my teeth, and I walked away from the dentist with THREE cavities yesterday. When I got home I was horrified to see that there isn’t anything about cavity prevention on the label.
What’s the serving size/portions for this recipe? I may have overlooked it but checked your earlier link too and didn’t see it there either.
I’m about to attempt this in my blender since my food processor’s on the fritz.
I don’t really have a serving size, since you can shape balls or bars or whatever else you want… in whatever size 🙂
Oh. My. Goodness. Katie, your fudge babies are going to be the end of me! I just made these (with a little bit of added coconut) and they were heavenly! I can’t believe they don’t have anything bad in them! Just goes to show that healthy food can be just as good as not-so-healthy food. Thank yooou Katie! Seriously, who needs chocolate cake when they have these?!
I found that adding some water (around 2 Tbs) makes them stick together better, which makes all the difference when you’re trying to make them into balls! haha
Oh yeah, and I used almonds instead of walnuts. Love almonds!
I just made these but I had to use dried plums, I’ve never eaten dates, and I made them in my blender in batches and they taste so decadent! They did have more of a fruity flavor than chocolate so I added the optional chocolate chips and they are really, really good. My two-year old approved them as well. She ran up to me and asked for more “chocolate rocks.” Thanks for another tasty recipe I can feel good about feeding to my family. 🙂
Chocolate rocks? LOL aw I love her name for them!
As a kid, I am ashamed to admit I ate toothpaste. But not the sparkly kids bubblegum flavoured stuff…just regular Crest gel toothpaste. For some reason, I could NOT get enough of it. And even stranger, we only ever had gel toothpaste when we were traveling; it just happened to be the tube my mom kept in her toiletries bag. At home, we always had the regular paste. I vividly remember hiding out in the bathroom of a few hotels pretending to brush my teeth really, really, really well. Thank goodness I grew out of that habit/craving. So bizarre.
Oh, and btw, I can’t wait to make these. I’ve made a different version of raw brownies before, with avocado icing, and they were great. But unfortunately, so rich we couldn’t finish them before they got a little furry. A very strange thing to see chocolate lasting THAT long in this house.
I made this but slightly adapted it to use cashews as I find walnuts can be a little bitter, something I don’t mind but making for others so didn’t want to risk it. And did not have any mint extract so used 1/4 tsp coffee granules for flavour, and coffee and choc are a match made in heaven in my opinion! They didn’t quite combine and it looked a bit like soil so used 1 tbsp hot water to combine it and used my hands to bind it together rather than wooden spoon and that did the trick! they were so yummy! I think the extra cocoa powder (compared to another recipe i used) made all the difference and blending the dates up until they were literally a ball and sticky helped it too! i think next time i may even use chic chips as suggested maybe half nuts half choc and more dates for a truly authentic almost raw brownie!
I just wanted to let you know that when clicking on the Nutrition Information link it takes me back to a list of recipes and no nutrition information. Am I missing something? I want to try these but would like to know their nutritional value before I do.
Thanks! BTW…thank you for sharing all your “research” and giving us such great, tasty recipes!
Hi Susan, if you look on that page the nutrition information is there. 🙂
I am completely non-domestic, but I just had to try one of your recipes. After a few swirls in the food processor I thought I had botched something – it just looked like dates covered in a fine cocoa powder. I kept processing though, and voila, after a minute I have a bowl full of what tastes a heck of a lot like brownies. I formed them into little brownie shapes, and I’m betting my family won’t have a clue what’s actually in them. I am beyond impressed by your recipe. Thank you Katie!
Was I supposed to use unsweetened cocoa powder? Also- mine didn’t stick together very well. Any advice?
Unsweetened is fine. Sunmaid dates are best because they’re softer.
How many brownies does this recipe make?
Hi Katie! I wanted to thank you for this recipe. I sent a batch of your thin mint brownies to a courageous young woman who just received her 4th heart transplant. I wanted to send her something that was heart-healthy and immediately came to your blog for ideas. You can check out my blog post (and link to your site) here: http://evabakes.blogspot.com/2012/07/healthy-no-bake-thin-mint-brownies-for.html
Katie, after we formed it into brownies / balls, it can be eaten just like that? we don’t have to put it in the fridge or bake it or anything? wow!
I just made these for the 2nd time they’re amazing! I had a slight – can’t get it without leaving the house and searching the shops problem with the mint extract so I made fresh mint instead. It worked really well, this way they get minty-er the longer you leave them(just a note on this don’t leave them too long and it’s best to keep it in the fridge as the mint might go bad).
I didn’t measure how much mint I actually used it was probably about a heaped handful when chopped but different varieties of mint would change how much you need (I mixed garden mint and black peppermint (super minty) about 2:1). Careful how much you use though because by the 3rd/4th day they you might not be able to taste anything else.
oh, you may have a little more difficulty getting them to stick than the other bars doing it this way as you’re adding in extra bulk, if you do maybe add a few extra dates, some oil or sticky sweetener)
Katie! I tried this recipe replacing the walnuts with macadamias and the mint extract with raspberry. Super dishy and amazing for a summer picnic!
I didn’t have walnuts so subbed in salted peanuts & they were delish!Walnuts definitely next on my agenda, thanks!