Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Brownies (Vegan GF)

Rich and fudgy chocolate brownies with a pumpkin and tahini swirl on top. Full of ginger, cinnamon and mixed spices, these seasonal brownies are warming, chocolate-y, naturally plant-based with a GF-option. They are quick and easy to bake and perfect for Halloween treats!

I am a little bit in love with these brownies for a few reasons; they’re so easy to make, they’re super fudgy and rich, and they have the most flavoursome pumpkin cinnamon swirl on top. They come together in two bowls (one for the swirl and one for the batter) and they’re the perfect balance between a cakey and fudgy brownie.

I first made these with a Ginger Orange flavoured chocolate which works so well with the pumpkin swirl and seasonal flavours, but you can use any chocolate here! The rest of the ingredients that go into these brownies are fairly simple and easy to find, too:

Ground chia seeds or ground flaxseeds: these act as the “egg” replacer and form a gel to hep bind these brownies together. If you can only find whole seeds, blend or grind them to a fine flour for the best gel-consistency and smoothest texture.
Plain or oat flour: I’ve not tried these with a GF flour blend but I have with oat flour (which you can opt for a GF variety) and they work really well. Plain flour will give the smoothest texture while oat flour is slightly more textured. Don’t bother buying oat flour, just blend your own oats until fine.
Cocoa powder: or cacao powder, both will work here.
Coconut sugar: I always choose coconut sugar for the delicious flavour and colour, but you can use caster sugar instead.
Baking powder and salt: for a little rise and flavour!
Pumpkin puree: pretty essential for these Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Brownies. The puree keeps the texture really light and squidgy.
Plant-based milk: use any variety you have open like oat, coconut, soya or almond. It’s a good idea to warm the milk so the temperature difference doesn’t cause the chocolate the start to solidify.
Vanilla: for flavour. It is not essential so you can skip it.

Simply make the chia seed gel, stir together the dry ingredients before pouring in all of the wet ingredients to form a thick and luscious batter. This forms the base of these Chocolate Pumpkin Swirl Brownies and then the fun part: the swirl!

The base of the swirl recipe is also pumpkin:

Pumpkin puree: this adds the classic pumpkin flavour and creamy smooth texture. Remember you can make your ow by roasting whole pumpkin and blending till smooth (or try with squash or sweet potato).
Runny tahini or almond butter: I love tahini here, but any nut butter will work although they will all being their own flavour to the swirl. It’s best to go for a really runny and smooth one.
The spices: cinnamon, mixed spice and ground ginger. These get added to the swirl batter to make a really seasonal and warming mixture that smells and tastes amazing! If you don’t have all of the spices needed, you could just use cinnamon.

Add spoonfuls of the swirl batter on top of the brownie base and drag a knife or small spoon to make patterns (don’t worry if they don’t look perfect or very neat!) and then bake.

The smell is pretty amazing, and you’ll be so ready when they come out of the oven. You will have to wait to cool down slightly but then serve them drizzled with more melted chocolate and a good sprinkling of flaky salt for the tastiest afternoon treat!

I hope you will love these fudgy, easy, plant-based and gluten-free brownies as much as we did. They are great for Halloween baking and using up pumpkin but they’re equally as delicious all year long. The spiced pumpkin swirl batter adds a wonderfully crisp topping as well as a gorgeous colour. Serve these with a cup of tea or coffee for an afternoon snack or with some ice cream for dessert.

If you are looking for more chocolate snacks, how about my: