Mairlyn’s Chocolate Fudgy Brownie Bites
My old friend Mairlyn (the friendship is old, not the people in it) was in town a few weeks ago, and we got together to record a podcast (her episode will be up soon!), which was a blast because Mairlyn is hilarious and fun and we could have recorded 6 hours of conversation with no trouble at all. Unfortunately my face hurt from laughing and she had to get to the airport, and so I sent her off with a batch of her own high-fibre Chocolate Fudgy Brownie Bites. It’s the first recipe I made out of her latest book, Peace, Love and Fibre, and one I’ve made two or three times since – despite the very healthy-sounding ingredient list, these are chewy and chocolatey and divine, and I started making them for W’s lunchbox. Though we’re at the end of lunchbox season, camping/hiking/road trip season is right here, and regardless of the time of year, we all need more cookies in our lives.
Mairlyn makes hers with oat flour, but I used barley flour because we’re in Alberta and it’s easier to find here (beside the regular all-purpose flour in most grocery stores), and I always have a bag in my baking drawer. Barley is even higher in fibre than oats, and has a nutty flavour and fine texture I love – I don’t always use it exclusively, but most often shake some into cookies, pancakes, waffles and things.
This recipe exemplifies what I love about Mairlyn – her enthusiasm about fibre and its positive impact on our overall health is matched only by her positive outlook on life in general – and her ability to incorporate fibre into delicious things like chocolate cookies, which most of us consider essential for a happy life.
Mairlyn’s Chocolate Fudgy Brownie Bites

Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, honey and oil until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the egg, vanilla and flax meal and beat with an electric mixer or by hand for 1-3 minutes, until the mixture is paler and lighter.
Stir in the barley flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, and then the chocolate chips. Drop by the spoonful onto a parchment-lined sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the tops crack and the edges are just set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen cookies.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, honey and oil until the mixture resembles wet sand. Add the egg, vanilla and flax meal and beat with an electric mixer or by hand for 1-3 minutes, until the mixture is paler and lighter.
Stir in the barley flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt, and then the chocolate chips. Drop by the spoonful onto a parchment-lined sheet and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the tops crack and the edges are just set. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. Makes about 1 1/2 dozen cookies.
These will be made this weekend. Now I can’t wait for the weekend.
Love Marilyn, she is awesome. I bought her book but havent had a chance to open it yet, these sound great and might be first!
Where do you buy your barley flour? Im assuming i can use whole wheat flour instead? Thanks:)
I just buy it alongside the other flours at the grocery store!
Made these and they didn’t turn out. Very flat. Just checking that 3/4 cup of flour (I used oat) is correct?
Yep, that’s right. I haven’t made them with oat flour, just barley flour… but whole grain flours can fluctuate quite a bit in terms of texture. Perhaps now that you have a feel for them, you could add a bit more flour? did the dough have a cookie dough texture, or was it more runny, like cake batter?
What if I. Using regular flour?
These sound delicious – What could I use to substitute for the ground flaxseed?
Going to make your (Elizabeth’s) Lunar Rhubarb cake this weekend – thanks for having this recipe posted on your blog
Hmm… you could just leave it out, if you don’t have it!
I made these this morning. They didn’t turn out. Very flat…did not have a cracked appearance, and as my husband quipped, tasted very “flax-y”. Cookies on the first pan were black on the bottom. (Yes, I used parchment paper..no, my oven is not too hot). The second attempt was not blackened, but still flat, not really chewy or brownie-like in texture at all. I told my kiddos they were flat round granola bars, but these will be going in the garbage. A waste of money on oat flour and flax meal.
Oh no, I’m sorry to hear it! I’ve made them at least three times and they’ve turned out wonderfully (using barley flour rather than oat flour) – I wonder what happened?
I made these this afternoon with oat flour that I ground from quick oats. They turned out great – crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside!
Yay, so great to hear!
This looks YUMMY!!! I’m drooling, I just can’t wait to try this at home.
Thank you so much for sharing this awestruck recipe.
Keep sharing:)
I just made these in a bit of a rush because I had ribs in the oven and decided last minute I should throw cookies in when the ribs came out. So I didn’t really read the recipe carefully before I started. Got up to the vanilla and thought this is a pretty great way to start cookies. Then oops, no flax. Oops, no barley flour. I ended up using all-purpose wheat flour, tossed in half a smashed up 70% chocolate bar. No replacement for the flax. The cookies came out perfect shape, great flavour, not too sweet, really chocolatey. Two thumbs up!
Ha, great to know! xoxo
Made these…. Gosh they r sweet, perfect otherwise no complaints .