Hey guys!
Ok, so if you’ve been here for a little while you’ll know that in June I flipped my lid over the first triumphant attempt at at brownies. They were super yummy. However, I noticed that if I used dark cocoa powder (the good stuff), it actually completely changed the recipe- suddenly it was too dark, a bit too oily, and the banana taste was really overpowering. So, I guess lesson learned is that its the perfect recipe for lighter cocoa powder.
Anyhow, this recipe is an adaptation, and was a big hit at the first Gluten Free Workshop I did back in October. The workshop felt more like a party than a class- we had a lot of fun, and gosh, was it ever nice to meet so many people who have crazy guts like mine ! lol Seriously, it was a relief to be able to hang out with such lovely ladies who totally understand what its like. For once I’m not That One With The Wierd Food Issues. We ate, we laughed, two of the 6 recipes didn’t quite turn out the way I hoped ( pancake, I have now removed almost all almond milk. Bread, add unflavoured gelatin) (Contact Me for the bread recipe if you want- I’m trying to make it vegan at the moment). The others were smaaaashing great (almond bread, fantastic. Vamped Bliss Brownies, winner. Chocolate Glaze, super tasty. Vegan Pie Crust, awesome. Pumpkin Pie filling, poifect.
I just had to share this brownie with you. The texture is thick and luscious. There’s no grainy bite. There’s no refined sugar. There’s no animal parts. Nuthin. And man.
Its delicious. And easy.
Here we go!
MyRealFoodLife.com
Vamped-up Bliss Brownie
NOTE: If you can’t do sesame (tahini), sub in same amount of your favorite nut butter, plus 1/4 cup melted coconut oil, 1/2 tsp cocoa powder, and 2 tbsp non dairy milk (I used almond).
NOTE: Please use the dark cocoa powder, the super high fat content dark dark powder. If you use the lighter powder (like Fry’s), you will need to increase the cocoa powder to 3/4 cup, and coconut oil to 1/3 cup.
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- ½ cup cocoa powder
- ½ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup almond flour
- ¼ cup buckwheat flour
- ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Wet Ingredients
- 1 frozen banana
- 6 tbsp coconut oil, melted (virgin coconut oil tastes the best)
- 3 tbsp tahini
- ¾ cup agave nectar or ½ cup honey
- 1 tbsp ground flax seed
- 1 vanilla bean or 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
Prepare the wet ingredients first:
- Thaw the banana in the microwave. Mash it as thoroughly as possible with a fork.
- Add all the other wet ingredients to the bowl. Mix as thoroughly as possible.
While the flax in the wet ingredients is gelling, prepare the dry ingredients:
- In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients. Sift to eliminate any lumps.
- Add the wet ingredients to the dry, mix thoroughly.
- With small teaspoons, drop the mixture into mini-muffin shells.
- Bake at 350 for 7 minutes. The brownie should be soft, but not squishy.
- Add 1 more minute at a time to get the desired consistency. When they’re cool, I like to sprinkle a little cocoa powder on them for effect, or drizzle some honey or agave.
Hi there Lana!
Thanks so much for writing :) Ok, so, for sweeteners, you could use 4-5 soaked pureed dates or any other dried then soaked/preed fruit (just add some non dairy milk, about 1/3 cup or so to make up for the loss of wet from the agave), or forget the non dairy milk and use another banana or apple sauce and add about 1/2 tsp stevia (the best option if you are on an anti-candida diet). You could also try coconut sugar or date sugar- both are glycemic but absorb wetness so add 1/3 cup non dairy milk. Make sure if you use date sugar its organic, to avoid sulfites. Here are some other ideas I have that might be helpful, let me know how it goes!
http://www.myrealfoodlife.com/part-3-how-to-substitute-sugar/