In honor of Valentine's Day, I wanted to post a recipe for something sweet and delicious. When I think of Valentine's Day, one of the first things that comes to mind is dessert and chocolate. Dani Spies shows us how to make Elana's Gluten Free Brownies and just watching this video made my mouth water (and I'm not even a big chocolate fan!).
Elana is a pioneer in grain-free recipes! For more information and gluten-free, grain-free, high protein, paleo friendly, and healthy recipes by Elana, be sure to visit her website at www.elanaspantry.com.
This recipe obviously isn't the healthiest food item to be eating, but I truly believe that not only do we need to make a significant effort to be healthy, we also need to make a significant effort to be happy and to enjoy life. Allow yourself to enjoy being a glutton for a day and reserve days like this for special occasions like Valentine's Day or other holidays and birthdays. You can also use days like this to practice your impulse control by only limiting yourself to one brownie for dessert - or better yet, as breakfast with your morning coffee! Then you have all day to burn those extra calories off!
Elana is a pioneer in grain-free recipes! For more information and gluten-free, grain-free, high protein, paleo friendly, and healthy recipes by Elana, be sure to visit her website at www.elanaspantry.com.
This recipe obviously isn't the healthiest food item to be eating, but I truly believe that not only do we need to make a significant effort to be healthy, we also need to make a significant effort to be happy and to enjoy life. Allow yourself to enjoy being a glutton for a day and reserve days like this for special occasions like Valentine's Day or other holidays and birthdays. You can also use days like this to practice your impulse control by only limiting yourself to one brownie for dessert - or better yet, as breakfast with your morning coffee! Then you have all day to burn those extra calories off!
Ingredients:
- 1 16-ounce jar of creamy, roasted, all-natural almond butter
- 2 eggs
- 1 T vanilla extract
- 1 cup agave -or- raw honey
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 t baking soda
- 1/2 t sea salt
- 1 cup chocolate chunks -or- chocolate chips
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Empty the jar of almond butter into a large bowl. With an electric mixer, blend the almond butter so that any of the natural oils that have separated from the butter are blended back in well and until the butter resembles a very creamy and thick texture like peanut butter.
- Add in eggs, vanilla, agave/honey, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well blended with the electric mixer. Texture will end up looking creamy but thick.
- With a spatula, fold the chocolate into the batter.
- Pour batter into a greased 13'x9' baking dish (glass preferred).
- Bake in preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Use the toothpick method to ensure the center is cooked well but remember that you have chunks of chocolate within the batter too, so if you pull the toothpick out and see what looks like uncooked batter make sure it's actually uncooked batter and not just melted chocolate; you don't want to overcook brownies.
Makes about 24 brownies. Prep time: 10 minutes. Cook time: 30 minutes.
Per Serving: Calories - 206; Carbs - 21; Fat - 13; Protein - 5; Sodium - 108; Sugar - 17.
