It’s raining. The perfect baking weather, in my opinion. I like to bake when it’s wet or cold, with music on, essential oils diffusing and the girls excited at the prospect of something delicious.
These gluten-free brownies have a rather surprising ingredient. Avocado! Avo helps to add good fat and creaminess to the brownie mixture. If you’re hypersensitive or know that it’s in there you might be able to detect the taste, so I added a few drops of doTERRA peppermint essential oil to the mixture to make the avocado pretty undetectable.
The recipe I used is from food blogger Detoxinista. I only changed a few things from her recipe below …
1. I reduced the sugar. I ALWAYS try to keep my sweet treats as low in sugar as possible. I used half the amount of recommended coconut sugar and 3 drops of liquid vanilla stevia. They are sweet enough for me, but if you’re looking for a more authentic brownie taste I would recommend using the amount of sugar suggested.
2. I added 4 drops of doTERRA peppermint essential oil which gave the brownie a minty and refreshing taste and disguised the taste of the avocado, whilst also aiding digestion (a win in my book!)
3. I didn’t have any chocolate chips so I bashed up three-quarters of a bar of 90% Lindt.
4. Because I used less sugar than the recipe suggested I made a little rice syrup, cocoa and cinnamon sauce. I just mixed the rice syrup, cocao powder and cinnamon and drizzled over it.
These brownies were super simple to make (you put everything in a blender and then pour the batter in a dish and bake. Now that’s my kinda recipe!) and were a nice rainy afternoon chocolatey treat.
Here’s the recipe from Detoxinista:
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 ripe avocado
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 1/4 cup almond butter
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
INSTRUCTIONS:
- Preheat the oven to 325ºF and line a 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper. (I like to grease the pan first, so the parchment paper will stay in place.)
- You can make these brownies in a single bowl, mashing the avocado with a fork until relatively smooth, or you can make them in a food processor to get rid of all the avocado chunks. (I used a Vitamix blender.)
- In a food processor, combine the avocado (peel and pit removed), cacao powder, eggs, coconut sugar, almond butter, baking powder, vanilla, and salt. Process until smooth, stopping to scrape down the bowl as needed.
- Fold in the chocolate chips, then pour the batter into the prepared pan. (Decorate the top with a few extra chocolate chips, if desired.) Bake at 325ºF for 45 minutes, or until the center of the brownies looks cooked-through. (You don’t want any jiggle when you shake the pan.)
- Allow the brownies to cool completely. The avocado flavor is MUCH more pronounced if you try these warm, so please don’t be tempted to taste them until they have come to room temperature. You can place them in the fridge if you want to speed up the cooling process, or you’ll have to wait at least 2 hours for them to cool on the counter.
- Slice the brownies into small squares and serve. It’s normal for this brownie to stick to the knife a bit with you cut them, since they are flourless and very fudgy. Leftovers can be stored on the counter for up to 48 hours, or in the fridge in an airtight container for up to a week.
I hope you enjoy this recipe! I’d love to hear how you get on! Miranda x
