One of my favorite readers, Courtney, requested this brownie recipe in a comment last week.
Here is what she said, “Can we have another VOTE?? Every post I am hopeful that I might open it up to find your recipe for scrumptious dark chocolate brownies… I am NEVER disappointed by your posts, but I am still hopeful that I may experience this recipe in the future…”
Now that is just too cute. How could I say no to this sweet request? Courtney lives in Tennessee and I was fortunate enough to meet her at one of my cooking classes here in Boulder, Colorado. She has a great website with all kinds of interesting natural products on it.
Furthermore, this is my older son’s favorite treat. Whenever I ask him what he would like me to bake for him, he says, “brownies.” He loves packing these higher-protein treats in his lunch for dessert.
So, there you have it, everyone! Brownies.
Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 16 ounce jar creamy roasted almond butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1¼ cups honey
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup cacao powder
- ½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large bowl, blend almond butter until smooth with a hand blender
- Blend in eggs, then blend in honey and vanilla
- Blend in cacao, salt and baking soda, then fold in chocolate chips
- Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish
- Pour batter into dish
- Bake at 325°F for 30-40 minutes
Last spring, I discovered this great Peanut Butter Bar recipe from celiacchicks.com which gave me the idea to make treats out of nut butters. When I coached my son’s little league team, I brought either these nourishing brownies, or Almond Butter Blondies to just about every baseball game.
I recently discovered a fun website called Flavorista.com. Low and behold, I checked it out this morning and saw a fantastic write up on gluten-free by the site’s author, Barr. What I liked best about her take on this timely topic, is that she is one of the few mainstream chefs to offer an “outsider’s” perspective on the world of gluten-free. Very refreshing, witty and informative. Thanks Barr!
Maureen says
What fun to find this recipe – I’m going to try it –
and see my friend Barr from Falovorista mentioned –
LOVE Barr and Flavorista !! Thanks Elana
tami says
Thank you so much for posting this recipe! I am new to gf baking. We use sunbutter and i am not sure how it compares to almond butter. Any tips on how much sunbutter and agave nectar i should use? Thanks for any help!
Maureen says
hi
I use sunbutter as well – I keep the amonts the same – but a funky thing happens – not right out of the oven but a few hours later – the baked items turn a bit green –
tastes good – but freaks some people out :)
Kassidy Christensen says
I made these this week and they were amazing. Thank you so much for all of your recipes. They are all so great. I have one of your books and hope to get more. I’m so glad I found this site!
Danielle says
Hi Elana! I made the brownies tonight and they puffed up in the pan and looked more like a big cake. The only thing I altered was the honey. I did 1 cup instead of 1.5. We live in Colorado at 5,000 feet; this may have something to do with it. Any thoughts? I’ve struggled with several of your recipes in Colorado. Maybe I should give them a try at a lower altitude sometime. Your thoughts would be appreciated. Or if anyone else at 5,000 feet would like to chime in, I’d appreciate it. Thanks!
ummibby says
Can you substitute the almond butter for coconut butter?
ummibby says
Btw, I tried these and they were great! I halved the recipe and forgot to put in the salt and baking soda and it was still good :)
Laura Robbins says
Hea! @ummibby: Coconut Butter would turn oily and run all over the place, it’s not a substantial enough “butter” like peanut or almond butter.
ummibby says
Hi Laura,
Thanks for your response! I actually had tried it and it did work! The coconut brownies might not be the same exact texture of the other butters but it did become brownie-ish, and I liked the taste better than with just almond butter. I have a food service size bag of shredded coconut so I can easily make coconut butter and I need interesting ways to use it up!
Amanda says
I make a great batch of brownies that I’m known for but these are, in my mother’s words, “to die for”. They are fabulous and taste as good as, if not better than, the ones with flour. I keep having to remind myself that I can have these. Thank you Elana!
Wade says
I’m not a baker [period], so I cannot analyze exactly where I went wrong.
I substituted Nutella for the Almond Butter [the only ingredient difference]. The mixture swelled and ran over the rim of the baking dish [round not rectangular]. At the 45 minute mark of baking the mixture was still liquified [I shot an iPhone video clip if you would like to view it]. It cooled to a flattened sticky mess [which tasted fantastic].
Of course, I thought it might have been due to the lack of a flour base, but it is obvious others have had success. So, anybody have any thoughts you want to share?
Joanne says
Hope you like it!
Annette says
Do not see how these are healthy with all the agave and or honey, that will send your blood glucose through the roof.
Stacy says
this is really similar to a recipe I’ve been using for years. only I take s 16 ounce bag of walnuts and getting them up in food processor to make walnut butter. I also chop up a 70 or higher percent chocolate bar instead of using chocolate chips.