Brownie experiment

Okay, so I wanted brownies for dessert today. Not brownies made out of dates, nuts and chocolate, but ones made with flour, sugar and chocolate.  I looked around for a recipe that suited me, and this is what happened.


Go here to see the original recipe.

Here is how my batch turned out.  I halved the recipe, so as to not have brownies hanging around my house all week. :-)

3/8 c. cocoa powder (1/4 c. + 2 TBS)
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. boiling water
2 TBS + 2 tsp coconut oil (you could use melted butter or vegetable oil)
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 c. sucanat (sugar, honey, maple syrup, etc)
2 TBS + 2 tsp coconut oil
2/3 c. rice flour (or wheat)
1/8 tsp salt

Mix cocoa powder and soda together.  Add boiling water and oil. Add egg, vanilla, sucanat, oil.  Mix in flour and salt until just combined.  Spread into greased 8x8.  Bake at 350* for 20 minutes.

I used rice flour in this recipe.  It was kind of an accident. I waited until after dinner to make these brownies, because I ran out of time during dinner preparations.  I was going to use the 'flour I had leftover from something I had made this weekend' that was still in my mill... but then I opened the mill to retrieve said flour, and alas, there was none!  I did NOT feel like grinding flour and taking all that extra time (seriously?!  what does it take, thirty seconds??!), but I DID have some left over rice flour from something-or-other sitting on my counter... and it was just enough!  So, I used it.

The result was crumbly, chocolatey, coconutty, brownies.  (You couldn't even tell I used HALF the amount of sugar called for in the original recipe!) The rice flour was definitely the cause of the crumbles.  Next time, if I have this rice-flour-only dilemma again, I might lessen the amount of flour by a bit (1/2 cup maybe?) and use half butter and half oil to try and increase richness.  But, I would not consider these to be fudgy by any stretch of the imagination.

They DID fill my brownie craving, and that's what counts at this point, right?

Fruit Bars!

We made the most DELICIOUS BROWNIES (ahem,... I mean totally nutritious, healthy, filling fruit and nut bars) for an afternoon snack and dessert today!

These bars were inspired by my lovely friend, Monica (who also has a food blog-- check it out!). 

As I was making the recipe she sent me, I kept thinking, these are SO similar to the brownies I posted on this site! Well, I just had to modify them a bit-- to be more like brownies!  

They were 'scarfed' down readily by three hungry vultures and two adults. (And then the adults had two more after said vulture/children were in bed!)

Basically, it's a larabar, without the hefty price tag. The following recipe is based on the recipe Monica sent me. Here it is:

Chocolate Cherry Delight!
1 TBS coconut oil (or some other, light oil)
1/2 cup walnuts
1/2 cup almonds
8 large dates (12- 16 smaller ones)
about 1/2 a bag of dried cherries (maybe 3oz?)
1/8 cup cocoa powder

Blend first three ingredients in food processor.  Add each additional ingredient one at a time, and blend until it's a fine, moist meal-like consistency. Press into 8x8 and chill until firm.  Or, scoop right out of the food processor with a spoon, and eat with a spoon. (Like we did this afternoon.) Taste will not be affected!  :-)

This made a thin bar.  I would probably 1 1/2 or double this recipe to make a nice, thick bar.

I'm sorry, I have no pictures of this bar!  Please accept my apology and enjoy this picture of a cutie pie instead!

Birthday Brownies

Yesterday it was my birthday, and my lovely husband decided to make some birthday brownies!  These are not just any ordinary brownies, but ones made entirely of raw food!

We have recently been experimenting with raw recipes, and this one was SO GOOD.  They even have icing.  The best part-- they are good for you!  Anyway, I will let these brownies speak for themselves.


Chris found the recipe at trinigourmet.com and here is the post for the brownies.


(We substituted one banana for one of the avocados, because we only had one avocado.  WHEN I make the recipe again, I will try two avocados, because the banana flavor was good, but a bit overpowering.)

I can't wait to share more recipes and fun discoveries!  I already have a list in my head of some things to share.  I'll also have to get you up to date on our food journey from the past five years!

-Janet.