From Love to Chocolate to Avocado Brownies
Who doesn’t like brownies? I for sure don’t belong to this group of people because I love them like almost everything else that contains chocolate.
I especially adore brownies that my daughters have baked for the last few years. Their brownies are moist, full of chocolate and rich. Everybody who tries them wants another piece and the recipe!
They are unfortunately also full of calories and fat as there are butter and plenty of sugar in them…
That is why whenever I have those brownies, my guilt grows proportionately to the number of pieces I eat.
So I started to think of a solution to the almost unsolvable conundrum – how to eat the cake (delicious brownie) and have the cake (good health and great figure)?
There could be only one answer – I had to make healthy (or at least healthier) brownies.
Healthy Avocado Brownies – an (Almost) Guilt-Free Treat
That’s why when I came across a brownie recipe that used avocado instead of butter, I quickly had to test it out. Unfortunately, I wasn’t ecstatic about the outcome: the cake was on the edge of being bitter.
But to be honest, I straight away knew it wasn’t the recipe but me who should be blamed for the fiasco. I used chocolate with a very high percentage of cocoa solids.
Since I really liked the concept of healthier Avocado Brownies, I didn’t want to give up too easily. So I decided to adjust the recipe to make it sweeter without adding any more sugar.
Is it possible? Yes, I simply used a different type of chocolate and added lots of nuts as well as dried cranberries (raisins and other types of dried fruit would also work here). That strategy worked well: the result of my second attempt at Avocado Brownies was most delicious.
P.S. If you are looking for a gluten-free recipe for Brownies that are not necessarily THAT healthy, you may want to try this delicious option.
Healthy Avocado Brownies
Ingredients
- 100 g dark chocolate (no more than 65% cocoa)
- 2 avocados (ripe, medium), peeled and roughly mashed,
- 150 g sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 40 g cocoa powder
- 45 g almond flour
- 40 g dried cranberries
- 100 g nuts (mix of cashews, pistachios, Brazil nuts), roughly chopped,
Instructions
- Preheat an oven to 175 Celsius degrees (or 150 for fan ovens).
- Line a small (e.g. 14 x 24 cm) baking tray with a parchment paper.
- Melt the chocolate in a microwave or over a pan of simmering water.
- Put to a food processor the avocados, sugar and vanilla extract; process them till smooth.
- Stir in the melted chocolate then add the eggs and process again till everything is combined.
- Add the cocoa powder and almond flour, mix well until combined.
- Stir in the dried cranberries and nuts; transfer to the baking tray and smooth the top.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes.
Notes
