Easy Paleo Brownies

Easy Paleo Brownies

I've always seen brownies as an easy dessert to whip up...given the Betty Crocker box supplied me with 80% of the ingredients. They are also one of those desserts that can pass under-cooked as "fudgy" or over-cooked as "crunchy", making them pretty much fool proof. As I was making these, I used a food-processor to mix the batter rather than a hand-mixer. To my surprise, the power of the machine left me with a cloud of air-borne cocoa powder that is probably now residing in my lungs.   

On another note, the chocolate chips used in this recipe are the purest brand I've found so far. Although they do contain a small amount of evaporated cane juice (sugar), they are free of like 8 common allergens (I'm mostly concerned with milk and soy).  If you are trying to avoid sugar all together, you could use pure dark chocolate chunks in their place. 

Ingredients

-1/3 cup coconut oil, melted

-6 eggs

-2/3 cup maple syrup

-1/2 tsp vanilla

-1/2 cup coconut flour

-1/2 cup cocoa powder

-1 cup Enjoy Life chocolate chips ( http://www.enjoylifefoods.com/chocolate-for-baking/ )

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350° and grease an 8x8 pan with coconut oil.

2. Combine eggs, maple syrup, and vanilla in a bowl (I used a food processor) and mix well. 

3. Add in the melted coconut oil and mix.

4. Slowly add in the cocoa powder and coconut flour and mix until no clumps appear.

5. Fold in the chocolate chips.

6. Pour the batter into a greased 8x8 pan.

7. Bake at 350° for 35-40min or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Intro: Olive oil and Orange Zest Bread

As my first blog post, I feel pressure to appropriately set the stage for what lies ahead in the coming recipes. Because a food blog is basically made up of two things- the recipe and the picture, I promise to provide both. But beyond that, each hand-crafted recipe will be free of gluten, grains, dairy, soy, & refined sugar. The pictures will just go to show that healthy food can be beautiful as well as nourishing. And because I have a sweet tooth (more like 28 of them), most of the recipes will probably be desserts. It is my pleasure to bring deliciously satisfying and deceptively healthy recipes to your table.
enjoy,
Lauren

-olive oil & orange zest bread-

This recipe originated from a frustration with banana bread. Because who doesn't love the sight and smell of using black bananas? All jokes (and my mother's famous BB recipe) aside, it was time for a new taste in my bread world. With a combination of fresh orange zest and olive oil, you'll fall in love with this bread the moment the warm aroma fills your kitchen.

Ingredients

-1/3 cup coconut flour

-1/3 cup almond flour

-1/2 tsp baking soda

-1/8 tsp salt

-1/2 tsp cinnamon

-5 eggs 

-1/3 cup maple syrup

-1/4 cup olive oil

-1 tsp vanilla extract

-1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

-zest from one medium orange

-squeeze of orange juice

1. Preheat oven to 350°F and generously grease two mini loaf pans with melted coconut oil.

2. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients. 

3. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and maple syrup until well combined. Add in oil and vanilla extract.

4. While mixing, slowly add the wet ingredients to dry.

5. Let batter stand for 5 min  (coconut flour likes to absorb moisture after it sits)

6. Pour the batter into two greased mini loaves.

7. Bake at 350° F for 35-40 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and a tooth pick comes out clean.

8. Cool on a wire rack before removing from pan.

9. Serve and enjoy!