‘Tis the season for sweets! The holiday season is upon us, and that means loads of baked goods. All of those calories add up quickly and not to mention many traditional holiday treats are packed full of sugar and dairy and overall just make ya feel like crap. Enter my paleo brownies, guaranteed to satisfy your sweet tooth and since they’re made with wholesome ingredients, you won’t feel sick after having one.
I’ve been eating *mostly* paleo for several months now and I’ve never felt better. I can tell a huge difference in the way I feel after having too many grains, refined sugars, and dairy. I’m not really the type of person that usually sticks to any sort of overly restrictive diets, though. I guess I just don’t do well with rules! When I first started the paleo diet I immediately googled recipes desserts because I knew I’d never stay with this lifestyle without any sweets. I was able to find quite a few – some were ok, but with a little trial and error and some tweaks of my own this brownie recipe is what I came up with:
-1 cup unsalted almond butter (I personally love the Trader Joe’s kind)
-2 tablespoons of coconut oil (plus a little extra to grease your pan/muffin tin)
-1/3 cup of maple syrup
-1/3 cup of cocoa powder
-1 egg
-2 teaspoons of vanilla
-1/4 teaspoon of salt
-1/2 teaspoon of baking soda
Directions:
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Mix the almond butter, coconut oil, maple syrup, egg, and vanilla together then add in the cocoa powder, salt, and baking soda. I always use this mixer for baking to make things quick and easy! Feel free to add in any paleo mix ins you like at this time as well. I added some cacao chunks to this batch in the photos!
- Pour the batter into a greased muffin tin or pan (I use this scoop). If using a muffin tin, bake for 10-12 minutes. In a pan they will probably take somewhere between 15-20 minutes depending on how gooey you like your brownies. I prefer to use a muffin tin because the brownies cook faster and it gives me a set portion size! One brownie muffin comes out to roughly 200 calories, give or take and I get 9 muffins per batch.
- Let the brownies cool and ENJOY! Preferably with a glass of red wine 😉
