I LOVE chocolate, but I try to avoid sugar because I feel so much better without it. When I stopped eating sugar in 2003, I was faced with the dilemma of how the heck I could still feed my chocolate cravings while avoiding sugar? Necessity is the mother of invention and the result was that I have come up with a few creative recipes to make chocolatey things without sugar. I also avoid gluten and dairy, so I have had to modify my recipes for those too.
One of the most popular recipes I’ve created has been for gluten-free, dairy-free (if you use ghee instead of butter), sugar-free (if you use vegetable glycerine instead of agave syrup) brownies. I recently had the idea to make them more nutritious by using raw cacao powder (instead of traditional cocoa) which is high in antioxidants!
Antioxidant Brownies
Gluten-free, dairy-free (if you use properly made ghee), sugar-free (if you use vegetable glycerine) but DOES contain eggs and nuts. Makes about 36 small brownies.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup raw cacao powder
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup ghee (I make my own ghee using organic, cultured butter, see ghee recipe here) or butter – ghee is wetter than butter, so adjust accordingly
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup vegetable glycerine (very sweet but does not spike blood sugar – I get mine in large bottles from Azure Standard) or agave syrup – adjust according to desired sweetness
- 1 cup almond meal (from Bob’s Red Mill)
- 4 eggs, separated
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Melt the ghee/butter and combine in a medium bowl with the cacao powder until smooth.
- Add vegetable glycerine/agave, almond meal, and egg yolks and combine.
- Beat the egg whites in a small bowl until soft peaks form. Fold egg whites into other bowl with the chocolate mixture.
- Gently combine until blended and pour into a square pan lined with parchment paper.
- Bake for approximately 20 minutes, then turn 1/4 turn and bake for another 10-20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out nearly clean.
- Let cool for about 15 minutes, then continue cooling in fridge.
For more recipes, check out my Recipes page!