Spinach Brownie
/Spinach Brownie
Yes my first post is a treat food.....i.e. it should be occasional. One thing i've struggled with more than anything else since overhauling my diet is the whole sugar/sweet conundrum. I've always had a sweet tooth, to the point I was known by some as 'sticky bun' (a most unfortunate nickname!) at secondary school. Everyday for lunch I used to buy Chelsea buns and yes, I was always first in the tuck shop getting my chocolate fix at break-time. I find that by making my own, i'm not looking for other 'healthy' ready-made treats that always have more sugar/sweetness added than I would ever add.
I was AIP for 10 months and the strict 20g of intrinsic sugar ( which is found naturally in foods) a day...I would blow it on dates or dried mango! Weighing it up, at least i'm getting other nutrients with it if the sugar is from natural sources.
Now i've transitioned more onto paleo I figure the 80/20 ratio is a good one to follow, with the 80% being good, healthy and no sugar (i'm talking intrinsic again). I've had many animated conversations about sugar and it's detrimental health effects on the adrenals and gut microbiome with an inspiring friend of mine. She followed an anti-candida diet for a year (that's 0% sugar, intrinsic, extrinsic, all forms, the lot!) now she's rid of the candida she allows herself a small amount....she's happier for it!
I've been playing around with this recipe for a while now. I've tried a few grain free brownie recipes and whilst they were tasty they just weren't brownie enough for me! One early incarnation was very reminiscent of that chocolate pudding you used to get for school dinners way back when.... I may post that later in the year for those who want to light up a few memories. This current development has the right amount of fudgyness for me and with the spinach and cacao it'll be a super rich source of iron too.
Spinach Brownies
Ingredients
- 2 cups spinach (I often end up adding much more)
- 1/2 cup coconut milk (I make my own with creamed coconut, that way I avoid the nasty stabalisers found in tinned milk)
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup honey (you could get away with less)
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 1 cup coconut oil (melted)
- 1 cup cacao powder (you could use carob if on AIP, still tastes great)
- 2 tsp vanilla powder or essence (I find the vanilla powder packs a massive flavour punch!)
- 1/4 tsp Himalayan pink salt
- 1 tsp gluten free baking powder
- 16 pitted medjool dates
Method
- Preheat your oven to 180C or gas mark 4
- Blend the spinach, coconut milk, dates, melted coconut oil, eggs and honey in a blender (I use this one here) Blend until smooth.
- Mix the coconut flour, cacao powder, salt, baking powder and vanilla powder in bowl.
- Place in a baking parchment lined cake tin.
- Bake for 40 mins.
NB In the photo i've also added 75g of activated (soaked for 8 hrs and redried to reduce the phytic acid which inhibits absorption of nutrients) pecans, 75g of destoned cherries (frozen ones work well)
In the photo below I added a topping as I made it for my friend at work. It was her birthday, everyone needs some chocolatey goo on a birthday!
Chocolate Topping
Ingredients
- 2 skinned and destoned avocados
- 1/2 coconut oil (melted)
- 1/2 cup maple syrup (again dependent on taste, you can add less)
- 1/2 cup cacao powder
Blend, spread and allow to chill.
