I tweeted about this recipe a few weeks ago. I’ve made a few tweaks here and there and am now ready to share it in a post. While not strictly a GAPS recipe as cocoa and carob powder are not permitted on this diet, it is grain free so that folks who are semi-GAPS and do not find starches to be a problem like the grains (and other disaccharides like sugar) can eat these with no problem. Date sugar is allowed on GAPS as it is ground up, dehydrated dates.
These are delicious! My kids love them and it is great as they are so filling that you can only eat one or two squares. With regular brownies made with flour, it seems an easy task to eat most of the pan (at least in my case!).
I’ve added links so that you can see which brands I use.
Grain Free Brownies
1 cup finely ground pecan or almond flour (nuts should be soaked/dried first before grinding into flour in your food processor)
1/4 cup Organic Coconut Flour
1/4 cup Organic Cocoa Powder or Carob Powder
1/2 cup Date Sugar
1 egg (2 eggs if you would like the brownies more “cake like”)
1/2 tsp baking soda (use only if you want more “cake like” brownies)
2/3 cup Expeller Pressed Coconut Oil
1 tsp Organic Vanilla Extract
1 tsp Organic Chocolate Extract
4 drops Stevia Liquid Extract (optional)
1/4 tsp sea salt
Mix nut flour, coconut flour, cocoa powder, sugar, and optional baking soda in a pyrex cassserole bowl. Pour in liquid coconut oil (warm it if necessary to liquify) and mix well. Add vanilla extract, chocolate extract and lightly beaten egg(s). Mix well. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Serve with blueberries and Real whipped cream for an amazing taste treat.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
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{ 17 comments… read them below or add one }
These look yummy! Will have to try these very soon. I've been missing treats like this.
Where do you get or how do you make finely ground pecan flour?
You can't buy pecan flour that I've ever seen. Get yourself 4 cups raw pecans, soak in filtered water plus 2 tsp sea salt for 7 hours or overnight and then drain/dry them on cookie sheets in a warm oven for 12-24 hours until completely dry. Then simply put them in your food processor and grind them to flour.
Yay, looks like crispy nuts work as flour! Need to try this sometime….
Sweet! I just did a couple lbs of crispy pecans and had made some cookies with them (http://eatingmyvegetables.blogspot.com/2010/06/cashew-cookies.html) – I can't believe how buttery they are. Hadn't thought of brownies!
This is so unlike anything I've ever made…and it sounds delicious!! I may have to venture out of my norm and whip up a batch. Thanks for sharing with Two for Tuesdays this week =)
I'm always happy to see a grain-free recipe. Thank you for sharing at Two for Tuesday.
You know something sarah, i have made a similar recipe back in the day when I was a raw vegan, but it never satisfied me because I had to use the dehydrator to give it that "fake cooked" feel to it. I will try this one because i still have all these ingredients to use up! Awesome! Thanks so much for sharing this on the two for tuesday recipe blog hop!
alex@amoderatelife
I didn't have all these ingredients, so I had to compromise, substituting almond flour for the pecan and grade B maple syrup for the date sugar. My boys are not big fans of coconut flour, but I decided to try it out anyway. (If they didn't want them, there would be more for me! HA!) I had to bake them about 10 minutes extra to get them to set. I took them out of the oven and my boys said "this smells like coconut…is there coconut?" I encouraged them to try a tiny bite, and they loved it! Within 30 minutes of baking, my three kids and I had eaten 3/4 of the pan! They totally loved them, and they all kept commenting on how good they were, asking if I'd make them regularly! Thanks for this great recipe, Sarah.
Jenny, I'm so glad the brownies are a hit at your house! I will have to try making them with almond flour sometime. I'll bet that combination of flavors is really yummy – I'm thinking chocolate covered almonds? Definitely a good mix of flavors.
Thanks for the links. I am always looking for the product/brands you use. Janet
Sarah, thanks for this recipe! We loved them! (After I made them we went out of town and I put the unfinished portion in the fridge… came home and cubed the rest to make a "trifle" with raspberries and homemade whipped cream. YUM!)
Anyway – my question: I was surprised to see you used liquid stevia. I thought I understood that WAPF only recommends powdered green stevia. Can you share your thoughts on this? THANK YOU!
Hi Jennifer, you are right – green stevia is better as the liquid is much more highly processed. However, I've found through experimentation that the green stevia powder doesn't work very well in baking. The liquid produces much better results. Since only a few drops are being used per recipe and no nutrition is being lost, I have continued to use the liquid occasionally for this purpose.
Thanks so much! I appreciate your opinion… lots of information to noodle through…
The brand of liquid stevia my Wegman's carries contains water, vegetable glycerin and "natural flavors"… I think I should check out your NOW brand. Thanks!
Yum!! I have a big bag of pecan flour floating around in my deep freeze somewhere and almost all the other ingredients. This will go on my “make soon” list!
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I cannot get liquid chocolate extract. Is there anyway to get around it? Could I just add more cocoa powder?
I am just wondering does the cocoa need to be soaked? It is my understanding that it is very high in phytic acid.
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