Paleo Pumpkin Brownies with Date Paste

Pumpkin Paleo Brownies with Date Paste

I get a recipe and immediately want to change it. With paleo things I like to tweak them to make them more calorie counter friendly. They usually have waay too much oil or nut butter in them for me to eat. I love chocolatey things but was never a big fan of traditional brownies. Probably because all I’d ever had were boxed brownies that were overcooked on the outside and undercooked on the inside. not my favorite. These have made me a brownie believer. They are super moist and intensely chocolatey. Very satisfying even though they aren’t a large portion. Some days you just need a few bites to calm the craving. Some days you need the whole pan 😉

Yield: 16 small squares

 

Nutrition

Calories: 121.5

Fat: 7.5 g

Sodium: 162.3 mg

Total Carbohydrates: 15.6

Fiber: 3 g

Sugar: 11.3 g

Protein: 3.7 g

 

Ingredients

¼ cup Honey (raw or regular, or agave)

¼ cup (2 oz) Date Paste (see overnight oats post for recipe)

¼ cup Water

1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa powder

½ cup Pumpkin Puree

½ cup Unsweetened Applesauce

½ cup Almond butter (or nut butter of your choice, mine was 90 cal/TB)

2 tsp Vanilla extract

½ tsp Kosher Salt

¾ tsp Baking powder

90 g (½ cup) Chocolate Chips (I prefer dark, but milk or semisweet are fine too, milk just aren’t as flavorful)

1 Egg

 

• Preheat oven to 325°
• Grease and 8×8 baking dish with ¼ tsp of coconut oil, or nonstick spray. You can also line the dish with parchment paper if you don’t wish to use oil.
• In a medium/small saucepan heat the honey, date paste and water over low heat, until warm and flowing.
• Add in cocoa powder and stir until combined, be careful not to burn the cocoa powder so keep the heat very low!
• Take the pan off the heat and add in all of the rest of the ingredients. Leave the egg and chocolate chips until last. You don’t want to cook the egg and you don’t want to melt the chips. They are a yummy little pop of chocolate when you bite into the brownie.
• Using a spatula scrape every last drop of yummy brownie batter into your prepared pan. If you like you can sprinkle a little more kosher salt over the top of the brownies, the sweet and salt contrast is really lovely.
• Pop your brownies into the oven and prepare to wait the longest 40-45 minutes of your life.
• Take the brownies out and let them cool for a few minutes. This will help them to finish cooking if they aren’t quite done. I’d rather an underdone brownie than an overdone one though, so I usually can’t resist trying it immediately!
• Slice into 16 equal squares and enjoy!

I usually weigh the entire batch and then divide by 16 for my portion size. Well I used coconut oil in the pan this time instead of parchment and then couldn’t get the brownies out without breaking them into a million pieces. So I didn’t weigh them and don’t know to the gram how large a piece should be. Next batch I’ll make sure and use parchment and weigh them out. Oh well, I think I’ll live without knowing precisely how big my piece of brownie should be!