I’m a big fan of one of Michael Pollan’s food rules – eat as much junk food as you want, as long as you cook it yourself. I had a bit of a sweet tooth yesterday afternoon, so instead of diving for the Ben and Jerry’s at the bodega, I decided to make myself some brownies – gluten-free, healthy style. Enter this recipe that I found on Elana’s Pantry. It’s flourless, sugarless and made with two of my favorite things – almond butter and agave.
I was very curious how these would turn out since the base was almond butter. To my surprise, they tasted just as good as a flour-packed, un-nutritional brownie, and yet, they are packed with good-for-you ingredients. To mix it up a little, I decided to try adding tea to these since they seemed to add a nice flavor to the cookies i made in an earlier entry. I chose lapsang tea and jasmine green tea. I couldn’t decide between the two, so I just went with both. This was either going to ruin the brownies or make them a standout dessert. It did neither. Lapsang is such an overpowering, smokey flavor, that it took over and made the jasmine undetectable. I think I’ve mentioned before that baking is not me forte. This all starts with a messy cooking station….
Everything seemed to be going smoothly. I greased the pyrex and poured in the batter…
Apparently I didn’t grease the bottom enough…
Luckily, someone who I live with happens to love brownie scraps 
more so than whole brownies in fact. Since I hate waste, I scraped up the bottom and tossed them into a recycled jar for her to enjoy at her leisure…
My taste-testers did seem to enjoy the smokey aftertaste. I think as an afternoon snack on a warm day, it’s a slightly strange combination. However, with the right glass of red wine, in a warm, cozy restaurant with an experimental menu, I think these lapsang brownies could be superstars.
Here is Elana’s easy as pie recipe (I added 2 tea bags of lapsang tea and 5 tea bags of jasmine green tea. I recommend one or the other):
1 (16) ounce jar salted almond butter, smooth roasted
2 eggs
1 ¼ cups agave nectar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
½ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon celtic sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup dark chocolate chips 73% cacao
- In a large bowl, blend almond butter until smooth with a hand blender
- Blend in eggs, then blend in agave and vanilla
- Blend in cocoa, salt and baking soda, then fold in chocolate chips
- Grease a 9 x 13 pyrex baking dish
- Pour batter into dish
- Bake at 325° for 35-40 minutes
Makes about 24 brownies
I was privy to a tasting of these guys. No easy answers. Light and aromatic, yet complex. Best served with a Kentucky Bourbon or dark red wine.
Im both a fan of Micheal and Elana too! These brownies sound so fabulous to me, as I love their natural ingredients! Im all for scraps too!
Thanks, Jennifer! They turned out delicious, definitely try them out. Your blog is great, I’ll keep an eye on it for recipes!
Post appassionante, posso ripubblicare il contenuto, ovviamente citando la fonte?
These were delicious! I used maple syrup instead of the agave and made them in mini muffin pans, and came out with 72! Maybe a half-batch will do it next time
Thanks, Lisa! Glad you liked them! Will have to try it with maple syrup – delicious substitute.