Chocoholics Rejoice: Paleo Brownies!

The one shining light of living Paleo is that you can actually eat chocolate! Now this doesn't mean you can indulge yourself on 5 lbs a day, but eating small amounts of (dark) chocolate is fine.  Since it has been Valentine's Day, I may have been eating a few pieces here and there for the past few days... but if I am not going to give up chocolate for Lent like usual, I will definitely help myself to some. 

In my house, we love dessert.  I think I have pushed my sweet-tooth onto my husband and we both love a good after-dinner treat.  So I immediately began researching Paleo dessert options.  There are actually a bunch out there, and I am excited to try them out!  The first one I experimented with last night was Paleo Brownies.

I found a recipe here and I decided to try it.  I had taken a trip to Natural Grocers earlier in the day and I was stocked with almond flour and coconut milk and ready with all the ingredients I needed.

Here's what I used:

• 1/2 cup coconut oil (which is actually solid and reminded me of wax)
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup coconut milk
• 2 tbs honey
• 1 egg
• 1 cup almond meal

Preparation
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Combine the coconut oil, cocoa powder, and cinnamon in a bowl (I used my KitchenAid).  Add the coconut milk, honey, egg, and almond meal and mix until combined.

Line a 9 x 9 pan with parchment paper OR grease it with coconut oil (which I did).  Spoon the brownie mixture into the pan and smooth the surface of the mixture.  Bake for 20 minutes.

Remove and allow to cool to room temperature before cutting into squares. I cut mine into 16 brownies.  Here they are:

So how did they turn out?  Overall good.  They taste like brownies for sure.  The biggest issue was that they were a little thin and crumbly.  So it was kind of hard to get them out of the pan.  I put them into the refrigerator in hopes of firming them up a bit.  In terms of taste, they are VERY chocolatey.  I may not have added enough honey, and I may add more next time to sweeten them up a little.  Luckily, I like dark chocolate, but if you prefer less intense chocolate flavor, add more honey.  Let's be clear- I enjoyed my Paleo brownie and all, but I would still take a REAL brownie any day.  Maybe that will change at some point...

I plan to try out more Paleo dessert recipes over the next few weeks, and I will keep posting about our favorites!  In the meantime, try this one for yourself!