Guest Post: Grain and Dairy Free Zucchini Brownies

Happy Sunday/Monday! I hope you all had as fabulous a weekend as I did! As you may remember from Saturday’s post, I spent the majority lounging by my parents pool. Heaven.

And you know what else is heaven? The fantastic dessert my lovely sister is going to share with you today via a guest post! She’s been harassing me offering to do a guest post since I started this blog, and when she shoved one of these babies down my throat, well, even if I could have argued, I wouldn’t have – they are that good!

So without further ado…on with the guest post!

Hi everyone! This is B’s sister J bringing you an awesome summer dessert recipe.

Unlike B, I have a crazy sweet tooth. I love healthy food too, but eating a piece of fruit or a small piece of dark chocolate just doesn’t do it for me. I’m forever seeking healthy dessert recipes to try out in order to indulge my sweet tooth yet still maintain a healthy diet. Some recipes are better than others….

Which brings me to today’s recipe, a real winner- grain and dairy free zucchini brownies! They are absolutely delicious. Even people who aren’t health conscious will gobble these babies up! Despite not using any grain or dairy, they’re moist and flavorful. They can also be incredibly versatile. For instance, the recipe calls for 1 cup of almond butter. Well, I really don’t like almond butter that much. I like cashew butter much better, but unfortunately, I didn’t have any on hand at the time I tried this recipe. So I used all natural peanut butter instead, because peanut butter and chocolate are arguably one of the best flavor combinations in the world. Am I right? Right! I know for those true paleo people out there, peanut butter is a no-no, but any nut butter would be delicious. I would love to try these with cashew butter next time.

One thing to note about these brownies is that I find they taste better after being refrigerated for a few hours after cooking (I let them cool entirely, and then refrigerate them). It helps the zucchini soak up the surrounding ingredients and the brownies become more decadent. Another special touch that I added was that once the brownies were done, I sprinkled a generous handful of chocolate chips on the top of the brownies (which at the time of baking, look a bit more cake-like than regular fudgy brownies. This is normal.) I let them melt in the oven for a minute of so, then gently smoothed the chocolate out over the entire surface of the brownies to give them a nice chocolate coating. Because in my mind, the more chocolate, the better! 🙂

So let’s get to the recipe, shall we? You will need:

• 1 and 1/2 cup grated zucchini (I used my food processor- do NOT strain water from the zucchini!)
• 1 cup almond butter (or any nut butter)
• 1/3 cup raw honey
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp allspice
• 1 Tb cocoa powder
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet)
• ** 1/8 tsp sea salt (not in original recipe. I like the way salt compliments the chocolate and brings out the flavor so I added a little bit, but this isn’t necessary)

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees F. Combine the zucchini, almond butter, honey, and vanilla in a bowl. In a smaller bowl, combine the dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips) and mix well. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mix everything well. Fold in the chocolate chips and gently stir. Pour into a greased 8×8 or 9×9 pan and bake at 350 degrees F for approximately 25-30 minutes. Test the middle of the brownies with a toothpick, if the toothpick comes out clean, add a generous handful of chocolate chips to the top of the brownies, let them sit in the oven for a minute or two, then gently spread the chocolate out over the top of the brownies. Allow to cool, refrigerate for a few hours, and then enjoy! 🙂

**Recipe lightly adapted from this recipe.