Brownies are definitely not seasonal. I can eat them any time of year. So you might be thinking, how does one turn a brownie into something healthy? It’s not hard, and, for a treat, this recipe provides a great shot of protein and nutrients.
You can make it with almond butter, or another nut butter (such as hazelnut butter, or cashew butter). Chocolate contains antioxidants, and better chocolate contains cocoa butter, a healthy source of fat, so go for the best chocolate you can afford (or find). And on rare occasions, better chocolate doesn’t contain soy lecithin.
Today rounded out the 15th stage of the Tour de France, and it’s getting exciting. Even if you’ve never watched before, it’s worth a peek. And there is an interesting article in the New York Times today, Five-Star Tour Cuisine for Guys Who Eat and Ride, on the chef who cooks for one of the teams.
From the article: Almond butter is better than peanut butter because, as Lim said, “it’s just a better nut”. What’s even more interesting is that they eat primarily gluten-free while racing. It’s just easier to digest gluten-free food. My sentiments exactly.
These brownies were inspired by this wonderful recipe from Elana’s pantry. Elana’s brownies are cake-like, however this recipe is more of a fudge-like brownie. If you prefer the cake-like recipe, I have listed my take on cake-like brownies below – essentially, you remove the 4 ounces of melted bittersweet chocolate.
Tips For raspberry brownies, replace 1/2 cup of honey (or more if desired) with raspberry syrup. Also, these brownies can be refrigerated, or stored in a sealed container at room temperature.
Brownie Heaven and the Tour de France
Fudge-like Brownies (makes 24 medium-size brownies)
- 1 1/2 cups of honey (or your sweetener of choice)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup of cocoa powder
- 2 cups of almond butter (16 ounces) (or other nut butter)
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla
- 4 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, melted (unsweetened)
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 cup of chocolate chips (optional)
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. You can also bake these in a convection oven (fan oven) at 325 degrees for 30 minutes.
- On a slow-speed blend or by hand, combine the almond butter, eggs, honey, baking soda, sea salt, and vanilla. Mix until completely blended.
- Next, add the cocoa powder and melted chocolate, and combine both into the mixture slowly, to avoid the development of a brown cloud of chocolate above your mixture.
- The mixture is now gooey – great for those who like to lick the bowl. If you’re adding chips, mix them in by hand.
- I place the batter in a 9 inches by 12 inches pyrex baking dish and I spread it with a flexible spatula. Spread it around the dish so it is somewhat evenly distributed.
- Bake for 40 minutes. Check after 30 minutes to see if a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. Don’t over-bake these – if the edges are dark and the center is low, you’re done.
- Cool and enjoy!
Cake-like brownies
- 1 1/2 cups of honey (or your sweetener of choice)
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup of cocoa powder
- 2 cups of almond butter (16 ounces) (or other nut butter)
- 1 tablespoon of vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
- 1 teaspoon of baking soda
- 1 cup of chocolate chips (optional)
Follow the directions for the fudge-like brownies, except that when you insert the toothpick in step 5, it should be clean.
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These look great and I can’t wait to try them, personally I think a brownie should be fudgy, I mean if it’s cake like isn’t it cake?
Thanks for the recipe.
I know what you mean. I personally like a lighter brownie, but a rich, chocolatey brownie with some ice cream on top is so decadent. This can be made even richer by adding more melted chocolate and some butter or oil. I’ll stop now though
I tried these today and they were fabulous! The best brownie I have had in years! Thanks so much for the recipe.
Glad they worked out
I would rather use honey than agave, but am curious why you use more honey than Elana’s original, agave-containing recipe? I thought the substitution was 1:1. Thanks for the cake and fudge like versions!
M, I adjusted the honey to account for the addition of unsweetened chocolate as well as my desire to have a fudgy, slightly sweeter brownier.
can we use cooking chocolate in place of chocolate chips?
Hi Nida,
Yes, optionally, you can shave or chop chocolate into small pieces and add it to the batter instead of adding chips. I don’t always add chips because I try to keep the sugar content a bit lower (and I avoid cane sugar as often as possible).
These are delicious. We made them last pm and substituted Bakers’s unsweetened chocolate for bittersweet chocolate, adding two dropperfuls of liquid sweetleaf stevia clear. Also baked a few minutes longer, almost all of it is gone!!This way, we avoided any sugar.
Michelle-
When you added the stevia, did you also need to add any other liquid? If you are substituting 2 dropperfuls of stevia for 1 1/2 cups of honey, it seems you’d need some other liquid to make up for the amount of honey vs. the amount of stevia?
Thanks for posting that variation…I was hoping to be able to substitute stevia, as I have sugar issues…I’m so glad you’ve already tried it:)
Michelle, great idea. Thanks for sharing this!
I think it’s interesting that you thought Elana’s recipe was cake like. When I made it mine came out VERY fudgy- in fact, it was almost gooey. And while it was good the first day, it was even better the next!
Brandi, I use honey – not sure if that makes a difference, but whatever works for you – cheers!
We tried your recipe substituting carob powder for cocoa powder, leaving out the chocolate and using 1 cup carob chips and it turned out delicious. We used half natural peanut butter and half raw cashew butter due to almond issues and it was delicious!!! Just wanted you to know. Thanks again for your great recipes. Just wanted to pass on for othes with chocolate sensitivities.
Great to know – thanks Ann!
Waw!! Your alternative almond butter brownies look just perfect & absolutely fabulous too!
I must try them!! Thanks so much for sharing!
OMG! These were the fudgiest most delicious brownies we have had in a long time! Oh, wait! I take that back! I think the last time I had a brownie this good was at my favorite 5-star restaurant! No JOKE! These were soooooo good! I missed the instruction of where to add the melted chocolate, but added it in after mixing in the cocoa. These were so yummy warm out of the oven! Thank you for sharing! My 9 yr. old son is now asking for more.
Wow – thanks for tipping me off to the missing ingredient in the instructions – and the most important ingredient! Glad they worked out!
No problem, Erica! I had made similar brownies before, but I’ve never been able to get them as fudgy and tasty as these are!
I’ve been having fun trying all the yummy recipes on your blog here! We also love your eggplant parm! My son and I have food allergies (Wheat, Rye, Soy, Yeast, Corn, Mushrooms, Pecans) and follow an antifungal diet. Your recipes are a godsend! Thank you again for sharing! 
I usually use coconut flour for my brownies, these were even better! Love gooey brownies! I used cashew butter and 1 cup of honey with 1/2 cup erythritol (which probably made them a little less gooey, but that’s alot of honey to me). Fantastic!
This was lovely! I added a cup of roasted cocoa nibs, and the little bit of crunch with the gooeyness was fabulous! I think I’ll make a batch of these to keep in the freezer for when the kids are invited to parties. Who could miss cake when there’s a brownie like this to be had?!
great idea, using nibs.
Any idea on how many calories are in this?
sorry, I don’t.
Hi,
I just wanted to let you know that I made a batch of these and they were FAB!!!
I found my honey a little over powering( but every batch of honey is a little different depending on what the bees have around them). I was wondering if anybody has tried making them with maple syrup or brown rice syrup? And if so did you use the same amount as called for the honey?
Lindsau
Yes, I find it’s best to bake with mild-flavored honey if possible, unless you’re purposely trying to affect the flavor. I tend to use maple syrup with chocolate recipes and it works well. I usually add the same amount of honey and maple syrup, but sometimes a little less maple syrup works as well.
I’ll make another batch this weekend with maple syrup then and let you know how delish it is!!
Yep, maple syrup was perfect!! I used 1 cup of maple syrup, 1 cup roasted almond butter,1/2 c. roasted haszelnut butter and 1/2 c macadamia nut butter and 2 tsp. of chocolate extract and a 100gr 71% bittersweet chocolate bar to make brownie heaven!!!
awesome – yum!
These are AMAZING! Just made my second batch today (first batch yesterday!) I would like to find a way to add less sweetener. Thank you!