Zucchini Brownies
These zucchini brownies are gooey, fudgy, and perfectly sweet. This recipe is a healthy twist to traditional brownies.
Ingredients
- 1 cup Zucchini 1 medium, grated without peeling
- 3/4 cup Peanut butter
- 1/4 cup Honey/Maple syrup
- 1 tsp Vanilla extract
- 2 tbsp Ground flaxseed grind whole flaxseed
- 8-10 Almonds
- 2 tbsp Almond flour blanched
- 1/4 cup Cocoa powder/Cacao powder
- 1/4 cup Chocolate chips extra 1 tbsp to sprinkle
- 3/4 tsp Baking powder
- 1/8 tsp Salt
Instructions
Roasted Almonds
- In a small bowl, add ⅛ tsp salt, 1 tsp water, and mix. In a pan, add almonds, and sprinkle the salt water mixture over them.
- Roast the almonds until they become totally dry for about 5 minutes. Let them cool down completely, roughly chop them, and set aside.
Making Brownies
- Line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉/180℃
- In a large mixing bowl, add peanut butter, honey, vanilla extract, almond flour, and ground flaxseed.
- Add shredded zucchini, sieve the cocoa powder and baking soda in the bowl, and gently mix everything well.
- Fold in chocolate chips until fully incorporated.
- Transfer the brownie batter into the lined pan and spread the batter evenly.
- Sprinkle some chocolate chips and roughly chopped salted almonds on top.
- Bake the brownies for 25-30 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center and it should come out clean.
- Allow the zucchini brownies to cool in the pan completely before slicing into pieces.
Notes
- Use a relatively fresh jar of peanut butter, old peanut butter gets very dry and hard. Mix the peanut butter with a spoon before using it in the recipe.
- Do not squeeze out the water from the zucchini as we are not adding water to make flax egg - an egg substitute made of water and ground flaxseed.
- Gently mixing all the ingredients is very important. If you overmix the batter, it will release more moisture in the batter, and we don’t want that.
- Brownie batter should be thick and sticky - it should not be runny, otherwise the brownies will fall apart or turn soggy in the center. If the batter is a bit runny, add 1-2 tbsp of almond flour.
- Use a blanched almond flour, which provides a light texture to the brownies.
- A good unsweetened cocoa powder provides a rich and delicious flavor to the brownies.
- Let the brownies cool down completely. Let them sit for at least 3-4 hours or overnight. Once they have cooled down completely and set, you can cut them into square pieces.
- Lift the edges of the parchment paper out of the pan and place onto a cutting board.
- Use a sharp knife and cut them into 16 pieces. You can wipe down the knife between the cuts.