Peanut Butter & Dark Chocolate Protein Brownies

This recipe comes with a few notes at the end so don't forget to read those, OK? OK, let's get this post rolling then ;-) These brownies are a nutritional power-house! They're full of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, essential fatty acids (including omega 3s), protein, and fiber goodness. They're also vegan, gluten-free, and sweetener-free. I made them this way because I've been asked to upload more sweetener-free and egg-less protein recipes by people who either don't react well to sweeteners/eggs or who just prefer not to include them in their diet. I personally don't have a problem with sweeteners (I wrote about this here) but I do acknowledge that some people prefer to cut sweeteners out entirely or simply reduce their consumption of them. That's cool and I respect that. As for eggs, well, I like eggs a lot! But I also like my vegan friends and those of you guys who follow a vegan diet. That's why every now and then I like to upload vegan recipes on the blog (click here to access all my vegan protein recipes so far). Cooking within these parameters also allows me to be more creative in my cooking and play with different kinds of protein foods so... yeah! Bring it on :-D

Ingredients

1 tbsp of smooth peanut butter
1/2 cup of GOOD hemp protein powder (unflavored)
1/4 cup of pumpkin puree (or cooked sweet potato)
1/8 cup of pea protein (unflavored)
1 banana
10 medjool dates
1/8 cup of apple fiber (or coconut flour)
1/4 cup of buckwheat flour (can sub with oatflour)
1/2 tsp of baking soda
1 and 1/4 cup of cartoned coconut milk (or your nut milk of choice)
1/4 cup of 100% cocoa powder

Directions: Blend all the above ingredients together and taste your batter. If you want it sweeter, add more dates (just bear in mind this'll increase the carb content of your brownies). If you want it even more cocoaful, add more cocoa. If your batter is too dry, add a bit more milk. If it's too wet, thicken it up with more pea protein or coconut flour. Bake the mix in the oven at 160 C (332 F) for about 35-45 minutes or until, when stabbed with a knife, your knife comes out clean.

Let them cool and then slice them into squares. I sliced them into nine to end up with large brownie squares but you could always slice them smaller if, for instance, you want bite-sized brownies.

What are they like? They're a bit like eating a block of melted chocolate in texture, if that makes sense? They're really fudgy, moist, dense, and incredibly moreish! Very richly chocolatey too and smooth and peanut buttery and mmmmm, delish :-D

Notes:

1. If you consult my Protein Substitution Chart, you'll note that you can substitute the vegan protein powder in this recipe for casein. Doing that will 'de-veganize' the brownies, yes, but if all you have around is casein and really want to give these a go, well... I ain't gonna stop ya ;-) 

2. Consider adding a cooked beetroot to the mix. I was going to do this but forgot! The beetroot will just intensity the flavors more and add an extra punch of nommage.

3. Consider also adding some chopped nuts to the batter before baking! This'll add a nice crunch to your brownies (and of course, an extra flavor). Walnuts, pecans, and/or macadamia nuts would be subliiiiiime here!


Macros per brownie (out of the nine square ones I got from the mix above): 133.8kcals, 16.5g carbs (out of which 4.6 is fiber!), 8.4g protein, and 4.5g fat (out of which just 1.1g is saturated).

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