In my quest to use up a massive amount of zucchini given to me this summer I came across this gem of a recipe.
I have to say when it comes to baked goods, I’ve never been the biggest fan of the gluten-free, no flour, no sugar, no butter (no good stuff!) variety. While there are some good recipes out there, most of them just can’t hold a candle to the real thing…in my humble opinion. Now if you’re on a special diet and you have to go there, I understand but otherwise? Why bother? This recipe is worth bothering. It’s every bit as good as something that has the sugar, butter and flour. The fact that one of these brownies is just a fraction of the calories of a regular one AND are gluten-free just makes them easier to justify. But the real reason to make them is because they are delicious! And if you ask me, that’s the main reason for making dessert to begin with, am I right?
The original recipe only called for 1/2 cup of chocolate chips, and you can use that amount if you want. I am a chocolate fanatic so I doubled it, and used the big bittersweet ones. Fabulous!
Fudgy, delicious, and good for you? Yep!
Flourless Chocolate Zucchini Brownies
(slightly adapted from ambitiouskitchen.com)
1/2 cup all natural unsalted peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup unsweetened natural applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup oats
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups shredded zucchini
1 cup dark chocolate chips, divided
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 8×11 baking pan (or an ultimate brownie pan!) with nonstick cooking spray.
Place oats in blender or food processor and process until finely ground. Don’t worry, it doesn’t need to be perfect but it should take a few minutes. Mine still had some whole oats and pieces mixed in with the ground stuff. Worked fine. Set aside.
In a large bowl of electric mixer, cream together peanut butter, applesauce, honey and vanilla until smooth. Add in zucchini, cocoa powder, ground oats, baking soda, and salt; mix until well combined. Gently fold in 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared baking pan and sprinkle remaining chocolate chips over the top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until tooth pick inserted into middle comes out almost clean.
Cool brownies on wire rack then cut into squares. Yum!
Cooling brownies. I used my ultimate brownie pan (gift from my dear sister) so all my brownies have edges! The edges are my favorite part.
3hungrymonkeys 