Date Brownie Recipe

Gluten free, no sugar added fudgy brownies

I've had a sweet tooth here lately and I guess it shows with the recipes I have been sharing with y'all... do you get a hankering for chocolate every once in a while? I have been wanting a good brownie... but I also wanted to make one without the sugar added to it. I do not know about you, but sugar wreaks havoc on my body.

Did you know I recently heard sugar is more addictive than most drugs? You know, at first I was like no way! Then I thought about it, it is readily available, you can pick sugar up anywhere, it is legal... and it is in most foods when you purchase items prepackaged... let alone foods that have it in them naturally. I can see why it is so hard to kick the habit. When I go long periods of time of not having sugar and then decide to have some... oh boy... One, it kills me, I am sluggish, and feel yucky, second, everything tastes over the top, too sweet, sickening sweet, and lastly it is that much harder to kick the habit next time around...

I really wanted that brownie though darn it! So I thought about the chocolate chip cookies I whipped up a few weeks ago and thought hmm... I wonder if I can use that recipe and make it more like a brownie? So guess what, I decided to test it out in our kitchen! I do love a good experiment...

I had to use the small food processor... can you believe the last batch of dates I tried to process had some sort of pit or very hard seed or something in them and I think it fried my large food processor! I am kind of upset about it actually. I am not sure if Kitchen Aid will be able to repair it or not. I am hoping so!

Fudgy Date Brownies

1 package of pitted dates (8 oz)

2 bananas

1 c cashew flour

1 c almond flour

1 t baking soda

1 t salt

3 T real salted butter

1 t vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 c cocoa powder

1/2 bag chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. Mix dates in food processor until they are completely chopped up, very fine.
2. Add bananas, (I had to add one banana at a time with the small food processor so I could get everything mixed up) the mix will almost be like a paste
3. Remove mixture from the food processor, and put in bowl
4. Add in flours (I was nearly out of cashew flour so I had to do a half and half of cashew and almond flour)
5. Stir well
6. Add in baking soda, salt, vanilla, cocoa powder, and eggs
7. Whisk together (I used my small mixer) to make sure the ingredients were well mixed
8. Mix in the chocolate chips, I used dark chocolate (it's my favorite!)
9. Grease baking pan, I used my Lock n Lock round pie plate dish, the lids make it very easy to store and I love that!
10. Place in oven and set timer to 25 minutes, remove when timer goes off
11. Let cool, then cut, and enjoy!

You know what? This totally satisfied my sweet tooth and I thought they were pretty good. I may decide to use this base for many other recipes too. I do not even miss sugar really, once in a while I will feel like I am deprived, but then I mix up something like this and everything is right in my world again. What a nice feeling that is.

Do you feel bad when you consume sugar? Sluggish, tired, achy, inflammation in your body? I know I was tired of it and I began with eliminating it from my diet completely, but then I think I set myself up for failure... you know when you are told you cannot have something and you want it all the more? Well, that happened. I started experimenting with different foods to be able to achieve having something that was that wonderful chocolatiness I crave, while satisfying my sweet tooth, yet at the same time was much better for me too.

If you like a moist, fudgy brownie, then these are for you! It was hard for me to get a good photo of them cut on the cake plate. They wanted to fall apart because they are so moist! Okay by me. The softer, the better...

Batter all mixed up and ready to be put in the baking dish

My hope is that I am also able to share these recipes with those who will find the same benefits I have from them. Nothing ventured, nothing gained... I feel we can only look up from here. I found after ridding my life of added sugar, I began to feel better, and it was the most wonderful feeling in the world!

Brownies right out of the oven

Do you like experimenting with recipes? Do you crave chocolate? My question is, who doesn't? I know there are some out there that can take it or leave it and I admire them! I really do, but for those of us who cannot walk away from it like the perfectly broken in ratty t-shirts we wear on the weekends, there are alternatives out there for us... and we do not have to feel like we are giving anything up, what a great feeling that is!

If you try this recipe, you will have to let me know what you think about it. I thought they were mighty tasty. If you are interested in other recipes we have created, click to read: The best no sugar added chocolate chip cookies, Easy baked chicken, Sweet and spicy chili, Salmon cakes, Mexican chicken bake.