almond butter brownies

ALMOND BUTTER BROWNIES!!! Yes, you heard me right, almond butter brownies, not chocolate fudge brownies, so I apologize for those of you that were looking for something chocolately, next time! These are a bit of a healthier brownie, if there is such a thing as a healthy brownie. These brownies are made with 6 simple ingredients, almond butter, honey, an egg, vanilla, salt, and baking soda. Yep, there’s not flour or sugar in these brownies and you honestly won’t miss the sugar or flour, as these brownies are gooey on the inside and a bit crusty on the outside. They’re super simple to whip up, (only takes 1/2 hour) super tasty, kid and co-worker approved (yes, my kids and co-workers loved these) and gluten-free to boot!

My friend Kimber introduced these brownies to my girlfriends and I on our recent girl’s trip. We all absolutely loved them, and we agreed as we literally devoured the pan, that I needed to get this recipe posted on my blog sooner than later. I was super excited to bake these up and share the recipe with all of you, but I wasn’t excited to photograph them because although they taste great, they’re not the most attractive things to photograph. So before I get to the recipe I thought it would be fun to show you two of the photographs that did not make it to the cutting room floor.

Take 1. Below is the photo I started out with. I really wasn’t a fan of the photo from the start, as it was dark and just looked lame in general, so I added in a cute font and tried to make it look good, but realized the font didn’t help it much and that it was just a lame photo. Oh well, back to the drawing board.

Take 2. Here’s another attempt with the same theme in mind, but I threw down a fancy spoon and some parchment paper to lighten things up a bit. I was actually going to go with this photo because I just didn’t have anymore creative juices left in me, and basically I was tired of looking at the brownies. I texted this photo to a few friends and said, “this is the I best can do today, what do you think?”

All three of my friends texted me back right away with some great ideas, like add in a pop of color with strawberries, add some almonds to the photo and put the brownies on a pretty plate, so I took a tip from each one of them and came up with the cover photo. I’m happy with the results and happy with how the photo turned out! I’m learning that sometimes you need a fresh perspective on things! Ok, enough with my failed attempts at food photography, let’s move onto this recipe.

almond butter brownies:

makes one 8×8 pan of brownies – To make a 9×13 pan just double the below recipe

prep and bake time is only 30 minutes, awesome!

• 1 cup almond butter – I used raw almond butter from MaraNatha, which is my favorite nut butter in the universe!
• 1/3 cup honey – I used a local honey, which is wonderful for allergies, so it’s perfect for this time of year!
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter or oil a 8×8 baking dish.

Measure out your ingredients and put them all together in a bowl.

Now here’s the part that gets tricky and messy! These brownies are best when mixed by hand. Yes, you are going to put your hands in there and massage the mixture. It’s a bit different and messier than massaging kale, but it’s also kind of fun as well. Mix and massage the mixture until all of the ingredients are throughly mixed and kind of creamy. The mixture will get pretty thick as you mix it.

Use your fingers to get the excess batter off of your hands and then use a spatula to get the rest off. Like I said, this is messy, but I find that if you don’t mix it well with your hands then the texture changes, and the brownies are not as gooey and they may even have chunks in them. By the way, Kimber mixes her batter for 3-4 minutes.

Using a spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared baking dish. The batter will be pretty thick and you will have to press and smooth out the batter into the baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 15-19 minutes. Note: It may take more time depending on your oven.

Note: The original recipe that Kimber sent me called for the brownies to be cooked for 35-45 minutes, but when I did that, they were way overcooked. I then made another batch and checked them at 15 minutes and they were close, but finished cooking at 19 minutes. So basically I would suggest checking the brownies at 15 minutes.

Another good tip is to check the oven when the brownies start to smell good. You want the edges of the brownies to crust over and be a bit higher than the center. You want the center to indent a little which means that the brownies will have gooey center. You can always do the toothpick test, and if a bit of moist crumbs stick to the toothpick, then the brownies are done. You really do not want to overcook these brownies, as they can be dry. Ok, did I go into way too much detail there?

Pair these brownies with a glass of almond milk or some coconut ice-cream and enjoy!

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almond butter brownies

Rating: 51

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: one 8x8 pan

Ingredients

• 1 cup almond butter - I used raw almond butter from MaraNatha, which is my favorite nut butter in the universe!
• 1/3 cup honey - I used a local honey, which is wonderful for allergies, so it's perfect for this time of year!
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly butter or oil a 8x8 baking dish.

Measure out your ingredients and put them all together in a bowl.

Now here's the part that gets tricky and messy! These brownies are best when mixed by hand. Yes, you are going to put your hands in there and massage the mixture. It's a bit different and messier than massaging kale, but it's also kind of fun as well.

Mix and massage the mixture until all of the ingredients are throughly mixed and kind of creamy. The mixture will get pretty thick as you mix it.

Use your fingers to get the excess batter off of your hands and then use a spatula to get the rest off. Like I said, this is messy, but I find that if you don't mix it well with your hands then the texture changes, and the brownies are not as gooey and they may even have chunks in them. By the way, Kimber mixes her batter for 3-4 minutes.

Using a spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared baking dish. The batter will be pretty thick and you will have to press and smooth out the batter into the baking dish.

Bake at 350 for 15-19 minutes.

Note: The original recipe that Kimber sent me called for the brownies to be cooked for 35-45 minutes, but when I did that, they were way overcooked. I then made another batch and checked them at 15 minutes and they were close, but finished cooking at 19 minutes. So basically I would suggest checking the brownies at 15 minutes.

Another good tip is to check the oven when the brownies start to smell good. You want the edges of the brownies to crust over and be a bit higher than the center. You want the center to indent a little which means that the brownies will have gooey center. You can always do the toothpick test, and if a bit of moist crumbs stick to the toothpick, then the brownies are done. You really do not want to overcook these brownies, as they can be dry. Ok, did I go into way too much detail there?

Pair these brownies with a glass of almond milk or some coconut ice-cream and enjoy!

2.5 http://www.marinmamacooks.com/2014/06/almond-butter-brownies/ All recipes are © marin mama cooks and cannot be used without permission.

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