May 11, 2011

Humpastry Day - Sneaky Brownies

Sneaky Brownies
I was in the mood for brownies the other day and came across an unusual recipe that incorporated spinach and berries.  It was too weird not to try, so of course I had to make it!  I changed the ingredients to make it even healthier, and the result was a chocolatey, moist brownie with just a hint of cherry!  They were good!  And, the best part,  no one even noticed the hidden ingredients!  He he! :)

Ingredients:
Makes 16 brownies

Cherry Puree Ingredients:
*  1 1/2C spinach
*  3/4C fresh/frozen cherries (Note: I think you could use just about any berries for this, but I thought the choco/cherry combo sounded yummy!)
*  1/2tsp. lemon juice
*  1-2Tbl. water

Sneaky Brownie Ingredients:
*  3Tbl.earth balance  butter
*  3/4C chocolate chips
*  2 flax eggs (2Tbl. ground flax mixed with 6Tbl. water)
*  2tsp. vanilla extract
*  1/2C raw sugar
*  1/2C cherry puree
*  2Tbl. whole wheat pastry flour
*  4Tbl. whole wheat flour
*  1Tbl. amaranth flour (or you could use wheat germ, or more whole wheat pastry flour)
*  1Tbl. unsweetened cocoa powder
*  1/4C oat flour (OR 1/4C rolled oats ground in a food processor)
*  1/4tsp. salt

Directions for the Cherry Puree:
1.  Place all ingredients into a blender/processor.

2.  Process on high until smooth, stopping if needed to scrape down the sides.
3.  Add more water if needed to make a smooth puree.  Set aside.
*Note:  The ingredients make more puree then you need for the brownies.  You can either save it for future use, or serve it to your son as "cherry juice."


As you can see from his face, he absolutely LOVED this stuff!  He drank EVERY LAST SIP of that puree, then proceeded to lick the cup until he had it all!  Ha ha!











Directions for the brownies:
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray the bottom of a 9" square pan and set aside.
2.  In a medium sized microwave safe bowl (you will be adding other stuff to this bowl later on),  melt the butter and chocolate chips.  Stir to combine and set aside to cool.

3. In a mixing bowl, stir together the flours,  cocoa powder, oats, and salt.
4.  To the chocolate bowl, add the flax eggs, vanilla, sugar, and cherry puree.
5.  Add the chocolate mixture to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.
6.  Pour the mixture into the 9" pan.
7.  Make sure you lick the chocolatey goodness from the mixing bowl!  Yum!!







7.  Bake for 30-35min., until a toothpick comes out clean.
8.  Allow the brownies to cool completely before cutting into them.  Then, cut into 16 bars.
I just HAD to eat one before taking the picture..ha ha!
9.  Dust with powdered sugar in desired.
10.  Enjoy!

22 comments:

misszippy said...

What a cool recipe! And they sound really good. the only sneaky brownies I've ever made were with black beans and they were pretty good too.

Julie said...

Yummy! That is the cutest dirty face pictures!

Jason said...

That is sneaky and I love it.

BTW - Your son look just like you...WOW!!!!

My sneaky brownies are made with garbanzo beans.

Jill said...

Those sound AWESOME!!! And I totally love the chocolately smile on your son's face. Priceless!

Michael said...

Yummmy....you are killing me. I will give these a try (after my sugar free challenge), but they sound awesome. Is there really a difference between whole wheat flour and the pastry flour? I have some recipes that call for whole wheat pastry flour and I can never find it so I just use whole wheat flour, but maybe I'm missing out on something.

Unknown said...

That's a great recipe. I'll have to try to sneak some into my boys, whom I'm constantly fighting with to eat fruits and vegetables.

Amanda@runninghood said...

Your kids are sooo lucky to have you Aimee! You are not only teaching them to eat healthy but to have fun with food and try so many new things! I'm so impressed.

Emz said...

Ohhhhh man. You've got me w/this one.
I'm making these-altered the tiniest [gluten free] I'm so loving this idea.

Christi said...

That is totally sneaky and just for that reason I am going to make some. I want to see if my teenager (who by the way knows everything) can figure this one out!

Thanks and have a great day!

Unknown said...

Those look delish!

Aimee your son is mini-Aimee, wow!

Unknown said...

What a great recipe! I love brownies. I'm going to have to re-stock the pantry and try them out!

funderson said...

Cutest pictures of the day..hands down...

Unknown said...

Sounds delicious! I bet it would be really good with raspberries too. Raspberries and chocolate are a fabulous combo...

Chef Amber Shea said...

How interesting with the spinach! That sounds like something I'd try :P Yum!

kassy said...

HA! Cute kid! :D

Looks fun, too! :-)

AM! said...

Hi;-)
It's cute to see how much your kids are growing! I know this is a brownie post, but can't get over your kids. so cute.

now for the brownies, very interesting idea to use spinach. like that.

hope your training is going well for IM;-)

Regina said...

Ok, I am definitely making these! Thanks for the recipe.

Mark said...

Mmmmm... brownies.

My problem is that once I start eating them I can not put them down. Is that bad?

DRog said...

great photos!
and looks oh so good:)

D

Unknown said...

Those sound awesome! Love the pictures!

Unknown said...

these sound so amazing!! gotta try this one :D

Kurt @ Becoming An Ironman said...

Making people healthier, one sneaky ingredient at a time!

I love it. I might have to give those a whirl!!