Would you still eat a brownie if I told you it was sugar-free?
I would. In fact, I made a whole pan of sugar-free brownies and almost ate the whole thing.
No joke. It was a small pan though. And I said “almost”. I still have some to share.
Earlier this week I was dead set on trying bake up some fudgy, sugar-free, healthy-ish brownies. Then after reading Minimalist Baker’s recipe for simple berry compote I knew I wanted to somehow combine a version of it with my brownies. After all, who doesn’t love fruit and chocolate together?
That is not a rhetorical question. Who doesn’t love that combo?! Let me know.
Anywho, I had blueberries on hand and some basil. Thus, blueberry-basil compote was born.
Now it was time for the brownies. I baked some up and they were… a total fail. I wanted something fudgy and delicious and these were dense, cake-like, and had little flavor. I baked them in muffin tins and topped them with the compote. They were still edible, just not what I wanted.
I gave them to my co-workers. This is basically how it went:
- Me: “Hey! Want a brownie?”
- Coworker: “Sure!”
- Me: “Great! They are sugar and dairy free!”
- Coworker: “Nevermind. I don’t want one. (2 second pause) Ok. I’ll still have one.”
- Me: “Here you go! These were an experiment and not the best… but hey, brownie!”
It is so easy to give away free food. Bless their hearts.
They did give me some great feedback though. I went home, re-worked the recipe a little bit, annnddddddd……… SUCCESS!
The result was exactly what I was looking for.
I used a mixture of cocoa powder and melted chocolate instead of all cocoa powder. I reduced the amount of flour (I knew I added too much the first time around! Lesson learned.) I baked them in an 8×8” pan rather than muffin tins. I then swirled the compote in with the brownie batter so that the fruit was baked right into the brownies rather than just sitting on top. Also, I was out of basil, so I used mint instead.
Since starting this blog I have been doing a lot of baking experiments. Sometimes things work. Sometimes they don’t, which can be disappointing. But failure can lead to a lot of learning and then to success. I like learning and I like success. I also like eating delicious things. So basically, it all works out.
Oh, and as I mentioned before these are both sugar-free and dairy-free. I used honey instead of sugar and coconut oil instead of butter. So you don’t have to feel super guilty when you eat almost the whole pan. And by “you” I mean “I”. But you are welcome to make these and then eat half of the pan and then go share the other half with people who you like. Or keep them all to yourself. No judgement!
So there you go. Delicious, chocolatey brownies with burst of blueberries and mint. Indulgent, yet healthy-ish. Does it get any better than that?!
Yes. Yes, it does. Today is Saturday and it’s beautiful outside. Enjoy your weekend!
- 1 pint blueberries
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons chopped mint
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons cocoa
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
- ½ cup coconut oil
- ¾ cup honey
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a saucepan, add the blueberries and honey. Heat on medium-high until it begins to bubble.
- Turn heat to medium-low. Stir and smash berries every few minutes for about 10-12 minutes.
- Stir in the chopped mint. Transfer to a mason jar and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
- Pre-heat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8x8” baking pan, line with parchment paper, and grease again.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder.
- In a saucepan on low heat, melt the unsweetened chocolate and coconut oil.
- Whisk in the honey. Let it cool for a few minutes and transfer to a medium bowl.
- Whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Fold in the dry ingredients until combined.
- Pour batter into the prepared pan. Add spoonfuls of the blueberry-mint compote. Run a knife or toothpick through the batter to create a marbled effect.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting and serving.
The blueberry-mint compote was inspired by Minimalist Baker's Simple Fruit Compote!
[…] flour. I also made sure there were no refined sugars. See, not so bad. I based these off of the Blueberry-Mint Brownies that I posted back in August. Making brownies from scratch may seem intimidating. You guys, […]