Healthier Brownies

I found this recipe on Pinterest for 65 Calorie Whole Wheat Pumpkin Brownies and thought I make a few changes to it. We don't use Stevia and the original recipes does. I'm always trying to find a good "treat" for us especially if it involves chocoalte and the word "healthy"!

 It was a huge success, both girls loved these brownies!  You can serve them straight out of the oven or store them in the fridge and eat them cold.  They actually seem to be better out of the fridge cold!  I also couldn't taste any hint of pumpkin in these at all.

Healthier Brownies


Ingredients:
3 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons of maple syrup (I only used this because I ran out of vanilla)
1/2 cup of cocoa powder
1/3 cup of hot water
1 cup of whole wheat flour
6 ounces of plain greek yogurt
1 cup of pumpkin puree
3/4 cup of honey
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips (if you leave these out the brownies will be sugar free!)

Directions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
2. With mixer beat eggs, syrup, yogurt and pumpkin until well combined.
3. Add in honey and mix, set aside.
4. In a small seperate bowl mix cocoa and water together until they look like frosting.  If the mixature is too dry add a little more water.
5. Add the cocoa mixture, baking soad and flour together with everything else you set aside.
6. Stir in chocolate chips, save a few to sprinkle over top the brownies.
7. Grease a 8 X 8 pan (we used coconut oil spray).
8. Pour in batter and sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top.
9. Bake 35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the center of brownies.

Enjoy!!

As you can see these are very thick, cake-like brownies!  

Secret Chocolate Cupcakes

The girls have been requesting cupcakes for a while now. While I love to bake I didn't want to make them a batch of sugary chocolate cupcakes. They would want to eat one every single evening and then I'd end up with 2 very hyper girls!

I made substitutions in both the cupcakes and the frosting so that neither one contains actual sugar. Honey and maple syrup are excellent substitutes and the girls had no clue!

Everything I used for the cake (minus the eggs, I guess I forgot to photograph those!).

I lined our muffin pan and sprayed each liner with a little coconut spray oil.

Everything I used for our frosting, notice there is no sugar!!

The avocado in the food process, make sure it is very smooth.

The frosting mixing away! 

I put the frosting in a container to store in the fridge while waiting for the cupcakes to bake and cool.  It reminded me of pudding but went on the cupcakes perfectly!

Secret Chocolate Cupcakes

Ingredients for cupcakes:

1/3 cup of cocoa powder

1 1/3 cups of all purpose flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt

3/4 cup of honey

2 eggs

1 cup of sour cream

1/3 cup of applesauce

2 teaspoons of vanilla

Directions for cupcakes:

1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl together.

2. With a mixer blend honey, eggs, sour cream, applesauce and vanilla in a separate bowl.

3. Slowly mix in dry ingredients until combined.

4. Line muffin pan or use non-stick cooking spray (we did both).

5. Fill muffin cups until almost full, we were able to make 12 cupcakes.

6. Bake 25 minutes.  

Ingredients for frosting:

1 small avocado

1/4 cup of cocoa powder

1/4 cup of maple syrup

1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

1/2 cup of sour cream

Directions for frosting:

1. Using a food processor mix avocado alone until completely smooth and free of all chunks.

2. Add cocoa powder, maple syrup, vanilla and sour cream and process until smooth.

3. Store covered in fridge until read to use on cooled cupcakes.

I was worried someone would notice these are free of sugar, nope, the secret is safe!