one of the Portland struggles is having friends with special diets. hosting or bringing something to a party there is guaranteed to be a vegetarian, a gluten-free, a paleo, a pescatarian, a vegan, a lactose-intolerant, a organic only, or 1,000 combinations of diets in between of that. i was tasked with needing to bake a paleo-only desert, not really knowing what that was before i embarked on my journey of recipe searching. baking without grains or dairy blew my mind.
i searched quite a few recipes, and they all sounded just based on ingredients alone that they would taste like hot garbage. the brownie recipe from Amazing Paleo sounded like one of the better recipes of the bunch, and didn't seem like they would end up as "dry and sandy" as some of the other reviewed recipes out there.
they turned out fairly tasty -- these would never be my go-to brownie if i had a choice, but the folks i brought them for said they were one of the better paleo deserts they have ever had (they recently gave up baking paleo since the results were so poor typically). i'd say if you have to bake paleo, this is a really solid recipe, BUT it is so damn expensive (i think i spent almost $30 on ingredients when all was said & done), buying a desert from a swanky paleo bakery may be a good back up as well!
ingredients list - brownies:
- 2 & 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
- 2 eggs, yolk included
- 1/2 cup organic maple syrup
- 1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
- 1/2 cup roasted macadamia nuts (no salt added)
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (for topping)
ingredients list - caramel sauce
- 1/2 cup organic maple syrup
- 1/2 cup raw honey
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
to make - brownies:
preheat oven to 350 degrees. grease a 8" x 8" baking pan with coconut oil and set aside.
in a large mixing bowl, mix together almond flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and seat salt.
in a separate mixing bowl, whisk eggs. add maple syrup and coconut oil to the eggs, stirring until well incorporated. add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well. fold in macadamia nuts and chocolate chips.
pour mixture into prepared baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes. when brownies are done, allow them to cool, then place in the fridge for 1 hour, as cooler brownies will be easier to cut.
while the brownies are baking:
- toast coconut flakes to toast: place flakes in a small skillet over medium heat, and stir constantly with a wooden spoon to prevent burning. they will be done as soon as edges begin to brown.)
- prepare caramel sauce (below)
to make - caramel sauce:
add maple syrup and honey to the saucepan. place pan over medium heat, and stir constantly with a whisk.
as maple syrup and honey begin to warm up (which will be visible by slight bubbles appearing on edges of pan), reduce heat to medium-low. try to avoid letting the mixture boil, as this will affect the taste.
after stirring for about 10-15 minutes, the sauce should have thickened a bit. when this happens, remove sauce from heat and add baking soda (this will make the sauce expand and create a foam-like mixture -- continue to constantly mix sauce when this happens).
return pan to medium-low heat and stir for another 3 minutes. after 3 minutes have passed, remove from heat and allow to cool, stirring occasionally. sauce should acquire a thick caramel consistency.
pour sauce over cooled brownies, sprinkling the toasted coconut flakes on top. cut carefully and serve!
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