How To Make A Healthy Chocolate Brownies Recipe
Gluten Free Healthy Dessert: Banana Cashew Butter Brownies
On today’s episode of Live Lean TV, I’m showing you how to make a healthy chocolate brownies recipe.
What?
A healthy chocolate brownies recipe?
That’s right.
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In fact, my friend Jen Saade joins me in the kitchen and helps me bake a batch of delicious banana cashew butter brownies.
Jen, like most people, has a sweet tooth
So it’s my goal to show her how it’s possible to enjoy eating delicious sweets and desserts, while still eating clean and Living Lean.
Sound like an oxymoron?
Think again.
Sit back and enjoy as I show you how to use real, whole food ingredients to make Banana Cashew Butter Brownies.
That’s a mouthful of a recipe name.
No sugar, no wheat, and gluten free.
This means the fat storing monster will not be unleashed after eating this healthy chocolate brownies recipe.
Let’s dig in and make some chocolate brownies
To start, get all the chocolate brownie ingredients lined up on your counter, starting with the first four dry ingredients.
As you probably remember from baking in home economics class as a kid, all the dry ingredients are mixed together first.
Then you’ll mix the rest of the wet ingredients together after.
I’ll always remember this because my mom was a home economics teacher.
However, even with a home ec teacher mom, I rarely bake at all, which was apparent when I called the whisk a beater.
I just prefer to cook.
Healthy chocolate brownies ingredient notes:
In the cooking video I incorrectly said 1/3 cup of cocoa powder rather than the correct amount, 1/2 cup.
I also normally recommend using raw honey, however I admit, we didn’t use raw honey because we couldn’t find it at the grocery store.
So if you have access to raw honey, use it as it has a lot more antioxidants than regular honey.
But when you’re in a pinch, go with whatever type of honey you can find.
This was also one of my first times trying cashew butter.
Jen never had it either, other than dipping her fingers in it before filming.
If you can’t find cashew butter, go with almond butter.
How to eat sweets and still Live Lean
One of the beautiful things about baking with these clean and healthy ingredients, rather than conventional refined flour or whole grains is it won’t cause a huge insulin spike.
That’s key to balancing and maintaining your blood sugar at a stable level.
When you eat flour and grains, including whole grains, your blood sugar goes up.
Then your insulin hormone is excreted from you pancreas to come in and quickly remove the excessive sugar from your bloodstream.
This causes your blood sugar levels to crash, which leads you to have more hunger and cravings.
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That’s why it’s important to bake with the healthy and clean ingredients that I have listed below.
For example, we’re swapping out insulin spiking refined wheat flour, for almond flour.
Remember, dietary fat is good for you
Almond flour is primarily a fat which does not create as much of a spike in insulin production.
How to make a healthy chocolate brownies recipe
| Prep Time | 5 minutes |
| Cook Time | 20-25 minutes |
| Servings |
brownies
|
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 1/4 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 cup raw honey (or regular honey if you can't find raw honey)
- 1/4 cup cashew butter (or almond butter)
- 2 whole eggs
- 1 mashed banana
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2-4 tbsp cashew butter (for the frosting)
- cooking spray (coconut oil or avocado oil spray)
Ingredients
|
|
- The first thing you need to do is pre-heat your oven to 350F.
- Start by adding a 1/2 cup of cocoa powder, 1/4 cup almond flour, 1/4 tsp sea salt, and 1/4 tsp baking powder to a mixing bowl.
- Beat and mix all the dry ingredients together with a whisk or a hand mixer.
- Next, add the following wet ingredients to the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients, 1 mashed banana, 1/4 cup of preferably raw honey, 1/4 cup cashew butter, and lastly 2 whole eggs that have already been beaten up.
- Using a hand mixer or whisk, beat all the ingredients together.
- Once the mixture has reach a consistency where the clumps have been removed, it's ready to add 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract to the mixing bowl. Mix. Vanilla makes everything taste better.
- Spray an 8 x 8 baking dish with cooking spray so the chocolate brownies don't stick. I like to use coconut oil or coconut oil spray for the baking dish, but Jen is allergic to coconuts.
- With a spatula, add the chocolate brownie batter to the 8 x 8 baking dish, then spread the 2-4 tbsp of cashew butter on top as the frosting.
- Once the cashew butter is spread on top, bake it in the oven at 350F for 20-25 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, take the brownies out of the oven and poke them with a knife to see if they are cooked throughly inside. If not, add them back to the oven for up to 5 more minutes.
- It's now time for the taste test. Cut the brownies into 9 equally sized squares, add them to a plate, and take a bite.
Nutrition Information (per serving):
Calories: 153
Protein: 4.5g
Carbohydrates: 17g
Fat: 9.5g
This chocolate brownies recipe is just proof that you don’t need sugar when you use real food and ingredients.
I think they taste good.
Actually, I don’t think they just taste good.
Damn that’s good!
It has to be said.
Jen also thinks they taste absolutely amazing.
As Jen was adding the chocolate brownie batter to the baking dish, she kept saying how good it looked.
So there you go.
This healthy chocolate brownies recipe contains all whole ingredients, with no sugar added.
As a kid you probably washed your chocolate brownies down with some dairy milk.
But since we don’t do dairy milk here on Live Lean TV, you can grab and mix up a protein shake and have your brownie with it.
Get my full Eat Clean Live Lean Cookbook
This healthy chocolate brownies recipe is just 1 of the over 200 delicious recipes from my best selling Eat Clean Live Lean Cookbook.
If you’re looking for a more quick, healthy, easy, affordable, and delicious low carbohydrate recipes, get the full recipe book system here.
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Question For You:
- What is your favorite dessert or sweet?
- Have you figured out a healthy way to bake it?
Be sure to share your answers in the comment section below.
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Brad Gouthro is the founder of Live Lean TV, a media company focused on helping men and women “Live Lean” 365 days a year. Brad’s programs and content have helped millions of people all over the world learn how to get in shape, and more importantly, sustain it for life.
Brad! you are awesome!
Thanks so much for this recipe…its just devine!!….i can eat brownies now…yeeeeeeeehaaawwww!
Ive been living lean and am feeling it too. thank you.
glad you dig!
I just made these with almond butter instead of cashew butter! amazing <3 thanks so much for this recipe!
any nut butter would work…enjoy!
any nut butter would work…enjoy!
Hey Brad, would sunflower seed butter work instead of cashew butter? xx
my first attempt at trying one of your recipes and it came out awesome!!! Used Sukrin instead of honey though. Will definitely try more of your “sweet stuff” in the future!!!
There are delicious 90 calorie brownies made by Fiber One, they are tiny but so good, you can find them in drugstores and supermarkets.
Brad, about how many calories do think is in a decent size serving?
I made these last night…I used almond butter, and 1/2 cup of unsweetened apple sauce instead of the bananas…OMG SOOOOOO GOOD!!! Will be adding this to my arsenal of clean eats!
Man oh man were are these good! Just made these last night and can’t stop eating them. Although this is a healthier version, I can’t make these too often. If I’m eating the whole pan, how beneficial will that be?! Lol. Great recipe!
these look delish!
Omg, I made these and there amazing, I added pecans on the top and they are so GOOD!
Awesome recipe – I can’t wait to try it! Thanks!
Hey Brad ! I’ve been eating healthy and I am on a diet since January and i lost 3 kgs which is like ok with me for sure. I have been working out since past 4 weeks for about 70 minutes. But I just found out a woman who has lost 12 kgs in the SAME period. I mean I’m 18 and she’s I think 30 or something, I would’ve lost more than that na ? I’m not cheating at all. =(
I’m really dis hearted now =(
Weight is just a number on the scale. go by how you feel on the inside (meaning more energy and self-confidence). keep consistently working hard and the results will come. and try not to measure yourself against anyone else. everyone’s body is different
thak u so much Brad 😀
Brad,
In regard to our previous messages about egg substitution in baking. I made the brownies today twice, one with unsweetened applesauce and the second time with mashed bananas. Both times the brownies came out great. So you may want to bring those up as good substitutes for those who don’t eat eggs.
Thanks,
Sachin
thanks for following up
Ill be making these soon!
seems great am gonna try it !! not addicted to sweets thanks god!
Sweets are my weakness! These seem amazing!
Hey Brad could you give me a list of carbs u buy or do u have a video in where you talk about good carbs … also what are the best carbs to buy
?
Can I just come over and eat the leftovers? We could go for a quick run, eat a brownie, run again, drink some coffee/tea, run again, eat a brownie… there is a theme.
Next batch and we’re on. Jen took them all! (but i may have ate my share within 5 mins of filming).
These sounds like something you might eat when you’re stoned – LMFAO!!!!! SAY NOPE TO DOPE!!! 😉
I prefer the Saved By The Bell drug episode where Zack says the slogan… “there’s no hope with dope” … #throwback
Thank you! I will make this tomorrow, can’t wait.
it was 1/4 cup of almond flour…full recipe is on my website … link in video description above
Thank you thank you! Please make more recipes like this!!! I’m trying to be sugar and carb/flour free
You didn’t say what ingredients was next after she poured the coco.
Oh Brad you didn’t… But oh yes you did! Those look freakin’ awesome. I cannot wait to try them. Damn those look good!!!
Yum! Pinned for later…
someone uber cool gave it to me 😉
nice shirt!! xoxo
Is it wrong that I want to make these right now instead of getting ready for work??
I think I just drooled. No wait, I did. Pass me a napkin 😉
I love healthy baking 🙂
i LOVE cashew butter and the added banana in here sound awesome! plus itz a simple enough recipe that if you can follow surely i can! hehe jk! 😉
These look awesome, will be trying them right away! Can you provide macros?
You had me at brownies…
I made my clean brownies yesterday using BLACK BEANS!Theyre sooo delicious and probably the best brownies I had since I can adjust the sweetness of it!Cant wait to try this!
baking it long enough over higher heat it probably would. it would still retain some of the antioxidants at 350F for 20 mins.
yes, but quinoa less so…if you were to have any grain, quinoa would be best.
Oh these look SOOOO amazing!!! I need to try them. WOW!!! I love that it has ingredients you can find everywhere. Thank you so much for sharing Brad 🙂
She cute =D
These brownies look amazing! and healthier??!!! I’m sold! I’m allergic to gluten, sugar, wheat, etc so I’m happy that I can make them. Thanks Brad!
omg i made these right after i saw this! i was prepared for it and wow!!! i now know how i can satisfy my craving for chocolate!! Thank you so much brad you are a big help on my journey to a healthier lifestyle for me!! Your great!
depends on how big you cut them 😉 … but yes.
it’s almond flour…1/4 cup … full recipe is on my website
Black beans also make an awesome flour substitute for brownies.
hey brad, what is that ingredient inside the clear bowl? (the second ingredient put in) and how much of it?
😛 I’ll make this next time I have visitors, better don’t make this tomorrow!