Avocado Keto Brownies

Another day another cooking adventure with Stella! She is still my little chocolate lover, “momma, tiny piece of chocolate?” haha! I was looking at a bunch of recipes out there and there are avocado brownies that use flour from grains which ya’ll know I’m not into…then there were a bunch of other lower carb recipes that use erythritol, swerve, or other non-caloric super sweeteners and I am NOT a fan of these either.

My food-as-medicine philosophy is focused on whole real foods that have not been processed, stripped, refined. So even if erythritol is derived from non-GMO corn (yes, that is at least good to know), it is still highly processed, there is zero possibility of you creating it from an ear of corn in your kitchen or house…you need some kind of Breaking Bad set up in your garage or something to turn corn into an odorless, perfect equal particle, white powder. Beyond these sweeteners not being a real whole food, they provide a false flavor profile that only perpetuates the standard american sterile palate that can’t appreciate the natural sweetness of an almond. That alone creates a challenge in a diet shift of trying to go lower carb, yet perpetuating addiction to sugar/sweet. I am all about that savory life! Let’s get your palate to channel savory, that is what makes sustainable wins in your ketogenic lifestyle.

Finally, another reason why non-caloric sweeteners are not in my food-as-medicine approaches is that they can create a psychosomatic response inducing excessive insulin output which can drive blood sugar drops and crashes as well as spikes and weight gain with metabolic syndrome impact! For years studies have identified weight gain associated with consumption of diet products but it was difficult to determine if obesity with diet products was due to other factors such as food addiction (likely another factor!) but know we know there are physiological impacts of non-nutritive sweeteners. This article, contains mechanisms including the microbiome (gut bacteria), insulin, GLP-1 and tongue taste receptor connection as proposed influencers with studies to support.

So in summary non-caloric sweeteners are:

Not Whole Foods, highly processed
Excessively sweet, not allowing palate shift
Negative influencers on metabolism including fat gain, blood sugar imbalance, and gut bacteria balance

So in looking for a brownie recipe, I wanted to provide nourishment with whole foods and serve the purpose of a brownie, rich cacao bitter flavor, creamy dense texture, and a balance to elevate the natural sweetness of these foods while still staying in ketosis. This recipe could be adapted further for carb cycling and incorporate more sweet with the addition of 2 Tbsp raw unfiltered honey or robust maple syrup if desired, but below is my keto-strong version using date paste….that’s right! Check it out.

Ingredients:

4 dates, pitted
⅛ cup warm water
1.5 avocados, medium sized to yield ½ cup mashed
1 egg, medium sized
2 egg yolks
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp a
½ cup cacao powder
⅓ cup almond flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp sea salt
1/4 cup melted coconut oil
1/4 cup melted ghee or grassfed butter
⅛ cup cashew butter
2 oz coarsely chopped 80% cacao chocolate bar

1/4 cup coarsely chopped nuts like pecans or walnuts, if desired

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place dates in a small bowl with warm water and allow to soak for at least 30 minutes, longer if dates are dense and dry to soften to finger squish-able. Once softened, blend the dates with soak water in the food processor using “S” blade pulsing until creating a paste. Add avocado and blend until combined. Whisk egg with the additional 2 yolks and add vanilla and almond extracts to this mixture then add to food processor, waiting to mix again. In a separate bowl, combine cacao powder, almond flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Then add blended dry ingredients to the food processor with egg mixture and blend for about 30 seconds. In a small bowl mix together melted coconut oil, ghee, cashew butter with whisk. Then turn on food processor one more time and pour in melted mixture (make sure not hot, just warm) to blend all ingredients about 15 seconds.

Spread brownie mixture into a greased 8×8″ pan. Sprinkle the brownies with chocolate chunks and nuts if using and bake in oven in middle rack for about 20 minutes, checking at 18 minutes and completing baking when corners pull from edges of pan and a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool completely, then cut into 12 pieces.