Paleo Fudge Brownies

During the Paleo diet intensive I was very very grumpy about not getting to eat chocolate. My husband was seriously concerned about my chocolate addiction. I guess he didn't know how dependent I was until he saw me without it! Chocolate is only forbidden because of the other ingredients (such as sugar) in it so cocoa powder and cocoa nibs or cacao nibs (whichever spelling your prefer) are welcome components of the Paleo diet. The first time I made these, the man who will eat anything particularly if it's healthy wouldn't touch them! I didn't use the cocoa nibs and rolled them into balls so they would be like truffles. They were dry and not sweet enough, kind of dirt-like but I still ate them because I needed something resembling chocolate. Take 2 was much better. I used more sweetener and liquid and rolled the balls in cocoa nibs for added texture. Take 3 which I will share with you is basically the same but in brownie/fudge form.

Without further ado, I bring you Paleo Fudge Brownies....

Here is the cast of characters: Cocoa nibs, coconut flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, vanilla, agave and honey. I will introduce you to Nuts Online as soon as possible!

Mix together cocoa powder, coconut flour and almond meal (or you can just use one, these can be found at health food stores or you can make your own with coconut/almonds in the food processor).

In a separate bowl, mix honey, agave, vanilla and water

Add roughly 1/3 of the dry mix to the wet and whisk until well combined

Add another 1/3 of the dry mix to the wet and whisk some more!

Add the remaining dry mix to the wet along with the cocoa nibs. It should be about as thick as cookie dough but the texture is different. Notice I switched to a fork at this point because it was too thick to whisk. Side note about forks: I almost always use forks to mix things, I feel I get better mixing action and not as much clumping onto the utensil.

Smoosh into a pan or roll into balls. Okay I know I need to work on my food photography because that photo doesn't scream "eat me!"  I don't think brownies look good in blue. But honestly there is no other use for that bread pan, silicone bread pans are too floppy to bake bread in, particularly quick bread, and I am still not convinced they don't leach chemicals into my food when heated (but if you love yours, don't let me deter you!)

    

Now eat without guilt*! It doesn't get baked so this is an instant gratification meal. We store ours in the fridge because we like cold brownie things but it's not for everyone.

(*Note: this is in no way low calorie or low fat but nutrition isn't about calories and fat, it's about NUTRIENTS which this is full of! end of rant :)

Paleo Fudge Brownies
Makes 8 servings
Note: this results in a very "dark" chocolate brownie, you may want to increase the sweetener(s) and/or decrease the cocoa powder if you don't like a really intense chocolate flavor

Wet
1/4 cup honey and/or agave syrup (add more to taste if necessary)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/3 cup water (add more if dough is too stiff)

Dry
3/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup coconut flour and/or almond meal
1/3 cup cocoa nibs

• Mix the wet ingredients in one bowl and the dry in another
• Mix 1/3 of dry into wet until well combined
• Mix another 1/3 of dry into wet until well combined
• Mix final 1/3 of dry into wet along with cocoa nibs 
• Press into useless silicone loaf pan or any other dish/pan or roll into balls