These healthy brownies have the same texture as ones made with copious amounts of fat and sugar!
You read right, carrot brownies.
The fam and I are preparing to make our sixth and (hopefully) final move this week, and my stress level could not be much higher.
Per Murphy's law, this also comes about on a week that the girls are both in school and have parent-teacher conferences. If that's not enough, the impish tot that calls himself my son is at peak 'terrible'. Sheesh, brownie me now, please.
I've been reworking a few brownie recipes, trying to lower the sugar, maintain texture, and have it actually taste good. A few have come out decent, but none have really wow-ed me until this one.
I actually began testing this recipe over the summer when squashes were plentiful, and I had zucchini brownie aspirations. One day, however, I started pondering additions that would not only add moisture, but also a natural sweetness.
Enter, the humble carrot.
It not only adds the two above components, but it's also relatively low in starch (starch = carbs + sugar).
After many (enjoyable) trials, this here is the final recipe that all in the house agreed was the w-i-n-n-e-r!
Healthy Carrot Brownies
Ingredients
- ½ cup oat flour
- ½ cup whole spelt flour
- ⅓ cup cocoa powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ¾ cup milk of your choice
- 2 Tbsp oil (coconut, grapeseed, olive, and avocado all work!)
- 2 Tbsp applesauce
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp coconut sugar
- 1 Tbsp brown rice syrup
- 1 medium carrot finely grated
- ¼ cup chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Mix the flours, cocoa, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl.
- In a larger bowl, mix the remaining ingredients (save the chocolate chips for the top).
- Add the dry mix to the large bowl and mix everything until well combined.
- Pour the batter into a well-oiled 8 x 8-inch baking dish.
- Sprinkle the top with the reserved chocolate.
- Bake for 14-16 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. DON'T overbake, or they will become dry.
- Cool, cut, and serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Notes:
I recommend tasting your carrot to be sure it's nice and sweet. I've had some real duds!
I like to use my Homemade Coconut Milk in this recipe.
In place of coconut sugar, you can use any granulated sweetener you like.
For the brown rice syrup, maple syrup or honey should work as replacements, but I haven't tried them myself.
My little helper...
...and goofy taste-tester!
She'll thank me for that one when she's 16!
Ash
Im not sure why it was quite bitter and not much sweetness. Is it supposed to be this way? Thanks.
Lauren
Hi there, yes, these are lower sugar brownies. Not sure if you've baked a regular brownie recipe before, but they tend to have upwards of 1/2 - 1 cup of sugar. To make these a bit sweeter, you can add some stevia, otherwise, I'd suggest looking for a regular brownie recipe.
Prableen
Substitute for apple sauce?
Lauren
You could try mashed banana, but it will add a banana flavor.
Sha
Hi Lauren,
Roughly how big is a medium carrot? Like an estimate of how many cups a medium grated carrot yields might help. Carrots over here comes in many sizes, some are long and thick, long and thing, short and stubby... so...
Lauren
Hi Sha,
Sorry for the late reply, the carrot should yield about 3/4 cup of (loosely packed) grated carrot. 🙂
Sha
Thanks Lauren and no need to apologize as the reply was pretty quick. I, on the other hand, need to say sorry for multiple typos on my ques above and clicking submit before checking haha. Can't wait to try the recipe! Thanks for sharing 😊
michelle
these are brilliant!! my box grater doesn't do a fine shred and i did not have granulated sweetener, but neither detracted from the final product which is so delicious. my boyfriend is a fan too (and the brownies seem to have all disappeared!) ...so i'm definitely gonna be making these regularly 😀 thank you again for your work.
Lauren
Thanks Michelle, I'm so happy you like them!
Emma Phillips
Looking amazing!
Meeta bhatia
Very nice recipe.... Can I replace brown rice syrup with honey or maple syrup?
Lauren
That should work! 🙂
Tammy
Me and my kids love these! Thanks for the awesome recipe!
Nancy
Spelt contains gluten which I can't have. Can I sub it?
Lauren
Hi Nancy,
I'm not gluten-free, so I don't test those options, but it seems an all-purpose GF blend might work!