Healthy & Delicious Brownies with just a few ingredients!

As we head into cooler weather and the shift from summer to fall and winter, I find myself craving baked goods. Love a good baked good with my coffee in the afternoon, right?! I can’t really turn on the oven to bake in the summer because of the heat - but as soon as fall comes my way I’m back in the groove. Also, how great is a brownie after a long day of school (or virtual school)? It’s perfect.

Over the years, I have found that plant-based baking is definitely a skill that requires a decent amount of trial and error. Truly, even still - I find it hard to substitute eggs a lot of the time, and so you will see those here. But the brownies are gluten-free and dairy-free and have a very small ingredient list. And I didn’t go to a specialty grocery store for these! I made these delicious brownies using the below recipe, and I included ingredients you can find right at your local ACME Markets. I am a big believer in keeping wellness and wellbeing approachable and attainable, and luckily ACME Markets does as well. You CAN eat healthy and make creative recipes without a specialty store or having to spend a lot of money. 

For this recipe, I picked up some of my favorite ingredients from O Organics® and Open Nature®. These are really great product lines for you if you are trying to source better products for your family’s kitchen that are accessible and don’t break the bank.

So, like I said - I experimented with a few options and well #momlife didn’t get me too far without eggs, so in this particular recipe, I will be using eggs! But there are a variety of plant-based alternatives that you can pick up at your local ACME for eggs to continue to experiment with, including:

• Unsweetened applesauce

• Vinegar & baking soda

• Silken tofu

• Bananas

• Ground flaxseed mixed with water

For milk substitutes, I usually use whichever milk we have at the house (oat, soy, almond, etc.) and for butters or creams, I will dig out some handy dandy cashew cream or a nut butter or coconut oil!

Since we are such huge fans of brownies in our house, I really wanted to give this recipe a try and I am so glad it turned out as well as expected! Let me know if you give it a try and if you use any other plant-based substitutes that worked out well!

I love that I can walk into my local ACME and find products like O Organics and Open Nature products that makes shopping for quality ingredients simple. O Organics and Open Nature products are available in my area exclusively at ACME, but you can also find them throughout the Albertsons Companies family of stores including Albertsons, Safeway, Jewel-Osco, Vons, Pavilions, Randalls, Tom Thumb, Shaw’s, Star Market, United Supermarkets and Carrs/Safeway. 

ACME Markets also offers Grocery Delivery and Pick Up for convenient ways to shop!

Okay, okay, okay! Here it is, friends!

Ingredients:

2 cups Open Nature almond flour (not almond meal, the fluffy white almond flour)

1 cup cocoa powder or cacao powder

(optional) a few sprinkles of fresh ground espresso

½ tsp salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup coconut sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 tbsp melted O Organics coconut oil

2 tbsp O Organics Pure Maple Syrup

4 eggs

*mini chocolate chips and crushed almonds to top with, optional!

Just some notes first - the espresso powder simply helps to bring out the flavor of the chocolate but is not necessary. The eggs MUST be room temperature. I take them out far in advance, or I leave them in a bowl of warm water if I need to accelerate the process.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 and spray your brownie pan (usually a 9x9) with cooking spray or line it with parchment paper.

2. In a big bowl, mix together all of the ingredients to form a thick batter. I usually will do the dry first and then add the wet ingredients.

3. Spoon out the batter into the prepared pan and use your hands or the spoon to press it out evenly if need be. 

4. Add desired toppings :)

5. Bake 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Wait until they cool before slicing and keep in the fridge for storage!

Visit acmemarkets.com to find a store near you and discover more meal prep tips and recipe ideas.

This  is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of ACME Markets. All opinions are 100% my own.