Have your cake and eat it too! oh I mean brownies...

The words "and you can eat all you want" have not left me and are pretty close to the truth when you eat a Paleo diet. Well I guess if I ate a true Paleo diet they would be true. But seriously folks dairy (which I did cut out for a month NOT EASY) is like a HUGE part of my diet and I am blessed to say that it made no difference health wise for me as far as food allergies or sensitivities. So, no I do not eat a true Paleo diet. 

I do however eat a MOSTLY Paleo diet. Which left me pacing the kitchen and standing in front of the refrigerator when I wanted a treat or sweet. Like a crazy cat prowling around ready to pounce. My aunt made an awesome carrot cake, like better than the regular carrot cakes I've had, totally paleo. I asked her about it and she said "Just google Paleo cake or whatever Paleo food you want." Well DUH I told myself. But this opened up a whole new world for me and I have been baking ever since. Problem is, as I was just telling my friend Misty, I cannot follow the recipes (because I can't follow rules-hence eating dairy). Usually this caused my baking to be terrible when I ate wheat flour and sugar. However I have come to discover that my Paleo baking rule breaking rocks. YEP! I am like naturally gifted at making awesome Paleo treats (HA! believe that? you shouldn't) Not at all I just keep tweaking a few recipes making them better each time. This time I took a cookie recipe and tweaked it into a brownie recipe. It was really good, so good, my 4 year old who wouldn't eat the cookies, licked the bowl and ate 4 right away. I know what you're thinking... who lets a 4 year old eat 4 brownies? Well, there's no sugar in them. They are high in protein. So... ME. I do. The 1 yr old after her first bite literally said "nom nom nom nom" to get some more. She had 2. 

In my google searches I came across a Paleo baking blogger who suggested using this almond flour because the Bobs just didn't bake up well she said. I tried the Bobs because I had the Bobs and they did not bake well. Sorry Bob. So I ordered a 5 lb bag of Honeyville. I am now on my 2nd 5lb bag of this flour. Great stuff. So if you're going to use my recipe, you've been warned: you need the Honeyville Almond flour. Just order it, spend the money, get it in the mail and eat well. NO I get nothing from that company for sending you there. There stuff is just good. I ate 2 of these myself tonight. They always taste best warm out of the oven and I like it with milk. But I will be tackling an ice cream recipe soon and I am sure that will pair well too!

Joy's Paleo Brownies:

2  cups honeyville almond flour

1/2 cocoa powder (non alkalized) I use this

1 heaping tsp salt 

1 heaping tsp baking soda (I use aluminum free)

1/2 cup olive oil (1st cold pressed EVOO)

1/2 cup RAW agave 

1 tablespoon Vanilla extract (I use frontier organic) 

1 egg

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl mix together all DRY ingredients. In a separate bowl add all wet and mix. Add wet to dry and mix well. GREASE the pan well. I like making individual servings so I used a muffin pan. 10 -12 minutes.  You can try a 9" and tell me how that works out. Use the olive oil to grease the pan. 

Enjoy