Hi there, Mama of 3 Munchkins Readers!
I’m Courtney from FitCakery.com, a healthy cooking, baking, and fit-lifestyle blog. Ty Watson and her blog rock my socks, so of course I’m thrilled to have been invited to share a recipe here with you today. I hope you like chocolate.
Now, if you know me, you know I’m always looking for excuses to bake things. Especially brownies.
I know what you must be thinking. Yes, I do realize it’s not really necessary to have an excuse to bake… but, you know, having an excuse often means having someone to share said baked goodies with. Right?
Like meeting a new neighbor. Celebrating a birthday. Having dinner guests.
See what I mean? Yet another reason why I absolutely love holidays. Holidays deliver weeks of baking excuses for me – weeks, I tell you! The fact that Valentine’s Day is coming up, combined with meeting you for the first time, gave me all the incentive I needed to get in the kitchen and start making THESE.
Valentine’s Day, to me, just screams for chocolate. As much so as Thanksgiving begs for Turkey and Christmas craves a good spice cake. You know it. I know it. Everyone knows it. We also know it’s a holiday for celebrating love and matters of the heart.
This is the part where I get to why these brownies are legitimately the best thing to bake for Valentine’s Day.
Because,
1) They are made with chocolate. Lots. Of chocolate.
2) You have a whole holiday to show people you care. I mean, an excuse… to tell not only those closest to you, but your neighbors, hairdresser, coworkers, kids’ teachers, barista… that they are important to you! If you want. But by now you know how much I love to bake, so…
3) These are really good for your HEART. Yes, you read that correctly. Beets, cocoa, whole wheat… are good for your heart! Plus, there are tons of other healthy ingredients in there too. If that’s not love in brownie form, I don’t know what is.
4) Did I mention the chocolate? Yeah… these are super delicious and chocolatey.
Also, because I am really in the holiday/ new friends/ sharing kind of mood, I thought I’d share one more of my favorite chocolate treats, just perfect for Valentine’s Day: Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake Cookies.
But let’s be real… I’d bake for you any time!
- 1 (15 oz) canned beets in water – a total of 15.3 oz beets with the water
- 6 T. (3 oz) coconut oil, melted
- ⅔ c. cocoa powder
- ⅔ c. brown sugar
- ⅓ c. Stevia
- ¼ c. chopped dates
- 3 T. agave syrup
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
- ⅔ c. oats
- 3 T. flax
- 2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- ½ tsp. salt
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two 8 x 8” glass or metal baking pans (or two pie pans) with cooking spray.
- In a blender or food processor, blend the first 8 ingredients – beets through vanilla extract – until completely smooth.
- In a large bowl, combine flour through salt with a whisk.
- Pour the ingredients from the food processor/ blender into the dry ingredients, and combine well with a rubber spatula until no more dry ingredients remain.
- Evenly distribute the mixture between the two pans and put both in the center rack of the oven.
- Bake about 25-30 minutes, or just barely until cooked through. For moist brownies, you want to make sure they don’t over bake – so it will seem ever-so-slightly underdone in the center, which will continue to set as it cools.
- Cool the pans on a wire rack until close to room temperature before cutting. That is, if you can wait that long!