Testimony of the Day
“Hi Maria! I just wanted to show you a quick update after being on your diet for 5 days!! I’ve attached a before and after picture. My itchy, rashy legs have always looked their worse when i’m in a bath or shower; they are always there, but something about the hot water would make them very red and more noticeable than they already were. The “before” picture is how my legs would look while bathing for the last 3 or so years. I was so happy to take a bath tonight and realize they are almost all gone! I just wanted to thank you again for saving my skin!” Malorie
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The BEST BROWNIES!
BROWNIE:
1/2 cup coconut oil or butter, softened
3/4 cups Swerve (or Erythritol and 1 tsp stevia glycerite)
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups peanut flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Celtic sea salt
1 cups shredded zucchini
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
FROSTING:
6 TBS unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup butter or coconut oil
1/4 cup Confectioner Swerve (or erythritol and 1 tsp stevia glycerite)
1/4 cup unsweetened almond milk
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
OPTIONAL: 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder for chocolate frosting
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9×13 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, mix together the oil, sweetener, almond milk and 2 teaspoons vanilla until well blended. Combine the peanut flour, 1/2 cup cocoa, baking soda and salt; stir into the sugar mixture. Fold in the zucchini and walnuts. Spread evenly into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until brownies spring back when gently touched. To make the frosting, melt together the 6 tablespoons of cocoa and butter; set aside to cool. In a medium bowl, blend together the sweetener, almond milk and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Stir in the cocoa mixture. Spread over cooled brownies before cutting into squares. Makes 16 servings.
NUTRITIONAL COMPARISON (per serving)
Traditional Brownie = 199 calories, 10g fat, 2.8g protein, 28g carbs, 2g fiber
Per Brownie = 178 calories, 1rg fat, 9g protein, 6g carbs, 3g fiber
lookd delicious!! I finally have ripened avacados…I am going to try the pudding today!! 🙂
i have made something like this, except pumpkin for zucchini and almone meal for peanut flour! make a coconut butter frosting…omg lol
Have you made this w/ almond flour?
No, but almond flour should work;)
Can Almond flour be subbed in cup for cup? I’d like to try it again with almond this time.
Yep, use cup for cup (peanut to almond).
Happy Baking!
Hi Maria! I really want to make brownies but can’t decide between this recipe or the one that uses cream cheese and coconut flour….which one do you like better, or which one resembles the traditional brownie? Thanks for all you do!!!!
Do this recipe! It is soooo good!
Mine were not as pretty as yours but the flavor was awesome! Satisfied my chocolate craving 100%!
Wow – these are so good! I tried them without the frosting and they’re great on their own. I made them with almond flour and they are nutty and delish. My husband said “you may make them again”. LOL!
Hi Maria: I am currently reading your book on mood and look forward to your other books and making more of your recipes. However, I made these brownies last night and they came out gooey even after an additional ten minutes of baking. I used almond flour and followed your exact measurements. Any suggestions? The frosting came out wonderful! My daughter and I were so looking forward to having one last night and were so disappointed so I would love to figure out what I am doing wrong. Thanks, Kimberlee
Thanks for your support! I’m can’t think why this would have happened. I haven’t heard anyone with this problem before. You could try a little more flour. 🙂
hmmm, mine’s in the oven, and has been there for an hour and it is still quite liquidy. Same problem as Kimberlee…
Did you squeeze the water out of your shredded zucchini? (I didn’t as it wasn’t in the directions and my other “old style of cooking — with white wheat flour etc” recipe for zucchini brownies doesn’t require squeezing the water out…
the frosting came out great though!
I redid the recipe and I think I had too much zucchini in it. I adjusted the recipe to 1 cup. Hope that works. 🙂
Thanks Maria!
So I gather you leave the zucchini water in.
I also read somewhere last night that it’s possible that peanut flour is absorbent (not as much as coconut flour) and almond flour much less so. That would definitely explain your lovely texture and why it didn’t work so well for me. Peanut flour if available here is very hard to find, so in the meantime I might redo with your new adjustment, or maybe add a bit of coconut flour until I reach a dryer consistency. I’ll keep you posted. Thanks again!!
What about all the research that Stevia is a form of birth control and reduces fertility? Also, that it causes muscle contractions leading to possible miscarriage.
Not true. It seems the rumor comes from that there was a tribe in ancient Paraguay that used Stevia for birth control. Here are just a few of the most current studies that refute concerns about Stevia and its relationship to reproduction problems or cancer:
Roberts, A., Renwick, A.G., Comparative toxicokinetics and metabolism of rebaudioside A, stevioside, and steviol in rats, Food and Chemical Toxicology (2008)
Brusick, D.J., A critical review of the genetic toxicity of steviol and steviol glycosides, Food and Chemical Toxicology (2008)
Wheeler, A., Boileau, A.C., Winkler, P.C., Compton, J.C., Prakash, I., Jiang, X., Mandarino, D.A., Pharmacokinetics of rebaudioside A and stevioside after single oral doses in healthy men, Food and Chemical Toxicology (2008)
Geuns, Jan M.C. , Safety Evaluation of Stevia and Stevioside, Studies in Natural Products Chemistry, Vol. 27 (2002)
Also, in a blog that you wrote about waiting to get pregnant atleast two years to get all the toxins out of your body when you start a low carb diet. So since I just found out im pregnant and i have only been on this diet for 3 months and I am continuing to lose weight, should I be worried about the toxins released?
If you have been eating clean for 3 months there should be very little toxins being released. 🙂
Thanks for all your info. Maria! 🙂
I would like to try this recipe nut am curious about the peanut flour. Peanuts are a legume, but the flour is okay to use?
If you don’t have candida, it is fine in moderation. Otherwise you can just use almond flour instead. 🙂
Maria.when you use swerve, can i use just like sugar instead
Yes, they are 1 to 1 replacements. 🙂
I was wondering if I could use splenda instead and is the zuccini shredded raw with a cheese grater? Also, what is confectioner swerve? Can I substitute with splenda also? Thanks so much.
I tried this recipe with the 1 cup zucchini. The batter was so dry it was still powdered and I followed the measurements exactly. So I added 2 eggs and had a consistency like in your picture. The finished brownie was good, a little drier than I like them so I might add another egg next time. The frosting was perfect, thank you for your time and trials to make these recipes.
Hmm, maybe your zucchini was drier than mine. 🙂
Hey Maria, I was wondering if you could tell me the nutritional info without the frosting. No big deal just curious.
You would subtract about 31 calories and 0.5 net carbs per serving. 🙂
Hi Maria-can I use the baking stevia instead of Swerve? I only find Swerve online and I want to make these brownies today. The baking stevia says to use 1/2 cup Truvia to 1 c sugar I believe.
Yes, that should work. Just use whatever conversion they say on their package. Happy Baking! 🙂
I just made these yesterday and they were a big hit! I used almond flour and like a couple other people said they were a little gooey. (I’ll try to get some peanut flour for next time.) I didn’t even make the frosting but they were still awesome, tasted just like “real” brownies. Thanks so much for all the great recipes!
Thanks! 🙂
Maria, these are fantastic! My daughter said they were the best brownies she’s ever had – she had two servings. Then I asked her if she knew what the ‘secret’ ingredient was. She said didn’t matter that they were made with zucchini; she’d keep eating them anyhow. Love your recipes; love your blog! A big thank you.
That is awesome! Thank you! 🙂
Hi Maria! I stumbled upon your blog from Pinterest yesterday. I was looking for recipes for low carb zucchini brownies. Man am I glad I found yours. I made them last night and they are fabulous! I did have to use almond flour and Splenda but plan on buying peanut flour and Swerve to follow your recipe. Your lemon bars are next on my list! Thanks so much for the great recipe!
Thank you Jen! 🙂
You will love the lemon bars too!
The frosting looks thicker in your picture, did you double it? Dana
I don’t think so. You can make 1.5 times the frosting in the recipe if you like it thicker. 🙂
I have a lot of coconut flour and zucchini on hand. I modified your recipe substituting 2/3c coconut flour for the peanut flour, upping the almond milk to 1/2 c, and adding 4 eggs. Turned out great! I figure each serving would be 7 carbs, minus the swerve. 🙂 Thanks for sharing so many great recipes and tips!
Thanks!
Maria~
I plan on baking these and taking them on our family vacation next week. Do they freeze well? Should I frost them before I freeze them or frost them when we are ready to eat them?
Thanks so much!
Yes, they freeze great. I would frost before you eat them. 🙂
Is there anything I can use to substitute for the zucchini?
Sorry, not really. I have other brownie recipes without it. 🙂
I followed this divine looking recipe to the T and it turned out like a dry cake batter that had not been cooked. I also have your Nutritious and Delicious cookbook and that recipe calls for 2 cups of zuchinni rather than one. Would that have made it moist? I don’t understand where the moisture comes from 1/4 cup of almond milk? I’m anxious to try it again. It had great flavor!
Thank you for your help Maria!
What brand peanut flour did you use? Some are defatted and need more moisture. Adjust the batter until it is the right consistency. 😉
I believe the brand is protein plus… It was 12% fat. What brand do you like to use for your brownies? Thank you!
Hmm, I think that is the one I used. I would try adding more moisture until the batter is the right consistency. 😉
Hi Maria, I’m wondering if you used butter or coconut oil in this brownie recipe to get the result pictured?
Also, where on the planet are you? I ask, because I’ve tried a few recipes and my results are frequently not similar. So I wondered (some more!) if altitude might be the difference.
Thanks!
I used butter. We are in the Wisconsin. 🙂
Made these and they are delicious. My batter was not dry and crumbly before baking, it was moist even though I had squeezed some of the moisture out of the zucchini. I used almond flour, not sure I can get peanut flour in New Zealand. Great recipe and I will try other ones. Thanks
I carefully placed my first order of grain free flours and natural sweetener, after weeks of deliberating. This was a my first recipe.
I read the first half of the comments, about not adding egg if it is dry. But I should have read the last half….about adding more almond milk. My travelled-across-country-winter-time zucchini had no moisture. After everything was mixed in, it resembled dry crumbs and not batter of any kind. I had hoped that some magic would make it correct itself while baking. nope. Baked crumbs. Excellent ingredients it just need more almond milk.
Frosting was easy and fantastic.
For those of you who are having problems with your batter being dry, I wanted to share something. I had some fresh zucchini from my father in laws garden and wanted to try these brownies. I couldn’t believe how dry my batter was. So I added some egg and little more almond milk to get a decent batter. That was yesterday.
Today (using the same batch of zucchini), I was making a different recipe, that calls for the zucchini to be weighed. The recipe states 1/2 C shredded zucchini (100 grams). I had shredded over 1/2 C, but when I went to weigh it, I had around 60 grams. I must have had some “dry” zucchini like I had read about in some earlier post above.
So this might be the cause of some of your batters being dry and other people having great success. I have to say that I love my kitchen scale (relatively new purchase) and wish more recipes included the grams/ounces.
I love the idea of this. However, I wish I had read all the comments. I didn’t have swerve. What would you recommend for a sub for that? I used splenda, despite the warnings of previous posters. But mine look very shiny and not like brownies at all…wonder if I did it wrong? I did use almond flour instead of peanut but everything else is the same.
Yes, I have sweetener conversion charts in my cookbooks. 🙂
http://www.amazon.com/gp/node/index.html?ie=UTF8&marketplaceID=ATVPDKIKX0DER&me=A51JBC26TWGDE&merchant=A51JBC26TWGDE&redirect=true
Is there a way you could make these with the peanut flour with coconut flour? How much should be used?
It is a different ratio. This chart will help:
http://mariamindbodyhealth.com/chai-tea-glazed-twinkies-and-donuts/
Maria,
I live in one of the major peanut growing states and cannot find peanut flour for this recipe and it is making me very grouchy:(
Ha! I get mine here. 😉
http://astore.amazon.com/marisnutran05-20/detail/B0052OOYOW
Maria,
I live in one of the major peanut growing states and cannot find peanut flour and I’m craving brownies terribly:(
Oh, Maria! Before changing my lifestyle to low carb, I was a brownie junkie. Unfortunately, good low carb brownies have been hard to replicate. I’ve tried several recipes that were o.k. and a fairly good substitute to the “real” thing but I was ready to give up on a low carb brownie recipe that even compared to my made from scratch brownies. Well THIS recipe is the closest thing I’ve found! These are the best tasting low carb brownies I’ve tried and not only are they a great substitute for the “real” thing, I don’t think anyone would know they were low carb unless told. I didn’t make them with the frosting because I like to top my brownies with peanut butter which is exactly what I did with these. All I can say is “OMG!!!!” Thank you, thank you, thank you, Maria, for such an awesome brownie recipe!
Do you peel the zucchini or not?
For this recipe I do.
Is it baking soda and not baking powder? I just made these and they didn’t rise at all.
Hmmm, they are pretty dense. I’d have to retest.
Yes please do and comment. They don’t look or taste springy. I’m thinking baking powder would do that. Otherwise very yummy.