Paleo Brownies

A bunch of my friends are trying out the Paleo diet.  I haven't really looked into it or gotten involved with it, but I do try to find some less suger, more natural treats to eat.  My friend sent a brownie recipe (that she got from a friend) and I had to try it out (with some variations) because I NEEDED chocolate.  They turned out really good.  Almost like cake - slightly airier than brownies to me, but very yummy. I make them almost every month now.

16 oz. walnuts (2 cups, I use 1 cup raw almonds and 1 cup raw walnuts)

1 egg

1 cup honey

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1 tbsp vanilla

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 oz. unsweetened dark chocolate, chopped into small shredded pieces (or half a 3.5 oz. bar of Trader Joe's 73% dark chocolate)

1ish tbsp coconut oil (for greasing the baking dish)

Preheat over to 325 degrees.

- Pulse nuts in the food processor until they're ground up - anywhere from flour consistency to nut butter consistency is fine. I usually do somewhere in between using my Vita-Mix.

- Mix the egg, vanilla and honey in one bowl. 

- In a separate bowl, mix nut butter, cocoa, salt and baking soda until well combined. Then add the wet ingredients and stir until everything is the same consistency.

- Add the dark chocolate and mix.

- Grease an 8x8 baking dish with coconut oil and pour the mixture into the baking dish.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  (Most baking times for me are more like 40-45 minutes, but I'm at a high, dry altitude. I keep it in the oven until the center is not jiggly but is still pretty soft and the outside edges are dryish.) Let it settle about 15 minutes.  It will puff during baking and settle during cooling.

- Using walnuts only and unsweetened baking chocolate turned out slightly more bitter than I'd like.  I tried half raw almonds and half walnuts and 73% dark chocolate on my next batch and I liked the taste much better.