OOOEY GOOOEY PEANUT BUTTER BROWNIES

I have found that the more I cook low carb, the less and less I use recipes. I was never someone that strictly followed a recipe. Even when I use a recipe I always add a few things or use a little less of something. I have always viewed recipes as suggestions. But I am learning things about different types of flours and sweeteners, and sometimes it seems like low carb recipes don't account for these changes. I set out trying to use recipes, but never make it through without making big changes. I wanted to make brownies with peanut flour a few days ago, but I couldn't find any recipes. I decided to give it a try on my own and boy am I glad I did.

I call my way of cooking low carb, because carbs are what you watch out for with T1D, but most of my recipes could also be termed 'grain-free' or 'sugar-free' (I don't like to call it 'sugar free' because that is so often associated with artificial sweeteners).  If you are wanting to go grain free or sugar free for any reason, I highly recommend reading any book by Maria Emmerich. Her dessert book can be found HERE. I had a friend give me a couple of her books shortly after my daughter's diagnosis, and it opened my eyes to so many things.

I never cooked with peanut flour pre-T1D. However, from the very first bag of peanut flour I opened, I knew I would love it. It's texture is just like regular flour, and it smells wonderful! It gives everything a light peanut flavor and makes everything very dense.

Peanut Butter Brownies

• 1 cup of peanut flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa flour
• 1 1/4 cup of erythritol
• 6 tablespoons of melted coconut oil
• 6 tablespoons of melted butter
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup of unsweetened almond milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Whisk all dry ingredients together. Stir in all other ingredients. The peanut flour gets a little clumpy, so you have to stir it a little longer than expected. Line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper and bake on 300° until the edges start to look a little dry. This should take about 20 minutes. Pour Chocolate frosting over brownies as soon as you remove them from the oven. You must let these brownies completely cool before serving.

Chocolate Frosting

• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1 tablespoon of coconut oil
• 2 oz unsweetened bakers chocolate
• 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 1/4 cup + 1 teaspoon of erythritol
• 1 tablespoon of liquid stevia

Melt chocolate, butter and coconut oil in a double boiler. Add in the rest of the ingredients and stir until the erythritol is no longer gritty.

I cut these into 3x3" pieces and they have 3.7 carbs per piece. This could vary slightly depending on your ingredients.