No matter what happens… somebody will find a way to take it too seriously. ~Dave Barry
I don’t ever feel guilty about eating chocolate.
I feel guilty about a lot of other things: not being a better mom, sister, friend, daughter, wife, pet owner, citizen…
But chocolate? Nah.
Have you seen those ads with a bunch of women sitting around asking themselves if they should be ‘bad’ and eat x, y or z?
Just eat it, sister. Or don’t. But let yourself off the hook either way.
The world is full of things to see, hear, feel, think, do and all the crazy Hollywood/magazine/social media noise just gets in the way.
I’m 48 with three kids, greying hair, laugh lines and a body slowly succumbing to gravity. It happens.
I try to eat reasonably healthy food (most of the time) – not because I think it will stop time, or give me magic powers, or prevent all of the stuff in life that just seems to happen for no reason that any of us can figure. I try because for me it helps make the getting through of life a bit easier.
But it’s not a religion, or a political manifesto. It’s not a line drawn in the sand with people who eat this over there and that over here.
It’s a brownie.
Made with dates and a bit of honey and sorta kinda good for you.
And tastes good, too.
- 1 cup coarsely chopped dates
- 1/2 cup hot coffee
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 eggs beaten
- 1/2 cup cocoa
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
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Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
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Grease or line 24 mini-muffin cups.
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In small saucepan, combine dates, coffee and cinnamon. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and reduce heat to low. Cook until dates are soft and can be mashed with a spoon. (This should take 5-7 minutes). Watch the mixture carefully to keep if from sticking as the mixture becomes thick.
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Add honey and stir to blend.Remove from heat.
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While mixture is cooking, prepare cocoa by stirring it together with the boiling water until smooth.
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Add cocoa to date mixture and stir to combine thoroughly.
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Let cook to lukewarm, then beat in eggs.
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Stir together the flour, baking soda and salt and stir into date mixture.
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Spoon batter into prepared muffin cups. Bake in preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until a toothpick tests clean. Do not overbake.
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Let cool in pan for 5 minutes, then remove and cool completely before serving.
For the flour, you can substitute 1/2 cup of oat flour for 1/2 cup of the whole wheat flour for some additional texture. To make oat flour, simply grind some rolled oats in a blender or food processor until very fine.
Never seen oil free brownies before. I would love to try these!
It makes a good sized batch to keep in the freezer for when you want something sweet 🙂
I always love brownies so making them guilt-free is the BEST!
I think I have about 40 brownie recipes in my “must-try” file 🙂 I really like these ones, though 🙂
GUILT FREE BROWNIES? COUNT ME IN!
Now I’m working on the guilt-free version of being a decent human 🙂 I’m finding it a bit more challenging!
Love the idea of the kids never knowing it’s healthy! I will be giving these a try!
One of my daughters was a bit suspicious because I asked her what she thought about them a couple of times. She knew they must have had something different in them otherwise I wouldn’t be asking so much, but she had no idea until I told her 🙂
I agree just eat it or not!! Love this!! And the recipe sounds pretty great too.
Yes, it all gets kind of intense, doesn’t it? (I actually happen to really love dates, so like putting them into everything – fortunately they taste good with chocolate 🙂 )
You had me at brownies. The healthy is just bonus. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Sounds great, and no guilt!
Even more of a reason to not feel guilty. Sneaking the healthy in…Shhhh (;
These look delicious! And I’m with you…life is too short to feel guilty about eating chocolate.
Exactly! There are so many other things to expend mental and emotional energy on 🙂 Thanks for stopping by 🙂