Best Brownies

This unassuming little recipe, humbly titled "Brownies", is tucked away on Alana's Pantry.  I didn't actually find it there, nor was I familiar with her site when I did find it. Instead, I came across a tasty picture on Pinterest while whining my way through the flu/cold I had a few weeks back and dreaming of getting into my kitchen when I felt better. Being not fully in my right mind at the time, I bookmarked it on my Kindle -- which in my world is the equivalent of shoving it in the back of my closet under a pile of rarely worn stilletos -- and promptly forgot about it.

A week or two later, a fellow blogger posted on facebook about needing help getting out of the kitchen rut and asking for healthy, tasty recipes from her followers. Someone mentioned Alana's Pantry, and I headed over to check it out. With dinner already planned and prepped, I wasn't in the market for a new baking project myself, but since I tend to judge cooks by their dessert recipes I browsed the section anyway to determine if the site would be a keeper for me.

It. Looked. Delicious.

I was immediately hungry, if a little hesitant to attempt. The thing about new diets is that rarely are any of the "substitute" recipes as equally delicious as their less-healthy relatives.. at least in my opinion. When we agreed to attempt Paleo after burning out on Veganism last year, I resolved that I just wasn't going to attempt substitution. If I wanted a piece of bread, I'd have a real piece of bread. If I was going to eat pasta... I'd break the diet and have real pasta. No more trying to convince myself that Spaghetti Squash is the same as noodles (it's not, folks! You can get used to it.. you can even enjoy it... but please stop telling everyone that it's just like real spaghetti, because that is sadly disappointing when you're starving hungry and trying out a new recipe you found on the internet that says it will satisfy your cravings!). We were going to eat meats, eggs, veggies and fruits... and just cut out anything and everything that was originally made with gluten/grains. Easier to not miss something when you're not telling your brain that it's going to still get it, only to have your taste buds be disappointed and start a craving revolution.

However... all those desserts did remind me of that simple little recipe with the tasty-looking photo I had come across a few weeks ago, so I went off to search my food pins. Took a while to locate, since I never pinned it, but I did eventually find the bookmarked site and read through the ingredients. 

Substitutions:

Since I didn't have any almond butter, I used peanut butter instead (I know, very unpaleo of me ... but I'm not one to waste food, so we're finishing out what we already had in the house. And...well, we'll see how it goes after that).

I had Agave nectar, but chose to use about half that and half regular sugar, as I'm also still finishing up the last of that.

Also missing from my pantry was chocolate chips. So I improvised with some Heath pieces I had purchased while planning for Christmas baking but ultimately failed to use when I ran out of steam.

And... since my mother taught me well... no brownies are complete without at least a few chopped walnuts. I'm not even sure why I cling to this tradition, since in most other situations I dislike walnuts (as I explained to Husband... I buy them so that I have emergency nuts on hand when I need to snack on something... and don't want to eat a whole lb. of nuts by myself in a as I will when left unsupervised with just about any other nut). But seriously -- don't make a brownie without walnuts. It's just not right.

Oh, and one more thing. Apparently I have difficulty following directions. ;) I was thawing chicken tenders in my 9x13 pan, so I baked these in an 8x8 glass dish instead. The baking time was roughly the same -- I set the timer for 30 min. and then kept an eye on it for about another 10 until the top and sides looked roughly brownie-ish. 

They did puff up considerably while baking, but deflated and thickened nicely when left to cool for 2.5 hours.

Yes. I did make my husband look at them for 2.5 hours before allowing him even one tiny taste. The pan was still quite warm to the touch even after all that time, so I am pretty sure it would have been one liquidy mess had we tried to eat them earlier.

They were WELL worth the wait. 

 Crisp and crunchy on the edges, deliciously gooey on the inside.

This jar lasted... two days. Yup, we know how to practice self control.

Seriously good food.

I am officially a fan of Elana, and can't wait to try more of her recipes!