Dairy free brownies

I am on a dairy and soy free diet because Santiago has milk allergies, this has put me on the fast lane to weight loss, but also on a tight spot for indulging. Since we cook most everything from scratch it has been not too hard to come up with ways to replace dairy, but the lack of milk in my baked goods has made them somewhat dry and not as rich and unctuous, not so satisfying. That is until I decided I wanted brownies for my husband’s birthday, and since I do not have a lot of time or patience lately, I decided for a very simple recipe. My recipe uses coconut oil, whole wheat and, as usual, less sugar than regular recipes.

You will need:

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1/2 cup sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/3 cup whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 325°. Line an 8×8″ baking dish with foil. Coat foil with nonstick spray.

Whisk coconut oil, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl to combine. Whisk in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. Add flour and stir until combined. Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake until top begins to crack and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 25-30 minutes.

These were very thick and chocolatey. If you use whole wheat flour you will get a drier end product than your usual brownie, so if you want it more fudgey bake for a little less time.

We loved them! I baked two sets to share, but never got to! Ignacio just devoured them in no time!

Review and Giveaway: Raw Crunch energy bars

If you are a little bit like me you are concerned about what you eat, what materials are put in your food, if there are insecticides galore, chemicals that will hurt you and your family… Also, if you are a bit like me you are either on the go or on the go, which makes you feel tired and low energy… or maybe you are the kind that I would like to be, that exercises and stays fit. That is why I contacted Kathy and Ross, creators of Raw Crunch, to review their energy bars and organize a giveaway. The bars arrived when my dad was still here so we all had a good time reviewing the box that included all the four flavors: Chocolate, Blueberries, Cranberries and Goji Berries.

These bars are hand made! raw and organic, packed with high quality seeds that carry a load of fiber and good for you oils. The flavor is just delicious and I enjoyed greatly the raw honey, which tasted incredibly good and lingered around my mouth for a while. We all liked them, though probably I was the biggest fan (not too surprising, given that I was also the only woman). My dad commented that they are a little on the hard side for senior citizen’s that don’t have the best teeth, and we all think that the packaging, though gorgeous, is hard to open especially if you are jogging or hiking when you need a snack.

Raw Crunch Chocolate bar. The texture is just to die for!

I find that the seed combination was great to give a nicely balanced flavor, and though the base is the same for the four varieties, I enjoyed the most the blueberries and the chocolate ones. These two were sweeter and complemented the seeds better. The chocolate… the chocolate was just fantastic, very high quality, dark but not bitter… just perfect!

You can buy these snacks at the store, and if you apply the code BLOG1 you will obtain a 10% discount! Thank you so much Kathy! Also, you can learn more about them in Raw Crunch’s blog or Facebook page…

…Or you can win a delicious sample box entering our giveaway in our Facebook page.