Best Ever Vegan Brownies With Macadamia Nuts And Chocolate Chips - Low Calorie And Guilt Free. Perfect For Valentines Day!

Guilt free vegan brownies!

Doug Loves Them!
My husband is the big dessert lover so when he says something is "the best ever", I take note. This isn't what he said with my first attempt at a vegan brownie recipe during the Christmas holidays. They came out hard and dry and ended up down the disposal. So I kept playing with ingredients hoping that I'd have something to blog for Valentine's Day dessert. The other night it happened - a great batch of moist, chocolate brownies with big chunks of heart healthy macadamia nuts. Raw macadamia nuts have a decent 6:1 omega 6 to omega 3 ratio so when you add a little flax seed to the recipe, you get a very good 2.6:1 ratio.

Heart healthy raw macadamia nuts

To LIne or Not to Line?
My pictures will show that I lined the pan with wax paper. This has advantages and disadvantages. The advantages are:
* No need to grease the bottom of the pan (although you still have to grease two sides). This saves the "hidden calories" no one ever counts.
* After baking, you can actually lift the entire batch of brownies out of the pan, place them on the counter and easily cut them up.
The only disadvantage is that it's a bit harder to spread the batter and keep the wax paper in place. If someone has a trick for that, please share it.

Line the pan with wax paper extending up the sides. Grease the remaining two sides.

Spread the batter evenly over the bottom of the lined pan.

After baking and cooling for 15 minutes, carefully lift the entire batch out of the pan.

Vegan Macadamia Nut and Chocolate Chip Brownies
[makes 12 to 16 brownies]
1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour
Powdered stevia - equivalent to 1/2 cup of sugar 
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tablespoon ground flaxseeds
3 tablespoons water
1/2 cup Sucanat or or organic cane sugar
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup unsweetened soy milk or other non dairy milk
6 tablespoons unsweetened apple sauce
1/3 cup macadamia nut halves
1/3 cup vegan chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease an 8"x8" baking dish or line as shown above
In a large bowl, mix flour, stevia powder, baking powder, salt and cocoa powder.
In a medium bowl, make a flax egg by mixing ground flaxseeds and water.
Add sugar, olive oil, soy milk and apple sauce to the flax egg and beat well until it's well combined.
Pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture and blend thoroughly.
Stir in the macadamia nuts and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
Pour batter into the pan and spread evenly.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out easily and mostly clean (it may have a bit of melted chocolate chip on it). Don't over bake. If you use a metal pan, it might cook faster.
Remove from oven. Cool for 15 minutes and remove from pan (if lined) or just serve from the pan if not lined.


Per serving (12): 175.5 calories, 8.1 g fat, 1.9 g saturated fat, 164 mg omega 3 and 426 mg omega 6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 3.6 g protein, 25 g carbohydrates and 3.6 g dietary fiber.


Per serving (16): 131.6 calories, 6.1 g fat, 1.4 g saturated fat, 123 mg omega 3 and 319 mg omega 6 fatty acids, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.7 g protein, 18.7 g carbohydrates and 2.7 g dietary fiber.


For other Valentine's Day ideas, check out Vegan Mexican Chocolate Cake or Raw Vegan Tropical Chocolate Truffles.


Follow Foods For Long LIfe on FACEBOOK!