I know, blasphemy, right?
First things first, I don’t often have a sweet tooth but when I do, I usually want either a chocolate chip cookie or a brownie. The craving struck last weekend and I couldn’t get brownies off my mind.
My most favorite brownie recipe (here! Shout out to Ina Garten) is full of buttery goodness and peanut butter swirls. It’s heavenly and decadent and just a bite will satisfy the strongest sweet tooth. The only problem is my favorite brownies are a labor of love and I just wasn’t in the mood for a full-on baking event. (Truthfully, I wasn’t into the cleanup part of a full-on baking event.)
So I did some googleing; I decided if I was going to try a new recipe, why not try a healthier recipe? I have chocolate Designer Protein powder in my pantry so surely there was a protein powder recipe, right?
Well, as it turns out, there weren’t as many protein powder brownies on the internet or on Pinterest as I expected (or, you all now know that I have subpar googling skillz) but I found a recipe from Ambitious Kitchen (here!) that fit my bill and promised to be delicious.
I gathered my ingredients and set to work during halftime of the Bengals game. I started and finished these brownies and popped them in the oven and the sportscasters were still chitchatting about the first half, that’s how easy these were!
Of course, what’s a new recipe without two thumbs up from the sweet tooth in the house? Not a recipe that makes it to my blog, that’s for sure. Alex and his friend took a break from football (err, studying Managerial Economics) to give these a try and both nodded in agreement, this recipe is a keeper.
Compared to my labor-of-love brownies, these are much cake-ier but are still very moist! I added coconut chips to mine before baking; Alex would have preferred a few more chocolate chips sprinkled throughout but these are plenty sweet with just a few chocolate chips on top. (Says the not-so-sweet-tooth.)
IF YOU MAKE IT
Coconut Raspberry Brownies with Protein Powder
Adapted from Ambitious Kitchen’s 100 Calorie Raspberry Chocolate Chip Brownies
- 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup Whey Chocolate Protein Powder (I used Designer Protein Gourmet Chocolate)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup unsweetened vanilla cashew milk
- 2 tablespoons coconut oil
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
- 2 tablespoons sweetened coconut flakes
- 1/2 cup fresh raspberries
- Preheat oven to 350*F and spray 8×8 inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Using a blender or food processor, blend oats for a minute until it resembles flour. Move flour to a medium/large bowl and whisk in protein powder and cocoa powder; set aside.
- Whisk applesauce, egg, honey, vanilla and cashew milk until well combined and smooth.
- Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix together until just combined.
- In a small saucepan, heat coconut oil and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring continuously. Once completely melted, gently stir into brownie batter.
- Pour mixture into 8×8 pan. Sprinkle small handful of chocolate chips and coconut flakes on top of the mixture; add raspberries to the batter (I placed whole raspberries in the batter but you could also cut into pieces and sprinkle on top).
- Bake for 18-22 minutes or until the age old knife test says these are done baking. Set aside to cool.
- Once cooled, cut into 12 pieces and enjoy!