The Protein Brownie

Exactly a year ago, during our summer vacation home to visit my parents in the Dominican Republic Annabelle and I were right in the middle of the Food Wars. 

She had just learned the power of the word NO and was using it at every chance she could, especially when it had to do with food. Protein isn’t one of her favorite things and I’m still struggling to find ways to eat more of it, even if it means being tricky and adding some chocolate to it. That’s when I came across a great recipe for Brownies made with oats and ricotta cheese. Everyone loved it and I made my tweaked version of it 2 or 3 times and then the recipe got tossed aside and I forgot about it. Until a few weeks ago when I came across grass-fed, organic ricotta cheese. The brownies were the first thing that came to mind, especially with Annabelles current cupcake and chocolate obsession, and best of all these can be made gluten free with gf oats.

The original recipe is from Bethenny Frankels Skinny Girl Daily. Even though her photograph of the brownies is better than mine I like my ingredients better. I wasn’t trying to keep them low fat but instead add more healthy fats that are great for growing toddlers, like egg yolks and coconut oil. My version is probably a little bit denser than the original.

This is my slightly tweaked version:

Ingredients:

1/2 cup raw sugar

1/4 cup honey

6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons part skim ricotta cheese

2 eggs

1/8 teasoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon oat flour

1 teaspoon coconut oil

Cooking spray

Cooking Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350° F.  Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, then pour into a small brownie pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake 35 to 45 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through, or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean (check after 30 minutes).