I heart Dates - Date Brownies

Wow! That was a really long break! So I meant to only take a month off but then that month turned into 6 months. Isn't that funny how that happens?

Healthwise for me these last 6 months have been in pretty much lousy. In September I had another miscarriage and it just was really hard for me to bounce back from that, emotionally. When I am sad like that I turn to really unhealthy behaviors, like secretly eating large bags of m&ms by myself, eating lots of processed foods, staying up too late, and not exercising. I was pretty much a wreck. I felt like a fraud writing this blog. But it's a new year. I am feeling better and I am back on track. I have been trying some new recipes and I can't wait to share them.

One of my goals this year is to not eat any sweets, unless they are sweetened with dates, or other fruits. Dates are awesome! I buy the 2lb box of medjool dates from Costco. They are soft and delicious.  I have basically learned that you can do a lot with dates. So I am going to be posting a lot of date recipes this year.

The first tip I have in working with dates is to get a food processor, if you don't already have one. In these recipes you want to get the dates really well processed. Sometimes you can do that in a blender but in a lot of these recipes there isn't enough liquid to make it work. So without further ado here is a yummy brownie recipe.

Date Brownies

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter or coconut oil 
• 6 (1 ounce) squares unsweetened chocolate
• 2 cups medjool dates pitted
• 4 eggs
• Little less than 1 Cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions

1.    Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.

2.   In your food processor blend the dates , add the eggs if you need more liquid

      to get the dates to blend.

3.   In 3-quart saucepan over very low heat (or with a double boiler), melt butter or coconut oil and chocolate,  stirring the mixture constantly. Remove from heat. Allow the mixture to cool slightly. Stir the date mixture into the chocolate.

 

4.  If you didn't use all the eggs with the dates, beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each, then stir in the vanilla.

5.  Combine the flour and salt in a separate bowl; stir into the chocolate mixture.

     Fold in the walnuts. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

6.  Bake in oven 30 to 35 minutes. Brownies are done when toothpick inserted    into center come out clean. Cool in pan on wire rack.

** Warning these brownies are not at all low fat. But they are sugar free and they are delicious!