Paleo Brownies

A bunch of my friends are trying out the Paleo diet.  I haven't really looked into it or gotten involved with it, but I do try to find some less suger, more natural treats to eat.  My friend sent this recipe to me this week (that she got from a friend) and I had to try it out because I NEEDED chocolate.  They turned out really good.  Almost like cake - slightly airier than brownies to me, but very yummy.

16 oz. walnuts

1 egg

1 cup honey

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1 tbsp vanilla

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 oz. unsweetened dark chocolate, chopped

1ish tbsp coconut oil (for greasing the baking dish)

Preheat over to 325 degrees.

Pulse walnuts in food processor until smooth and creamy (I was able to use my Vita-Mix to get the walnuts to the consistency of thick "peanut butter").

Beat the egg in a bowl, then add the vanilla and honey.  Stir.

In a separate bowl, mix nut butter, cocoa, salt and baking soda until well combined.

Add chopped dark chocolate and mix.

Grease an 8x8 baking dish with coconut oil and pour the mixture into the baking dish.  Bake for 30-35 minutes.  (My first round I baked for about 38 minutes and it was very much like cake.  Second batch I only baked for 32 minutes and turned out much more gooey but still very yummy.)

Let it settle about 15 minutes.  It will puff during baking and settle during cooling.

Using the full amount of walnuts (I used raw) and using unsweetened baking chocolate turned out slightly more bitter than I'd like.  I tried half raw almonds and half walnuts and 73% dark chocolate on my next batch and I liked the taste much better.