PALEO GLUTEN-FREE PROTEIN BROWNIES - Guest post by Benjamin Smith of The Online Grill

Another cooking enthusiast is sharing my space today. Again, ours was an e mail interaction and he volunteered to do a guest post for me. After few mail exchanges he sent me this awesome recipe that is more of a revolutionary bake replacing all that butter and sugar overload. I was bowled over by this one, seriously.
Healthy cooking and baking is becoming a global norm and this thought has led to sea changes in the approach to replacing common ingredients in food. One such is the Paleo concept, which excludes most of the carbs.. precisely all the carbs. It could be a short time goal or a permanent lifestyle change for someone. So, if you have a dairy restriction or looking for a gluten free indulgence, then this is the go-to recipe. I am so thankful to my guest Benjamin Smith... fondly known as Ben for sharing this recipe.

Who is Ben?

Ben is an eater, a drinker, and a cyclist. Between thinking about his next meals, he writes at The Online Grill about... well, eating. Hop on to his space to know more about his passion. Read on now...

Dessert is a tricky issue in any diet. Sure, you don’t want to go cold turkey and completely deprive yourself of any sort of sweet snack, but with even the most self-professed ‘healthy’ treats you’re often eating blind, not knowing exactly what you’re putting in your body.

And no matter how much I try to eat well, I can never get away from one inescapable fact: I love chocolate. Sometimes I manage it well by having just a square of dark chocolate here and there, but sometimes I just need more of a fix. Thankfully this is where this recipe comes in and saves the day. These gluten-free brownies kick my chocolate craving into touch without me feeling like I need a week to recover from even eating the things!

Made with just four ingredients, and weighing in at around 200 calories per brownie, these are infinitely better than their full-fat, full-sugar, full-fairy counterparts. And perhaps my favorite thing about them: They take all of about 25 minutes to make!

Also as a nice bonus, as well as being gluten-free they can be adapted to be paleo-friendly too. All to be revealed in the recipe below. Enjoy!

You will need:

• 6 riper than ripe bananas
• 1 cup of smooth peanut butter (nut butter if you’re paleo)
• ½ cup of unflavored (or chocolate) protein powder
• ¼ cup of cocoa powder

I almost feel like I’m doing this recipe a disservice by laying it out here because it really is that straightforward but here goes…

• Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit, and line a baking tray with a layer of parchment paper. 

• Unpeel the bananas into a large bowl and mash them. I like to use a potato masher but, hey, use your fists if you like.

• Once soften, add in the peanut butter. Whisk the two ingredients together until you have a smooth and consistent mix.

• Add in the cocoa and protein powder, and combine. 

• Once completely mixed, pour into your baking tray. Put in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes. Once done, remove from oven and leave to cool for 20 minutes. Enjoy!

• And that’s it! It couldn’t be simpler, and at the end you have a far healthier, protein and energy packed version of the addictive snack.

What do you make of the recipe? I love learning about different adaptations to even the simplest of recipes so be sure to get in touch with your ideas!