Sugar and Salt

Happy Friday y'all!

I hope your Halloween was absolutely fabulous. Surprisingly, we didn't have very many trick or treaters, probably around 3 groups total, 1 of which included four of my little cousins. My guess is the whole "school night" thing but I could be totally wrong.

Usually, after Halloween the appropriate thing to do would be to detox from all of the candy that was consumed. However, I just figured that if we are on a "roll" here with the over-consumption of sweets, let's just keep it up. Thanksgiving is right around the corner anyway, we might as well don our sweat pants early. ;)

Let's make banana bread brownies.

Well, I mean, there had to be bananas in the brownies to make us feel somewhat healthy, right?

Just overlook the whole chocolate chip thing. 

Now, we make a salted hazelnut butter "frosting" for these things.

Because I love the sweet and salty.

This stuff is KILLER!

I want to slather it on everything. 

I mean, seriously?

So, today: brownies. 

Monday: salad...

maybe :)

Banana Bread Brownies with Salted Hazelnut Butter "Frosting" (GF):

Ingredients:

For the brownies:

1/2 c. melted coconut oil (or olive oil)

3 ripe bananas, mashed

3 eggs

1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

1 c. raw coconut sugar

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 c. coconut flour, sifted

1/2 c. dark chocolate chips

For the frosting:

3 c. roasted, salted hazelnuts

1 T. agave nectar (or honey), optional

Instructions:

For the brownies:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8x8 in. square baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the melted coconut oil, bananas, eggs, vanilla, and sugar until smooth.

3. In another mixing bowl, combine the cocoa powder and coconut flour.

4. Pour the coconut flour mixture into the wet ingredients and mix well until evenly distributed. 

5. Fold in the dark chocolate chips. 

6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean. 

7. Let the brownies cool completely in the pan before cutting into squares. Serve topped with a couple of slathers of hazelnut butter frosting. 

For the frosting:

1. Place the hazelnuts in a food processor and process on high until the hazelnuts are thoroughly ground and the mixture starts to look smooth (like peanut butter), about 3 minutes. 

2. If you are going to add the agave, add it at this point and process for another minute. 

Makes 16 brownies. About 1.5 small jars of hazelnut butter frosting.

MANGIA!!!