Avocado Protein Brownies (gluten free)

Occasionally it is a good idea to take desserts and give them a healthier spin to give your body a break.   Now I am sure not having anything would make more sense but that seems a little unreasonable. No?
Okay maybe not so unreasonable and in fact my naturopath has told me I have to cut back on the sweets.       Otherwise this baby weight will be stuck with me forever.  It is however a fairly difficult task when you are a food blogger, and even more difficult when this weekend is the first Food Bloggers of Canada Conference.   I am very excited about this conference, tons of great Canadian food bloggers, knowledgeable speakers and sessions and some serious serious eating!   The work outs will have to be doubled next week to account for the damage that might be done.

This will be the most time I have spent away from the little one.  Yikes.  I will be going home each night but she will be asleep when I get home and probably still sleeping when I leave.  So the hubby will be on full baby duty until Sunday afternoon.   I am leaving two pages of notes for her daily schedule so he should be okay.   He might throw all my week and a half of sleep training out the window but I will deal with that on Monday, I have a conference to enjoy.

Since I did know the diet is out the window this weekend I made these skinny brownies to get me through the week.  Gluten free, lots of healthy fats, no refined sugars and extra protein.  Brownies I will easily have two of.

Avocado Protein Brownies (Gluten Free)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 medium avocado
• 40 grams coconut oil
• 175g dark chocolate, good quality
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 100 grams agave
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 50 grams brown rice flour
• 75 grams sourghum flour
• 20 grams chocolate protein powder
• 1/2 cup walnuts

Icing

• 1/2 cup chocolate cream cheese
• 1/4 cup nutella
• 1/2 cup confectioners sugar. 
• 1 tbsp milk
• Sprinkles.

INSTRUCTIONS:

1) Line a 8 inch square pan with foil , folding over two sides.  Preheat the oven to 350F. 

2) Melt chocolate and coconut oil in a double boiler.  Set aside to cool slightly. 

3) In a small bowl combine flours, protein powder, baking soda/powder and salt.
4) Place avocado in a large bowl/mixer bowl and beat until smooth.  Add agave and beat together.
5) Add eggs and beat together.
6) Fold in dry ingredients.  Add walnuts when dry ingredients almost combined.
7) Pour into pan.  Bake for 18-22 minutes.  DO NOT OVER BAKE, becomes dry quick.
8) Make icing : In a medium bowl beat cream cheese and nutella together.   Add icing sugar and beat together.  Add milk and beat again.
9) Spread over cooled brownies, top with sprinkles.

The brownies on their own are not overly sweet , so feel free to add another 50g of agave or honey if you like but I wanted to keep mine lighter and the icing definitely helps add that nice bite of sweetness.