1 cup pitted dates
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
3 tbsp butter
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup wheat germ
1 tbsp flaxseed meal
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chopped dates
Place the cup of dates and juice in a small saucepan and bring to boil, then simmer uncovered for 10-15 minutes. Mash them up (or blend with a hand mixer) until smooth. Add butter, egg and vanilla.
In a bowl, combine flour, wheat germ, flax, and baking powder.
Stir in the date mixture. Stir in the chopped dates.
Pour into a greased 8″ square pan. Bake at 325 for 20 minutes
There are a lot of dates in this recipe because that’s where most of the sweetness comes from, but the cocoa conceals the flavour of the dates quite well so they still taste like brownies. The dates also make them moist, so you don’t need a whole lot of butter. Now don’t expect these to be exactly like regular brownies. They do have a discernible ‘healthy’ taste to them, but I don’t think it’s in a bad way. My kids didn’t seem to notice. Cole kept sneaking into the kitchen to grab another one when he thought I wasn’t looking. Bennett kept asking for ‘momie’ (translation: ‘more’) and became incredibly irate when I finally cut him off when it was getting close to dinner. I’d say these were a success.