This is a dense, healthy(ish) brownie I tend to eat as a breakfast or a filling snack. These are flour free and naturally gluten free, as pumpkin is the binding ingredient here. You can also easily make these paleo by swapping the sweetener! If you’re looking for a more dessert type brownie, I would recommend this one here or a good old fashioned dessert brownie with flour, sugar, butter and eggs. There isn’t anything wrong with either version, in my opinion, just depends on what you’re in the mood for.

This recipe can be a bit finicky the thicker you go. I would recommend starting with the thinner brownie recipe and working up from there. I, personally, love a thick, dense brownie because I’ll eat them as a filling snack or breakfast, but then again, I am a little weird.

I also opt for the thicker brownie recipe because I get so annoyed when I have to put part of a can of pumpkin in the fridge! If I open the pumpkin can, I’m going to use all the pumpkin. That’s just the way it is.

Ingredients (for a thicker brownie):

• 1 can pumpkin puree
• 3/4 C almond butter (or nut butter of choice)
• 6 TBSP cocoa powder
• pinch salt
• 1/4C honey (or maple syrup)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8X8 baking dish. 13X9 if you want them a little thinner.
2. Place all of your ingredients in a blender and blend until homogenous. Conversely, you can also mix with an electric mixer or manually with a wooden spoon, just make sure all of the ingredients come together.
3. Bake for 35 (or 25 if using 13X9) minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
4. Allow brownies to cool completely in the pan, and then cool even further in the fridge. This will give them that really fudgey texture.
5. Frost with the not-so-optional frosting below!

Ingredients (for a thinner brownie):

• 1 C pumpkin puree
• 1/2C almond butter (or nut butter of choice)
• 4 TBSP cocoa powder
• pinch salt
• 3Tbsp honey

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and grease an 8X8 baking dish
2. Place all of your ingredients in a blender and blend until homogenous. Conversely, you can also mix with an electric mixer or manually with a wooden spoon, just make sure all of the ingredients come together.
3. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
4. Allow brownies to cool completely in the pan, and then cool even further in the fridge. This will give them that really fudgey texture.
5. Frost with the not-so-optional frosting below!

Not-so-optional frosting, taken from the blog, “Big Mans World”

Ingredients:

• 1+1/2C chocolate chips of choice
• 3/4C child coconut cream*

*if you don’t have coconut cream, stick a can of open coconut milk in your fridge and scoop out only the super white creamy part that comes to the top. Try not to eat it straight like that like me because you do need it for the frosting!

Directions:

1. Melt the above 2 ingredients together until they’ve all melted together. You can either spread when this is warm, or when it is a little hotter/more pourable. I like to pour it because it/s easier and I like the thick chocolate coating it makes once it cools!