Red Velvet Paleo Brownies

Hi there!

Because we eat so many vegetables at home, I often buy them in bulk at Costco.  During one of my last trips to Costco, I decided to buy beets in bulk.  Now, there's not much I had done with beets except juicing because they are awesome for recovery after intense runs.  So, beet juice is part of my pre-race ritual.  Anyway, so now that I found myself with way too many beets, what was I going to do with them.  I made salads, smoothies, ate them just as a side cooked with spices, made a paleoified version of Ukranian borscht.  So, the only thing I hadn't done, was make brownies!!!!My husband said, no way!  I don't like anything sweet with beets, I won't eat it!  Well, guess what, he's eaten half the batch of brownies and I just made them last night!  He also made sure there was no more batter left in the food processor container - scraped off every bit he could!  These really are fantastic! So here's what I did:

Ingredients:
1 bag of Lily's stevia sweetened chocolate chips
(you can also use Enjoy Life Dark Chocolate Chips or Chunks)
about 1/2 cup of coconut oil or butter (100g - I weighed it)
about 4-5 small cooked beets (Total 1 2/3 cup)
3 eggs
1/2 cups of coconut sugar
1 1/2 cup of almond flour
2 TBS cocoa powder
1 TBS vanilla extract
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp red chili powder
1/2 cup of chopped walnuts for garnish on the top

Instructions:
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2) Prepare a 9 x 9 square baking pan with a sheet of parchment paper and spray with coconut oil.
3) Heat the chocolate chips and coconut oil in a pan over low heat until it melts.
4) Place beets in food processor and process to a puree.
5) Add the melted chocolate and coconut oil, vanilla, eggs, and blend again.
6) Add the sugar and almond flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, chili powder and process again until you have a smooth batter.
7) Pour into the prepared baking pan, sprinkle the walnuts on top, and bake for about 30 minutes.  I then turned the oven down to 325 and baked for another 15 minutes.  The middle took longer to bake and I didn't want to burn the edges. When you test to see if they are done, you will get a little bounciness when you touch the top like you might expect, but when you put something in the middle to test, it will come out a little gooey.  Don't worry, when it cools, it will become firm, but these are sooo moist!

Now these are just estimates at this point because I didn't measure exactly and it was the first time I made these. However, because several people requested the recipe, I am posting it here even though it's still experimental.  I will make them again this weekend and update the recipe if needed.

These made an excellent pre and post workout snack! 

Enjoy!!!