Maple Almond Butter Brownies

OH. MY. LANTA.

What's better than a fudge-y, dense, sweet brownie? 

One that's all of the above, and  has a hint of maple, is vegan, and is gluten-free. YUM.

Every now and then, my school offers these packaged brownies at the gluten-free station (they're dairy-free too), by the brand "Dolci di Maria". These brownies are great, but they aren't as fudge-y as these, and they're coated in granulated sugar --- one of my pet peeves, is when unnecessary amounts of sugar are added to any food. So I've been wanting to make gluten-free/dairy-free brownies that incorporate all of the great qualities of and all of the qualities that I want out of the Dolci di Maria brownies. 

And man, am I glad that Chocolate Covered Katie had a great recipe for me to use as inspiration ;) The main thing that I changed was a substitution of almond flour for oat flour -- I find that oat flour tends to yield a cake-ier texture because they absorb moisture and puff up. On the other hand, almond flour doesn't really absorb a lot of moisture, so they help the brownies maintain structure while retaining the fudge-iness. 

Recipe: Maple Almond Butter Brownies
Adapted from: Chocolate Covered Katie
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1 cup of unsalted almond butter
1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons of maple syrup

1/2 cup of almond flour
1.5 teaspoons of baking soda
1/8 teaspoon of salt (you can even sprinkle sea salt on top of the brownies for salted maple almond butter brownies!)
1/4 cup of cocoa powder (I love Hershey's dark cocoa powder -- it has a deeper and richer flavor)

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1. Mix the almond butter and maple syrup together in a large bowl.
2. In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients.
3. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.
4. Transfer the brownie batter to an 8-inch pan lined with parchment paper. (Sprinkle sea salt on top if desired)
5. Bake at 325*F for 15 minutes.
6. Let the brownies cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting and serving (they need to set up properly!).

xoxo, han