Brownies for Any Mood

Grain-free, Oil-Free Brownies

These brownies are highly customizable! The wonderful thing about bean flours is that they tend to be interchangable. I tend to use soy because it's cheap and healthy, but I use chickpea flour sometimes, as well. If you have a favorite gluten-free flour, such as buckwheat or potato, that would likely work as well--I'm aiming for low-starch as much as possible, but please let me know how your experiments turn out! I'm pretty sure I've left the salt out of these before, so the low-sodium folks should be safe there. I don't recommend leaving out the chocolate chips; these brownies are probably more "healthy" tasting than you're used to, and need a little richness to give them depth. As for the spice and flavorings, change these around to suit your choice of fruit or nuts.
These won't be the same as the Betty Crocker version, and you'll just have to deal with that. Whole-foods, plant-centric eating yields a moist mouth feel, not an oily consistency; grain-free brownies won't be as chewy as the gluten-ful kind. These are not as sweet as your typical brownie, either. They're dark, dense, heavily chocolate and deeply fulfilling (buy your cocoa in the bulk section of the grocery! When you're using amounts like this, it's much more economical). The problem with most "healthy" versions of traditional foods is that if you make a brownie with half the calories, you tend to eat twice as much before you're satisfied. The high-protein, high-cocoa nature of these mitigates that problem and yields lovely results.

1/2 cup soy flour (chickpea flour, or other bean flours, would probably work as well)
1/2 cup raw sugar (brown sugar should work)
1/3 + 1/4 cup cocoa powder (may substitute bean flour for the 1/4 cup if a less intense chocolate flavor is desired)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp guar gum (xanthan gum, which is more expensive, would probably be safe to substitute)
1/2 tsp salt
dash cinnamon (or ginger! try your favorite spice)
1 tsp vanilla (or fruit/nut extract, such as almond, orange...)
1 generous cup unsweetened applesauce (around 1/8 cup over the line)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (be sure they're vegan!)
1/3 cup chopped dried fruit or nuts (optional--try cherries, walnuts, apricots, ginger...)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and lightly spray a 9-inch baking pan.
In a medium mixing bowl, mix together the dry ingredients, soy flour through cinnamon. I like to use a baking spatula for this; be sure to crush any lumps of cocoa as much as possible. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Pour into the prepared pan and bake 30 minutes, or until a sharp knife inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool before eating.