Recipe: Keto Brownies

Screen shot from Delish.com

My boyfriend is attempting to adhere to a keto diet, which sounds really hard, especially since he and I both have sweet tooths. So I thought I'd try to make keto brownies as a healthy dessert for him.

I found this recipe on Delish.com:

INGREDIENTS

4 

large eggs

2 

ripe avocados

1/2 c. 

(1 stick) butter, melted

6 tbsp. 

unsweetened peanut butter

2 tsp. 

baking soda

2/3 c. 

coconut sugar (or 18 packets Stevia)

2/3 c. 

unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tsp. 

pure vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. 

kosher salt

Flaky sea salt (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350° F and line a 8”-x-8” square pan with parchment paper. In a blender or food processor, combine all ingredients except flaky sea salt and blend until smooth.
2. Transfer batter to prepared baking pan and smooth top with a spatula. Top with flaky sea salt, if using.
3. Bake until brownies are soft but not at all wet to the touch, 20 to 25 minutes. Let cool 25 to 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

As usual, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I didn't have coconut sugar or Stevia, but Splenda was on sale at Safeway, so I bought that. And while I did use some unsweetened peanut butter (I recommend Trader Joe's), I didn't have enough, so I did use some sweetened peanut butter, too. I also bought tiny avocados, so I used three instead of just two. 

I will admit that the texture of these brownies was very good. They were spongy and soft, almost more like a cake than a dense brownie. But that's about the only thing that was good about this dessert. These brownies don't taste like anything. It's not like they taste like a weird mix of peanut butter and avocado and egg flavors: they just don't have any taste at all. I could see how they work for a diet: they are healthy, and because they don't taste delicious, you won't be tempted to have more than one. If I were to make these again (which I probably won't), I would try using peppermint extract instead of vanilla, just to give these brownies a flavor of some sort. 

If you ask me, if eating desserts like this is what it's like to be on the keto diet, I don't want any of it!