With all this running lately, I have been craving anything loaded with protein. I can’t get enough of raw nuts and seeds. So it only made sense to make some brownies with them, right?

You can check out the full recipe on Foodie Underground – in which I talk about why we should celebrate eating things like brownies and chocolate cake (especially healthy ones like these) – but I have also popped it here as well. Super tasty, gluten-free goodness that’s packed with olive oil instead of butter. As a sidenote, I can also tell you that if you decide to freeze them, they are also delicious straight out of the freezer.

Enjoy!

Flourless Olive Oil and Sesame Seed Brownies 

Ingredients:

1/4 cup (1 1/4 ounces, 35 grams) raw sesame seeds + some for decoration

1/2 cup (2 1/2 ounces, 71 grams) raw almonds

1 egg

1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces, 50 grams) natural cane sugar

1/2 cup (120 ml) olive oil

1/4 cup (60 ml) almond butter

1/2 cup (1 1/2 ounces, 42 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 400°F (200°C).

In a frying pan, dry toast the sesame seeds until they get a golden brown color.

In a food processor, grind the sesame seeds and almonds together until almost finely ground.

Whisk together the egg and the sugar, then add in the olive oil and almond butter and stir together until well blended. Depending on how hard runny your almond butter is, you may want to do this with a fork. Carefully stir in the cocoa powder (I say “carefully” because it has a tendency to go everywhere).

Add in the ground almonds, sesame seeds and salt and stir the entire batter together.

Lightly grease an 8-inch, square baking pan with olive oil, and press batter into the pan. Sprinkle sesame seeds on top for decoration. Full disclosure: I don’t own a square baking pan, so mine gets made in two rectangular glass pans. You make do with what you have.

Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 15 to 20 minutes. The batter should be set and feel like it has a hardened crust if you poke it.

The olive oil will bubble up. Don’t worry about it. Remove from the oven and let cool. Cut into squares and serve.