**Delicious chocolate brownies that are healthy too!**

Trust me, I’ve done MANY trials and errors over the years using different ingredients like black beans and sweet potatoes, but this is the one I liked the best…
So, here it is!

The sweeteners are stevia from plants, apple sauce and a dash of maple syrup. Zucchini gives it structure but no taste and I grind up coconut shreds into flour. This does have a subtle underlying coconut taste but I quite like that. My ultimate test.. the kids gobbled it all up without any hesitation!

Start by peeling a small apple and adding water and boil until soft..

Grate the zucchini into fine shreds…

Grind up the flax seeds into flaxmeal and do the same for coconut to make the flour. Now combine the apples, zucchini, flaxmeal, water, oil and maple syrup and set aside…

Put the coconut flour into a separate bowl and mix in the cocoa and stevia. I recommend to sift in the stevia to avoid small lumps like below…(tasted fine anyway)

Add in the other bowl of wet ingredients and mix well. Pour into baking dish and pop into the oven!

chocolate brownie mixture in baking tin lined with paper

Let it cool slightly and then cut into squares…guess where the first one went??

Store in fridge (helps firm it up) and if you manage to keep some overnight, then the flavours fuse together even more…

Sprinkle with some grated coconut and enjoy!!!

INGREDIENTS:

½ cup shredded zucchini (packed tight)
3 tbsp apple sauce (cook 1 small apple with 3 tbsp water until soft)
4 tbsp flaxmeal (3 tbsp flaxseeds then grind to powder)
½ cup coconut oil (mild vegetable oils can be used instead)
½ cup cocoa powder
1 cup coconut flour (grind shredded coconut until powder)
1 tsp baking soda
3 tbsp stevia powder
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 cup water
½ tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS:

Preheat oven to 180°C (350F) and line an oven tray with baking paper.
Grate zucchini into fine shreds. Blend flaxseeds and coconut to powder in the blender.
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the zucchini, apple sauce, flaxmeal, water, oil and maple syrup and let sit at least 5 minutes.
Combine coconut flour, cocoa and stevia powder in a separate bowl and stir well.
Tip: sift the cocoa and stevia to avoid lumps.
Pour wet into dry, stir until evenly mixed, then pour into the baking dish until the brownie batter evenly covers the pan.
Bake 20-25 minutes. Let the zucchini brownies sit for 15 minutes before trying to cut them into squares. If still undercooked, it's fine. Just fridge overnight and they'll firm up!
Tip: as a general rule, cutting brownies with a plastic knife prevents crumbling.