Yes, you read that right! I made brownies with cauliflower! It’s kooky and over the top, even for me! But before you call the men in white coats to take me to the funny farm, hear me out! These low carb brownies are surprisingly delicious! At least this batch was – the first attempt…not so much! Hubs spit it into the garbage, as did my four year old who pronounced them “gross!”
I have to agree – batch one was pretty nasty – tasted like… well… pretty much what you would imagine cauliflower and chocolate might taste like when mixed together! And the texture was way off. So I tossed them into the trash and made some adjustments – less cauliflower, more chocolate, more coconut flour, and some cinnamon, among other things.
It was with a considerable amount of trepidation that I cut into version 2.0 – I really had no idea if they would taste better than the first round. It kills me to waste ingredients, but I just had to try this recipe again because I knew it could work! I’m so glad I didn’t throw in the towel on this one! I knew as soon as I cut into them that they would be good – they had a nice “crumb” to them but also a fudgy texture, that for me, is critical to a good brownie. Intensely chocolatey, slightly sweet, and not a hint of cauliflower to be found, these low carb brownies are definitely among my most unusual and successful recipe creations!
And how did my husband (sworn hater of cauliflower) like them? He said: “I’m not planning to give up regular brownies any time soon, but these are actually really good! I’d never have known they had cauliflower in them if you hadn’t told me.” Win!
I can’t wait to see how many of you are intrepid enough to try them, and find out what you think! I triple dog dare you! ;)
Cauliflower Brownies (Low Carb and Gluten Free)
- Yield: 36 brownies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw cauliflower puree
- 1/2 cup unsweetened almond milk
- 6 squares Lindt 90% chocolate
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2 oz cream cheese, softened
- 1/3 cup SF chocolate flavored syrup
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup ground almonds
- 1/2 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 3 tsp stevia or splenda
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
- Puree the raw cauliflower in a blender, then add your almond milk and puree together for another 30 seconds or so. Make sure its completely smooth and there are no chunks!
- Put the butter, chocolate squares and cream cheese into a microwave safe bowl and microwave for one minute. There may be a few small chunks of chocolate still not melted and that’s ok.
- Scrape the chocolate mixture into the blender with the cauli. Puree for about 20 seconds until well blended. Add the chocolate syrup and eggs and blend well.
- Add all of the dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and stir to combine. Pour the wet ingredients from the blender into the bowl containing the dry ingredients (scraping to get as much out as possible) and stir to combine thoroughly. The batter will be thick, almost mousse-like.
- Grease a 9 x 9 baking pan and spread the batter evenly into it. Bake in a pre-heated oven at 375 degrees (F) for 35 minutes. Remove and cool before cutting.
Notes
Use the best quality chocolate and cocoa powder that you can get for the best results. I used Torani brand sugar free chocolate flavored syrup but you can use Davinci or any other brand as long as it’s sugar free. In the recipe I call for almond milk because it’s easily found, but I used an almond/coconut milk blend that I found that is sold by Almond Breeze. If you can find it, try it, but if not you can use either almond or coconut milk beverages found in the dairy section – just be sure to check the carbs (should net out to zero after you subtract fiber) and make sure they are labeled as unsweetened – the original flavor is sweetened and loaded with carbs.
The serving size for these is about 1.5 inch square, because they are so rich and chocolatey you really don’t need much. But if you are making a low carb brownie sundae out of them, which I highly recommend (try my sugar free mint ice cream with these), you might want to cut them a little larger. This recipe is pretty low in calories, so feel free to splurge if you want to!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 brownie
- Calories: 69
- Fat: 6g
- Carbohydrates: 1.5g net
- Protein: 2g
Now I’m off to make some cauliflower ice cream. Ha ha, just kidding! Or am I??? ;)
For more great recipes, download your copy of The Gluten Free Low Carber today!
I think this will be a keeper (waiting for them to cool off in the fridge). A question for you have 3 teaspoons of sweetener listed midway in the dry ingredients. My powdered sweeteners would take waaay more than that to sweeten that much unsweetened chocolate. I used the 3t as liquid and then added powdered to taste. So the question is: liquid or powdered sweetener? Mine seem to be REAL crumbly. After trying some crumbs, lol, I’m going to freeze the rest in the pan, take them out frozen and bag them separately. Do you have an idea what might be wrong? Only “change” was the fact I had Irish Cream SF syrup rather than Chocolate, that should’t be a issue.
★★★★★
It’s been YEARS since I’ve made these but pretty sure I was using powdered Stevia at the time and it didn’t measure cup for cup like sugar because it was so intense.
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★★★★★
I made these exactly as written, except I used THM Super Sweet blend for the sweetener. The texture was pretty good but I think they needed more sweetness. Maybe I’ll make frosting for them. They take a LOT of ingredients and prep work, but it’s all stuff you’re likely to have if you do much low-carb baking. The only think I had to buy special was a fresh head of cauliflower!
I tried this recipe but substituted the Sf syrup for Walden Farms Chocolate Syrup and really liked the outcome! I whipped whole cream and served it on top. My friends thought it was gluten free but they didn’t know it was sugar free. Thank you of the recipe! I will add it to my collection of go-to sweets.
★★★★★
Eww Gross. I respect those who like the brownies and all, but ewwwwww… looking at the ingredients made me want to barf
Wow. Can’t take you seriously when you didn’t even try them.
Can you use almond flour instead of ground almonds? Seems like it would be the same thing.
What can you use in place of all the “nuts”? Cream for the almond milk? What about the ground almonds? Flax? Extra coconut flour?
One of the happiest things I’ve read I. Avery long time… Accept I’m allergic to coconut. Any recommendations on a substitution?
OK Melissa.. I’ve been eyeing these for years and I may just have to try these out. I had been thinking of making up my own batch and I was like – why? Someone already has a recipe! Will report back when I do – my food processor went missing so I have to buy a new one. Oye!
9×9 pan & it’s supposed to make 36 servings? How small are these brownies? 2″ square is what I would consider a serving. I wouldn’t even be able to get 36 using a 13×9 pan.
You can cut them to whatever size you prefer Carly.