One Bowl Fudgy Butternut Brownies

Adapted from The Merchant Baker

Super rich and fudgy dark chocolate brownies with a dense, decadent, smooth texture, and a light hint of butternut squash flavor. With a texture that’s a tiny bit reminiscent of pumpkin pie, yet it’s still definitely brownie-like, not cakey at all, these butternut brownies have a deep chocolate flavor, amazing texture and just the right hint of pumpkin spice to add a little intrigue and chase away your chocolate cravings. Oh, and … wait for it! Thanks to the butternut squash, they’re lower in fat, calories and yes, they are even gluten free and heart healthy too.

And there aren’t any super weird ingredients either. Mostly it’s the same things you’d expect to find in a brownie:

• Butter
• Sugar
• Eggs
• Vanilla
• Cocoa powder
• Chocolate

But in these brownies, we swap out the flour for oat bran and add in some pureed butternut squash (or pumpkin, if you must), plus a little bit of pumpkin spice to add a little hint of mystery to them. If you’re not a fan of pumpkin spice (or you have none on hand), feel free to use cinnamon in its place. Cinnamon makes things taste sweeter without adding tons of extra sugar, so it’s the perfect thing to add when you want a sweet treat that’s not over-laden with sugar.

I’ve been craving brownies all … week … long. It all started when I read that whey protein is good for lowering your cholesterol, so on a whim I decided to buy some whey protein powder. I tried drinking it as a “shake” as they recommend, then I used it in a smoothie, and then I got REALLY tired of drinking all my calories and protein, wanting something more substantial to CHEW and EAT … and brownies came to mind. Could I bake with protein powder?

At first I tried making some chocolate oat protein cookies, with raisins for sweetener. They weren’t horrible, but the texture left something to be desired … way too raisin-y. Bleah.

I went searching online and found several recipes that said you could use protein powder in baking … and a brownie recipe that totally CLAIMED to taste like real brownies, but with no sugar. (No it’s not THIS recipe! … I would never subject you to that kind of sub-par brownie experience.) I thought that sounded a little too good to be true, and once I tasted them, I discovered my instincts were absolutely spot on. The “protein brownies” tasted like cardboard … and the texture was um, just, bad. I tossed the whole batch in the garbage and with a big sigh for all the expensive ingredients I just wasted, decided I need to go back to the drawing board.

My parents came to visit this weekend and brought me a bunch of beautiful butternut squash (per my request) and a couple that needed to be used ASAP. This morning I woke up with a renewed interest to try making brownies again … maybe this time without the protein powder. Maybe THIS time with butternut squash! So I threw those two butternuts that looked dangerously close to done into my Instant Pot this morning, cooked them up, pureed the sweet flesh and mixed up a bowl of brownies. I was nervous and kept saying to my parents, “these might not be any good … we’ll see.” When I tested them at 25 minutes and they were definitely not done at all … and then again at 30 minutes and still not done, well, I was getting anxious. Was this going to work? 5 more minutes. … and Finally! They set up. I also worried that they would be cakey … but if you think about it, how could they be? There’s not enough flour here (okay, there’s not ANY flour here) to make them cakey. They looked a little dark and I just hoped that they would taste good too.

Oh man, they did NOT disappoint! I was totally excited to FINALLY have some REAL brownies to quell my chocolate cravings.

These fudgy brownies were delightful and a perfect way to start the day. Mom and Dad enjoyed the brownies with their morning coffee … I sipped on my ginger chai elixir with my butternut brownie. Nom nom nom! SO good. The pan was half gone by the time mom and dad left today. I’ve stashed the rest away in the fridge so I don’t eat the rest of them tonight.

We had a lot of projects going on this morning … we got my daughter’s new light installed in her room (FINALLY! I swear it’s been waiting for us to install it for months!) and we had some other shopping to do, and dad and I decided we both need an LED strip light under the microwave to light up the stove while we’re cooking, so we bought two, got mine put up (as a prototype) and I’m SUPER excited to be able to see things as I’m cooking them. I could tell Dad was ready to get home and put his in too … this had been a project that had been brewing the back of his mind for a while.

For second breakfast, we had broccoli cheddar stuffin’ muffins (made with the leftover wild rice stuffing from my chicken and stuffing), and then (once our projects were done and Dad mentioned he was hungry), I made them some lunch before they took off for home.

Once they left, I started photographing and getting ready to blog things. It seems like it’s getting harder and harder to keep up with blogging all my “keeper” recipes. I’m trying to make a renewed effort to get more of my treasures blogged, without neglecting work, kids, yoga, cleaning up, reading, exercise … all the OTHER important things that get in the way of bloggy things. But you know I love sharing recipes with you, too, my dear foodie friends, and I’ll do my best to keep on posting up the good things.

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