Slightly-less-guilty Chocolate Brownie Bites

I love chocolate. I love brownies. Doesn’t everybody, right? The problem is, I need my brownies to have some texture to them, otherwise it just has that one standard melt-in-your-mouth consistency, and it just doesn’t appeal to me. One of my friends gave me the idea of cooking them in a muffin pan to give you that nice crisp texture of a muffin while still maintaining the soft fudgy center of a brownie on the inside, and I’ve never looked back! Plus they’re far easier to eat this way too!

Cookware
-Blender
-Muffin pan (mini or whole size, up to you! I use silicone trays for easy removal/quick cleanup)

Ingredients 
-1/2 cup pumpkin puree
-1 avocado
-3 tablespoons coconut flour
-1/3 cup maple syrup (I prefer Grade B)
-1/3 cup cocoa powder (I use Hershey’s dark!)
-2 eggs
-2 tablespoons coconut oil 
-1 tsp baking soda
-1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
-Pinch of sea salt
-1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Steps:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. Take all the ingredients and throw them in a blender. Really? Yes, really! The only thing you don’t want to throw in are the chocolate chips, otherwise they’ll get ground up and basically dissolve.
3. Blend them together on high-speed until it’s all combined and you don’t notice any chunks. Be careful not to over mix it or otherwise it will lose some of its fluffiness.
4. Dump in chocolate chips and give it a quick stir with a spoon to distribute it throughout the batter.
5. Dump into the muffin cups. These don’t rise too much, so you shouldn’t have to worry about them spilling over the top.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, basically until you stick it with a toothpick and the toothpick comes out clean, but be careful not to overbake them or they’ll be less fudgy and more cake-like. I let them sit for about 20 minutes to make sure that they retain their shape – if you try to take them out early, they will crumble. Trust me on this one!
7. Usually for me these are gone by the end of the day, but you can store them covered in the refrigerator if you live in a high humidity area. To reheat, just warm them in the microwave for 10-12 seconds. Sprinkle lightly with powdered sugar if desired for a slightly sweeter bite.

Enjoy!!

Allergy Concerns 
Dairy Free (depending on what kind of chocolate chips you use)
Gluten Free
Soy Free

Nutrition Facts
Since there’s a bit of inconsistency among brands/the number of muffins you make with this recipe can vary, I’m not going to try to calculate the nutrition facts and risk giving you bad info, but here’s a general idea:
-1/2 cup pumpkin puree – 40-60 calories
-1 avocado – 250 – 350 calories
-3 tablespoons coconut flour – 90 – 100 calories
-1/3 cup maple syrup (Grade B) – 260-280 calories
-1/3 cup cocoa powder (Hershey’s dark) – 60-70 calories
-2 eggs – 150-160 calories
-2 tablespoons coconut oil – 120-130 calories
-1/2 cup mini chocolate chips – 420-430 calories in Nestle’s mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
Total: 1390-1580 calories per recipe, and if you use it to make 12 muffins, that’s 116-132 calories per muffin. Making mini muffins? Then cut that number in half!