Recipe: Brownies

These brownies are moist, chewy, and decadent - just like brownies are supposed to be! The flour is not sprouted or soaked, but oh well. We can break the rules now and then. My brothers are roofing a church building this weekend so I sent a plate of these brownies with them for the hungry workers to eat!

Brownies
3 eggs
1/2 cup butter
1/4 olive oil (extra virgin, cold pressed, preferred)
1 1/2 cups granulated coconut palm sugar, packed
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups freshly ground wheat flour (any flour should work)
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp salt.

Mix all together well. Spread batter in greased 8x8 inch pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Cool mostly before slicing into small squares.

Coconut Chai Tea

Okay, so I know black tea isn't very good for you (anyone know if you can get Chai teabags in a base other than black tea?), but I just concocted this beverage last night and it is SO GOOD!!!!

Brew in mug (a great big one....):
1 Chai Spice teabag
Hot water

After the tea has steeped for a few minutes, add:
a generous portion of Coconut Milk
and a teaspoon (or two... yum!) of Coconut Sugar

And, wala, you have a Coconut Chai Tea Latte'. HEAVENLY!!!

Palm Sugar

I recently discovered this amazing resource - Coconut Palm Sugar!

This ancient sweetener is very low on the Glycemic Index, with a rating of 35 (honey, usually considered "low GI" has a rating of 55). Even better, it is so cheap and tastes wonderful. It's like a mild maple sugar. Yum!

You can't find this in supermarkets, and although you can order it online through health-food websites it is usually quite expensive there. So why not just purchase it from where they use it all the time, where it's commonplace and therefore inexpensive? Like an oriental/ethnic market?

Yesterday during mom's eye-doctor appointment, my sister and I drove around town finding little Asian markets to check out. We came home with a whole bunch of delicious finds, including this coconut sugar. When we bought it, it was in a solid block (picture forthcoming). But it grated easily on the hand-grater and also with the fine-shredder on our Bosch, and now it's in a granulated state that is very practical to use.

Note that when you find this in the store it will most likely be called "Palm Sugar". Read the label closely (whatever parts of it you can find in English!) to make sure it's made from the sap of the coconut flower. There are other types of palm trees besides the ones that grow coconuts, and the glycemic index of those is higher, from what I understand.

We were nibbling on this sugar last night and can't wait to start making things with it! It would make the best vanilla ice cream in the world. And would add a delightful "mapley flavor" to pumpkin pie.

If you don't know where any ethnic markets are in your area, get out your phone book and look them up. You won't be disappointed. There are so many ingredients that we consider "specialty" (and therefore "expensive"), that are commonplace in their cooking and so they have them at a very decent prices! For example:

-Once grated, this 1 lb. block of sugar became 3 cups. It cost a grand total of $1.20.
-We bought a 2 lb bag of unbleached sea salt for $2.25
-Coconut milk and cream was $0.99/can.

Check out those little ethnic markets! :-)



Note: this post is part of Frugal Fridays. Visit Biblical Womanhood for more frugal suggestions!