Skinny Peanut Butter Brownies

Now I am running a bit more, I’m trying to kick off with some healthier changes to my lifestyle. Salads are cropping up again, and with the glorious sunshine outdoors, it’s been no hardship eating all things juicy, crunchy, and fresh.

Now, I know. Baking cakes doesn’t really constitute healthy living. It’s been a while since the black bean brownies incident, but I’m still fairly traumatised by it. However, my interest was piqued by yet another “skinny” brownie recipe, which this time, had loads of rave reviews. And this time, no pulses were involved. Given my last experience, I had such low expectations about this recipe. I was expecting flat, cardboard-flavoured disappointment.

I was so wrong.

These brownies are a full-on miracle. They contain no butter, no oil – but they are gorgeous. Sticky, fudgy, intensely chocolatey, and totally luscious. I practically licked a square off the sheet of baking paper, and my taste-testers gave the seal of approval too.

The main alteration I’ve made is mixing the peanut butter into the batter instead of swirling it on top. I used crunchy peanut butter, so I got some tasty nuggets interspersed throughout. I’m so excited to have found this recipe, and I can’t wait to get experimenting with almond, cashew, and hazelnut butters, and other additions like freeze-dried raspberries and chopped white chocolate….yay!

Skinny Peanut Butter Brownies

Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction

• 120g peanut butter
• 170g plain yoghurt
• 60ml milk
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 150g caster sugar
• 50g light brown sugar
• 64g cocoa powder
• 40g rolled oats

Preheat oven to 180˚C. Grease and line a square 20 x 20cm baking tin. Place all of the dry ingredients into a blender and whizz into a powder. In a jug, mix together milk, yoghurt, peanut butter and the egg. Slowly pour the wet ingredients into the dry, and blend to combine into a smooth paste. Pour the batter into prepared baking dish. It will be thin, don’t worry. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool down completely before slicing into squares. It is a very squidgy brownie, so if you want very cleanly cut squares, first pop it into the freezer to get firmer.

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