Healthy Black Forest Brownie Pie with Coconut Milk Whipped Cream

So I've recently purchased some coconut flour, and I've really wanted to try it. Naturally it had to be something that would indulge my sweet tooth and be healthy at the same time! As I was looking around my kitchen, I found some frozen cherries, cocoa powder, dark chocolate chips, and thought to myself… I'm going to make some black forest brownies! But, these won't be just any black forest brownies. NO! These are going to be healthy ones!! So here's what you'll need for the brownies…

Healthy Black Forest Brownie Pie
1/2 Cup Frozen Cherries
1/2 Cup Unsweetened Applesauce
3 Tbs Coconut Oil
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
1/3 Cup Almond Milk
1/4 Cup Coconut Flour
1/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 Tsp Baking Soda
1 Tsp Baking Powder
1/4 Tsp Salt
2 Tbs Flax Seeds
1/2 Cup Dark Chocolate Chips

Here's how you make em'!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease pie pan.

First you start off with the frozen cherries and the applesauce. Put both of those in a blender and blend as well as you can. (This might not blend too well because there's not much liquid in there yet) Then add the coconut oil and vanilla extract and continue blending. (Again, this may not blend too well) After, add the almond milk to the blender and blend until no big cherry chunks remain. Now you're going to need a separate bowl to mix together the dry ingredients. (Excluding the dark chocolate chips) After the dry ingredients have been thoroughly mixed, add the blended cherry mixture to the bowl. Stir well, and then add the dark chocolate chips. Pour into greased pie pan and smooth so the mixture is spread evenly throughout the pan. Bake for 25-30 min or until toothpick from center comes out clean.

After baking the brownies, I decided that I needed to amp it up a bit and add a little whipped cream. I opted for a healthier style whipped cream than a fattier one. This whipped cream is made up of coconut milk, vanilla, and a little bit of sugar.

In order to make whipped cream out of coconut milk, you will need to chill a can of coconut milk in the fridge at least for two hours. I chill mine overnight so that I know it will be chilled and ready to go when I need it!

So grab your chilled can of coconut milk and open it. There will be some solid chunks of the coconut milk and that is what you'll be using. Spoon the chunky stuff into a bowl and drain all of the access liquid from the can. This is the kind I use, and this is what my bowl of coconut solid milk looks like.

After I put that in the bowl, I grabbed my hand mixer (you can use a stand mixer also, it'd be way easier!) and whip it just like a meringue. You'll need to whip it for a good 5 minutes until peeks form.

Once you're done whipping, add 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1 Tbs sugar. Give that a good whip and then you're finished!

After brownie is cooled, cut and plate. Drizzle with whipped cream and place a cherry on top! Voila! The perfect healthy dessert! 

P.S. My husband loved this one! He's not one for sweets, so when he says he loves a dessert it really says something! This one's not too sweet so it will make your teeth fall out, and it's not too bitter so you won't enjoy it. It's the best of both worlds and the perfect treat to end your day with!

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Max!

This is Max! 

I thought I needed to share some pics of my adorable pup =] He does the craziest, most random stuff that I have ever seen, but I absolutely adore him! Right now we've been in the process of teaching him to play dead when we point a gun made with our hand at him. It's pretty tedious but I think he's getting it…only if he gets a treat =] The bottom right pic is of him cuddled up in my blankie! He did that all himself, he apparently loves blankies lol

Here's the video that got me hooked on the whole playing dead with a gun made from your hand. The mice are the absolute best!!

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Berry-licious Smoothie

This smoothie is super easy to make and can be easily adapted to meet your needs. For the basic recipe, you'll only need some fresh or frozen berries, a fresh or frozen banana, Greek yogurt, honey, and ice. If you use all frozen, like I did, you'll need to add some liquid to the recipe or else it will never blend. I added some almond milk to mine, but you can add non-fat milk, coconut milk, or even water.

I usually like to use a fresh banana because I feel like it tastes better, but here in Korea, the bananas go bad so quickly, I have to freeze them or I would either be throwing a lot of them away or making a lot of banana bread… which is delicious, but not all the time =]

Any kind of berries will work for this. I always try to throw a lot of blueberries in there because of the antioxidants that they possess. But today I grabbed all of the berries that were in the freezer and threw them in! I had raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, and cherries.

To up the nutritious value, I like to add some flax seeds to the mix. I know it's not in the picture, but I did add them today…see I forgot about them and then when I went to put the almond milk away I saw them in the fridge and decided to add! You can also add chia seeds or rolled oats for the added proteins and fiber.

Oh! And talk about protein! That Greek yogurt has 12 grams of protein in one of those little cups, so adding that in there is awesome and adds a creaminess to your smoothie. You can also get the creaminess by adding an avocado to your smoothie, say if you're vegan and cannot have dairy.

Now for my easily buildable but totally perfect already if you don't want to add anything else recipe
1 Large Banana (Fresh or frozen)
1/2 Cup of each: (Fresh or frozen)
     Blueberries
     Strawberries
     Raspberries
     Cherries
1-2 Tbs Honey
2 Single Serving Cups of Greek Yogurt (I used Oikos)
If you used all fresh fruits, add a handful of ice
If you used all frozen fruits, add liquid (Almond Milk) until well blended in blender (About 1 Cup)
2 Tbs Flax Seeds

Blend in blender on medium speed and enjoy! I add the liquid about 1/4 cup at a time and blend, just so it doesn't have too much liquid in it. This makes enough for two, maybe...maybe even three people! I always have extra after filling up a cup for my husband and I =]

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