Paleo Zucchini Brownies

I just got back from 6 days of being away and indulging in real sugary garbage.  Not only did it make me pack on an extra five pounds, which will be off within a week, but it made me feel just overall gross.  It did get me thinking to figure out some great recipes for healthy deserts or treats.  One of my virtual workout friends recommended some Paleo Brownies from delightedmomma.com.  So I gave it a whirl and they came out pretty good.  Here's the recipe:

Source: Delightedmomma.com
Servings: 9 Brownies
Nutrition per brownie: 260 calories, 14 net grams carbs, 8 grams of protein.


Ingredients:

• 1 cup of almond butter. You can make your own if you want to save a few bucks.
• 1 1/2 cup of grated or chopped zucchini. I used a peeler to make the zucchini really thin and then chopped it up into really small pieces.
• 1/3 cup of raw honey
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp of vanilla
• 1 tsp of baking soda
• 1 tsp of cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp of nutmeg (I made these again without this and it was MUCH better)
• 1 cup of dark chocolate chips. I used gluten free chocolate chips. (2nd time I made these I melted the chips and mixed them into the batter - amazing!!)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Combine all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix everything together.
3. Pour into a greased 9x9 baking pan.
4. Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

These brownies are delicious, but there was something in the taste I didn't love.  I think it might be the nutmeg and I'm considering taking out the nutmeg the next time.  I also wonder if it might be amazing made with cocao powder mixed with 1/2 cup of chips instead of only the chips.  You can see from the picture that the chips sunk to the bottom instead of melting throughout.  But don't get me wrong, these are satisfying to the palate, and my now gluten free and low carb husband thought they were yummy.