Double Chocolate Brownie Hearts

Ingredients

For the brownie:

• 1 1/4 cup blanched almond flour

• 1/2 cup cacao or cocoa powder

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/2 tsp baking soda

• 1/8 tsp salt

• 1/2 cup dairy free dark chocolate chips

• 2 very ripe bananas

• 2 flax or ground chia eggs (for TWO "eggs" whisk together 2 tbsp ground flax or chia seeds with 5 tbsp water and let sit for 10-15 min)

• 1/4 cup liquid oil (avocado or melted coconut oil are what I suggest)

• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup (or other liquid sweetener of choice)

• 1 tsp vanilla

For the topping:

• 1/2 cup coconut whipped cream (place a can of full-fat coconut milk in the fridge overnight, scoop out the thick cream and whip up with 1 tbsp sweetener) ***can sub regular heavy whipping cream if not avoiding dairy***

• 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup frozen raspberries (depending on how strong of a raspberry flavor you want. it is also important to use frozen raspberries so that your whipped cream stays cold)

• Freeze dried raspberries and cacao nibs for decoration ***optional***

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. In a medium size bowl whisk together all of your dry ingredients (minus the chocolate chips). Set aside.

3. Add bananas, maple syrup, oil, flax eggs, and vanilla into a blender. Blend at a high speed for about 30 seconds until completely smooth.

4. Dump in your whisked dry ingredients and blend once again. You may need to use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to push down the dry ingredients so that they blend in to form a cohesive batter.

5. Once you have a silky smooth batter, pour it into a bowl (I suggest using the one that had the dry ingredients earlier - less dishes!) and fold in your chocolate chips.

6. Pour the batter into a oiled and parchment lined baking pan (I used a square brownie pan- but you can use whatever you have on hand. If you are going to make the heart cutouts I suggest using a pan that will give you a relatively thin layer of batter).

7. Bake at 350F for 40-45 minutes.

8. Let cool at least an hour (I know that's such a long wait) before flipping out of the pan. At this point you can either go ahead and make your raspberry whipped cream and spread it over the entire thing and cut into squares OR you can use a cookie cutter to make shapes (like the hearts I made).

9. To make the whipped cream, simply whip your cream, add in the frozen raspberries, whip again until you're left with a vibrant and fluffy cream. Smear the cream over the top of the brownies and top with freeze dried raspberries and cacao nibs. Store in an airtight container in the fridge (or if you left the cream off, you can store in an airtight container at room temp). Enjoy :)