cassava walnut collagen brownie bars

Cooking seems to come relatively naturally, but baking has always been quite unnatural. I’m too impatient to wait for things to bake and I like to eyeball rather than focus on precise ingredients or temperatures, which is ok for cooking but absolutely terrible for baking, which is more like a science where you should follow the recipe at least once before you go rogue and venture off on your own.

I was sent a bag of cassava flour from Otto’s Naturals to try and create a recipe with, and they recommended going with something on their site.

It was the day I left for Europe and I had nothing in my fridge. 

Like, nothing. No eggs, even (shocker).

My pantry was stocked, however, so I adapted this recipe from their site based off of what they had, and I absolutely LOVED IT. I had these brownie bars for lunch and froze the rest; I absolutely crushed them once I got back from Europe.

They don’t spike your blood sugar as much as normal sweets do, and are sweet without being cloying. They work for breakfast, as a snack, or as dessert, and contain protein, healthy fats, and zero grains.

My favorite brands / the ones I used are linked below. Please note that some of them are affiliate links so I will earn a commission if you purchase through there and some product I received for free. Thanks!

Chocolate Walnut Cassava Flour Brownie Bars 

Paleo, grain free, dairy free | prep time: 10-15 minutes | cook time: 30-35 minutes

 Ingredients:

• 2 chia eggs (1 chia egg is 1 teaspoon ground chia seeds + 2 ½ teaspoons water, mixed)

• ½ cup tahini

• 2 tbsp honey or maple syrup

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• ¼ cup unsweetened almond milk (or df milk of choice)

• ¼ cup avocado oil

• ⅔ cup ground walnuts (blended walnuts for ~10 sec)

• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons Otto's Naturals Cassava flour

• ½ tsp baking soda

• 4 scoops collagen

• 2 tbsp cacao powder

• 3 scoops Ancient Nutrition Keto Cocoa powder*

• ¾ cup dark chocolate chips or chunks (I recommend chunks), divided into ½

• Whole walnuts for topping, roughly chopped or broken into halves

• Sea salt for sprinkling + pinch of salt for baking

*Note: You can omit this and use more sweetener of choice because this contains stevia, a little collagen, and some adaptogens along with cocoa, which is what makes it sweet (and supplemental).

Directions:  

1. Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 9x9 pan with parchment paper (or grease a pan).

2. In a medium size bowl, add chia eggs, tahini, vanilla, honey, nut milk, and avocado oil.

3. Mix well and set aside.

4. In another medium sized bowl, add ground walnuts, Otto's Naturals Cassava flour, collagen, keto cocoa, cacao powder, salt, and baking soda. Mix well.

5. Slowly start to combine the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients ¼ cup at a time until all the dry ingredients are combined into the batter.

6. Add half of the chocolate chips and mix well.

7. Pour and press batter into the prepared pan.

8. Top with pecans, the rest of the chocolate chips and sprinkle with a tiny bit of sea salt.

9. Cook for 30-35 minutes. Check periodically after the first 30 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting.

10. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a week or in the freezer (sometimes I eat them frozen tbh).

Recipe adapted from Otto’s Naturals Cassava Flour site.