Fudgy Chia Brownies

Even though I have 10 million cookbooks and food magazines, I always want more. I can't resist buying them. It's an addiction. I saw this magazine on healthy recipes by Better Home and Garden in the pharmacy in the building where I work and all the recipes looked so good, had to buy it. Pas de choix.

I decided to make these brownies to bring to a wine and cheese at friends'. I soaked the chia seeds as recommended and thought I'd be good to go. Unfortunately I didn't realize that I was missing several key things: sugar,  enough flour, and a brownie pan.. Remember what I said about how sometimes, the stars line up and you have all the ingredients?  Well other times, you just have to make due, or make something else.

Note to self: check that you have the ingredients before baking something the morning you need it, in a rush before work.- scratch that- stop baking in the morning before work. you won't have time, even if you have all the ingredients!

It turns out, I do have a brownie pan but I only found it after (of course!). Anyway, I decided to use this silicone pan from Epicure, "Perfect Petites" intended for small bars (granola bars etc). I hadn't ever tried it yet and it worked great.  Because they are non-stick, I didn't need to grease the an at all. So there really is no butter or oil in this recipe, which is pretty sweet!

I used brown sugar instead of white sugar- I substituted 1-1 but maybe there is a known ratio? Does anybody know?  And I used half all purpose flour and half almond flour..hey extra protein right?

They turned out well and were all eaten up.  Even my friends' little 1.5 year seemed to like them and ate several.



Ingredients:
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon chia seeds
- 3 oz unsweetened chocolate
- 1 cup sugar (or brown sugar in my case)
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Directions:
- In a small bowl combine the water and chia seeds. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours. Stir before using.
- In a medium saucepan cook and stir chocolate over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat; cool. 
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a brownie pan if using,  or use a silicone or non stick brownie pan
- Stir sugar into the cooled chocolate in saucepan. Add eggs, one at a time, beating with a wooden spoon after each addition just until combined. Stir in chia seed mixture and vanilla.
- In a small bowl stir together flour, baking soda, and, if desired, espresso powder. Add flour mixture to chocolate mixture; stir just until combined. If desired, stir in nuts. Pour batter into the prepared baking pan; spread evenly.
- Bake for 30 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack. * note if you are using a different cooking pan, cooking time may vary. For me, these brownie bars took about 25 minutes.