Brownies w/ Peanut Butter Frosting (Vegan, Refined Sugar + Gluten Free)

These Brownies (and the frosting) are Vegan, Gluten Free, and Refined Sugar Free, plus they are super easy to make. The recipe I came up with makes 2 brownies at 70 calories each (without the frosting) the frosting adds another 70 calories making the whole thing 140 calories, 7g Fat (Healthy fat from the peanut butter), 64mg Sodium, 19g Carbs, 4g Fiber, 9g Sugars (No Refined Sugars), 4g Protein, as well as having Vitamins A, C, Calcium, and Iron.

I had to make this recipe twice because the first time I forgot to add the baking powder and they didn't rise at all... that wouldn't be a problem for me, but they came out with a gummy texture. So I tried again (adding the baking powder) and they rose and got rid of some of the gummy texture. My fiance and I liked them a lot, but I don't think I'll post the recipe yet because they need to be tweaked a little more to fix the texture. But I will share the pictures!

 These are the first brownies (without the baking powder). They look just like those two bite brownies you can buy in the store. They have a dark chocolate taste to them that is great, but the gummy texture wasn't too pleasing.

 I like that the recipe makes two brownies because I ate one plain and I topped the other with my Vegan, Refined Sugar Free Peanut Butter Frosting. I didn't add enough almond milk to this batch so I couldn't really spread it. But it tasted amazing, and I think I'll keep this recipe in mind the next time I make homemade peanut butter cups.... YUM! I could even make a mock Reese's beanut butter egg for Easter next year... that's how good it was. I also used chuncky PB instead of creamy, I might try creamy PB next time to see the texture of that.... but I like the pieces of peanut in the frosting, it saves me from having to top it with chopped peanuts.

 This is the second batch. They rose nicely because of the baking powder, and the texture was much better.... still a little chewy, but I think it might have to do with the all purpose gf flour I was using. I will have to experiment with flours and come up with a mixture that will make the perfect texture. Right now I have almond flour, rice flour, and gf all purpose flour. I can make oat flour easily as well... I don't think the almond flour would be good in this recipe because the texture would be too crumbly. I am going to try a mix of gf flour and rice flour next to see how that works.

I added more almond milk to the peanut butter frosting and it made it nice and spreadable. YUMMY!  This one is for my fiance.