Hello everyone, Jess here.
Got kale? You guys, these brownies are great!
As a Springdell blogger, I’ve been fortunate to have the opportunity to get to know fellow shareholders via Facebook, in person at the Springdell stand, and through those who contact me via the CSA365 blog. Recently I exchanged messages with Fellow Springdellian Alissa, who shared with me the idea of using some of the bounty of kale for brownies. This one is a winner for sure.
If you’re feeling you’d like to start from scratch, that’s totally an option. The wonderful thing is that you can also opt to go simple and get some help from Duncan Hines, Betty Crocker, or the brownie mix of your choice. Alissa enjoys King Arthur Gluten-Free Brownie Mix. I thought I’d give this Ghirardelli Dark Chocolate brand a try.
Alissa recommends removing the stems from 3 or 4 leaves, adding more as your palette adjusts. (I went with a full bunch of red Russian kale to see if the kale would be detectable. Let’s see what happens!)
Next, the kale gets pureed in your food processor. The oil in brownies can be puréed in with this step as it helps with puréeing the kale more smoothly. My box mix called for 1/2 cup oil and 1/4 cup water, both of which I added to my kale before puréeing. I then folded in the egg that the box mix called for. Alissa even folds in 1/2 a bag of chocolate chips! I left those out, hoping that the dark chocolate and chocolate chips already in the mix would carry the brownies. Let’s see!
When I first started stirring, it looked like it wouldn’t work, as things seemed a little dry. What happened as I kept stirring was this:
The kale really seemed to dissolve into the mix, which turned out to be quite moist without any intervention (though those extra chocolate chips would not have hurt for sure!)
45 minutes at 325 in a 9×9 inch pan and a little bit of cooling, and then this happened. So far, so good! Now how will things look when flipped upside down?
You would not know there was an entire bunch of kale in these brownies by looking at them. Now let’s put them to the taste test!
A little sprinkle of powdered sugar and they were put to the test. My entire family enjoyed these and had no idea that kale was involved.
Thank you again, Alissa, for sharing this wonderfully delicious idea! No more excuses for letting that kale yellow in the fridge!
We look forward to seeing you tomorrow for the “Honorable Mentions” of the 12th week of this CSA. Until then, sweet and savory dreams!