dark chocolate quinoa brownies with nutella cream cheese icing – these are not your six-year-old’s brownies

With a texture that’s beyond fudgy, these brownies have just a hint of sweetness and a whole lot of dark chocolate goodness. Just to be extra decadent, we coat them with a not-too-sweet cream cheese and Nutella icing. The brownies are really good, but the combination with the frosting is to die for!A very kind neighbour gave us this brownie recipe. Thanks Christine!

Brownie

What you’ll need:

2 cups cooked and cooled quinoa

TIP: Personally, we don’t mind the slight crunch of quinoa but if you want to avoid it, cook your grains for a bit longer and in a bit more water than usual and use a food processor to blend the batter.

1/3 cup milk

3 large eggs, beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla

¾ cup oil

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup dark cocoa

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

What you’ll do:

Grease an 11” x 8” pan and preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Using a food processor or stand mixer, combine all ingredients and mix until smooth.

Pour into pan and bake for 25 – 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

 

Cream Cheese Nutella Icing

What you’ll need

1 – 8 oz. package of spreadable cream cheese

2 tablespoons butter

½ teaspoon vanilla

½ cup Nutella

¼ cup dark cocoa

¼ cup icing sugar

In mixer, beat together cream cheese, butter, and vanilla until smooth. Add Nutella, cocoa, and icing sugar and beat again until smooth.

TIP: This makes a very thick yet silky frosting. If you want a creamier icing add milk or cream by the tablespoon until you get your desired consistency.

Looking for chocolate cake recipes? Then you’ll want to take a look at these:

decadently dark chocolate cake

sinful chocolate mousse cake

chocolate cake-in-a-mug

Photo credit gf and me 2014