Clean Mocha Brownies

I was going to title this as an adaptation of Pioneer Woman's Mocha Brownies, but I changed it up so much I'm not sure if that would be an accurate title.  I WILL tell you that these taste JUST as good as her recipe but are a SMIDGEN of the fat and calories.  Mind you, just because they are "clean" doesn't mean you can eat these for breakfast, lunch, and dinner...although today I just might. :)  If you don't like coffee flavored stuff, let me just add that you don't really taste it in the icing...it just gives it a nice dimension of flavor.  You could always substitute it w/ milk.

Don't be intimidated by making the clean powdered sugar.  It's easy as pie...except easier.  And might I just add...the icing is truly what makes this to die for.

FYI: you can see below that for oils I used a combination of butter, applesauce and coc oil.  You could adapt this to what you have in your pantry.  Use all butter, or a little butter and the rest applesauce, etc.

BROWNIE INGREDIENTS:

4 (1 oz) squares unsweetened chocolate (found in baking aisle)
1/4 cup of real butter, softened at room temp
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup of coconut oil
1 1/2 cup of sucanat
1/3 cup of maple syrup (or agave nectar)
2 egg whites
2 eggs
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour (also called pastry flour)
1/2 cup wheat germ

ICING:

1/4 cup of real butter
1 3/4 cup of Clean Powdered Sugar (recipe below and I'll also post seperately)
1 tbsp of cocoa powder
a pinch of salt
a little less than tsp of pure vanilla extract
a splash of freshly brewed coffee, cooled to room temp

CLEAN POWDERED SUGAR: IN BLENDER (NOT food processor) put 2 cups of sucanat and 2 tsp of corn starch.  Blend on high until it is a fine powder. (you'll have a little left over to store)

NOW...let's make these brownies!!!!


1. Preheat oven to 325 and grease 8x8 pan w/ olive oil
2. Place chocolate squares in bowl and microwave until melted.  Be sure and stir every 30 sec. Set aside.
3. In mixing bowl, cream butter, applesauce, coc oil, sucanat and maple syrup.  Beat in eggs 1 at a time.
4. With mixer on low, drizzle in melted chocolate. Add vanilla extract.
5. Add flour and stir just until combined.  Don't overmix.
6. Pour into baking dish and bake 45-50 minutes or until center is no longer soft.
7. LET BROWNIES COOL COMPLETELY BEFORE ADDING ICING.

ICING:

1. In mixing bowl, combine butter, clean powdered sugar, cocoa powder, salt and vanilla.  Mix until slightly combined then add the coffee. (about 1/8 cup or even less)
2. Whip until icing is the desired consistency.  If too thick, add more coffee or milk.

REFRIGERATE
Charlee wanted to make "owl brownies". The white icing is just plain greek yogurt w/ honey. The eyes are trader joes oreos w/ trader joes choc chips. The nose is a broken animal cracker. the feet are "skinny fries" from TJ's.