Category: high fiber

Healthy brownie with fiber (and protein) can be made with wheat bran and wheat germ. You can 2XX (and fibermaxx). And have a delicious dessert good for breakfast or anytime.

Oh, and healthy especially with buckwheat flour added that’s in this fudge-like brownie recipe.

Also, learn how each kind of flour impacts your healthy brownie’s texture, and which flour has the most fiber. So you can decide which fiber to add in this healthy brownie. I’ll help you below…

Fiber is plant-based indigestible food that helps digestion. Think of whole wheat and other insoluble fiber sources, like tumbleweed passing through and picking up particles that would otherwise stay longer in your body.

Soluble fiber is good for helping cholesterol and blood sugar. And supporting optimized weight below the belt.

And daily fiber helps you feel leaner and look your best in your jeans… and who doesn’t love that?

So a healthy brownie is a simple way to lace in healthy ingredients that help our health… and satiate a sweet tooth. And in the duo benefits, you have your choice of healthy ingredients.

Here’s the healthy skinny, so you can make your ingredient choice as to which ones you want to include for your brownie this time.

First up is is the wheat germ ingredient, that’s the seed. It’s where it all begins for a wheat kernel…

Wheat germ has more protein and Vitamin E that also is an antioxidant. And wheat bran has more fiber than the good germ which is good for weight management.

Wheat bran is also part of the wheat kernel, like the skin or outer layer that’s super high in fiber. When you buy wheat germ, you’re getting more vitamins and minerals that embryos carry. And wheat bran has more fiber.

Whole wheat flour is more common and balanced with germ and bran in it, but it’s more processed. It includes the endosperm, that’s the middle layer and starchy section that helps make more flour.

Think of whole wheat flour as the more healthy alternative with more protein and fiber compared to or vs. (white) all-purpose flour.

Then there’s buckwheat… that’s a gluten-free flour choice.

Buckwheat is a super food and is actually not a wheat. That’s why it’s gluten-free. It has an even higher amount of fiber for fibermaxxing if that’s one of your heatlthy missions. It’s a good add for most sweet and breakfas-y dessert recipes like a blueberry scone or buckwheat ginger cookie snap.

…So those are the wheat options (both gluten wheat and gluten-free buckwheat flour)… and then there are a couple other good healthy brownie gluten-free options, including coconut flour and oat flour.

Coconut flour vs. whole wheat flour vs. oat flour

For the healthy brownie recipe options, you can decide between whole wheat flour, oat flour, and coconut flour as the main brownie flour. And the others (germ, bran, and buckwheat) are healthy supporting adds.

If you’re trying to do a fully gluten-free healthy brownie, buckwheat, oat, and coconut flours or a combo of them would be good choices.

Coconut flour is super high in fiber with over 20 grams or more per 1/2 cup (about 100 grams). Coconut flour has more insoluble fiber (and more fiber than oats). Oats has more soluble fiber (overall 3-4 grams of fiber per 1/2 cup  or about 100 grams). Whole wheat flour has 6-7 grams of fiber per half cup.

If you’re looking to control blood sugar or cholesterol, then oats would be a good brownie ingredient choice. And the best choice for a healthy fudgy brownie. You can simply grind rolled oats to make the flour.

And besides coconut and oats, another gluten-free alternative is black beans that will give a more lumpy brownie with 6-9 grams of fiber.

It’s a good option if you have extra bean cans around (or kicking the cans deciding which ingredients to choose 😀)… and you want to have a more balanced soluble and insoluble fiber eating experience. For a brownie with black beans, to enhance flavor, you can add black coffee as a flavored liquid instead of regular water.

Healthy Brownie Tastes and Textures

Adding or subtracting flours won’t impact the brownie taste negatively (as cacao powder or chocolate-y flavors is the main brownie flavor and another healthy ingredient).

Unsweetened 100% cacao powder (cocoa baking powder) is anti-inflammatory. It helps to make this an overall low-sugar brownie.

And for a healthier sweetener, honey is also used, but you can substitute for a smidge of healthy monk fruit sugar (that’s better for a cake-like brownie, e.g. with whole wheat flour).

For additional flavor pairing or for no-added sugar, you can use peppermint extract for a chocolate mint brownie or coffee to enhance the cacao flavor tastes.

And besides tastes, you can favorably change the texture of the brownie you choose by the flour choices you make.

Whole wheat flour (a fully gluten option) will help make your brownies flour-cake-like, and a smoother batter (less healthy bumpy or rustic). And if you add baking powder (and/or baking powder), that will help the brownie rise in the oven.

But gluten-free flours like coconut flour will stay about the same height before and after the oven bake. Coconut flour brownies will be more dry for texture: the coconut flour batter will be more dry and the brownies out of the oven will be too.

For coconut flour brownies, I leaned into coconut tastes with shredded coconut here…

And if you’re feeling like coconut vibe-tastes, then you’ll love this no-bake and low-sugar chocolate chip coconut bar.

…And finely ground oat flour brownies will give more of a fudge-y brownie (like a flourless cake). The baked brownie will look more like the batter, than not at all. Brownies are simple that way. You can kinda predict what they will look like on the other side of the oven. 😊

…Where the brownie batter will be more like a slightly sticky cookie dough with some grainy oat bits. And more like a store bought brownie mix than say with coconut flour.

So, weighing fiber types/amounts and brownie texture differences and what’s priority to you, will help tip the scale toward as to which flour(s) you choose this time for your healthy brownie plate.

And as you’re deciding flours if you haven’t already, this brownie recipe also has egg white and applesauce as healthy binders.

…Which btw I love substituting using any butter or egg yolk with unsweetened applesauce in a healthy brownie. And if you like applesauce in general, you’ll also like a fruit roll up or applesauce cobbler.

Longer Lasting Brownie

Applesauce will help your brownie last longer if you want to make a larger batch. And coconut oil will help that mission too.

You can use another oil like light olive oil or canola oil, but it will not last as long at room temperature. Those oils can grow rancid quicker at (warmer) room temperatures.

And the same goes for liquid choices. Milk (and liquids that need to be refrigerated) will not last as long vs. using water (or an enhancing liquid like black coffee).

…So now that you have all the brownie ingredient notes, are you ready to make this delicious, one-bowl batter recipe?