Chocolate is one of my worst triggers, so I was sooo happy to discover that this carob brownie recipe is pretty darn close to the real thing!  Even my husband agreed that it was hard to tell the difference.  I have tried other carob brownie recipes that were not so good and now that I've found a good one, I wanted to share it.  

My substitutions included veggie margarine instead of butter, which is a trigger for me, and dark brown sugar instead of light brown (this seemed to make them richer).  

MMmm - enjoy!  Just a warning though, I've eaten almost half the pan today.  It's been way too long since I had anything this close to chocolate!


Carob Brownies
5 tbs carob powder
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 eggs
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup almonds - processed into a fine meal
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp vanilla extract

-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
-Grease and 8X8 pan
-In a bowl combine the dry ingredients and whisk
-In a bowl combine the wet ingredients and mix
-Add the wet to the dry ingredients and mix until combined, the batter will be thick
-Spread into the greased pan
-Add crushed almonds on top (optional)
-Bake in 350 degree oven for 33-35 minutes - do not over bake!
-Cool in pan on a wire rack
-Remove from pan (chill before cutting so they don't break apart)

(I'm not sure of the original source, since I discovered it through a Google search for "carob brownies" and it was posted on an interstitial cystitis forum, original source unknown.) [/quote]