Insanely Good Chocolate Brownies

Preparation Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan (see note) with two pieces of foil long enough to overlap on all four sides. Lightly oil the foil. Put the almond flour, brown rice flour, cocoa powder, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and stir with a whisk to combine. Put half of the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Heat, stirring often, just until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and whisk in the olive oil. Crack the eggs into a large bowl and whisk until frothy. Slowly add the maple syrup and maple sugar, whisking all the while, and continue whisking until the mixture is smooth. Add the vanilla extract, then gradually add the chocolate, whisking vigorously all the while, and continue whisking until smooth and glossy. Add the flour mixture and beat for about 1 minute. Stir in the remaining chocolate and the walnuts. Scrape the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool to room temperature in the pan, then cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before cutting into 16 brownies. Cook's Note:You can also use a 9 by 6-inch baking pan. If you do, the baking time will be only about 25 minutes. Variation: For brownies that are more fudgy, replace the rice flour with another 1/3 cup of almond flour. Who Knew? Cacao content is the amount of pure cacao products (chocolate liquor, cocoa butter, and cocoa powder) used in the chocolate; the higher the percentage, the more antioxidants the chocolate contains. And if you're into addition by subtraction, higher cacao percentages mean lower sugar content. Storage: Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.PER SERVING: (1 brownie per serving) Calories: 130; Total Fat: 9 g (2.5 g saturated, 5 g monounsaturated); Carbohydrates: 10 g; Protein: 2 g; Fiber: 1 g; Sodium: 64 mg Nutritional analysis provided by The Longevity Kitchen Reprinted with permission from The Longevity Kitchen: Satisfying Big-Flavor Recipes Featuring the Top 16 Age-Busting Power Foods by Rebecca Katz with Mat Edelson. Copyright © 2013 by Rebecca Katz; photography copyright ©2013 by Leo Gong. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of the Crown Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher Rebecca Katz, MS, is an accomplished chef and national speaker who has worked with the country's top wellness physicians, including Andrew Weil, Deepak Chopra, Michael Lerner, Jim Gordon, and Dean Ornish. She is the author of the award-winning Cancer-Fighting Kitchen and One Bite at a Time, as well as director of the Healing Kitchens Institute at Commonweal and executive chef of the annual Food as Medicine training program sponsored by the Center for Mind Body Medicine at Georgetown MEdical School. She has been featured in the Washington Post, Oprah.com, The Atlantic, Better Homes and Gardens, Associated Press, and other national media. Rebecca lives in the San Francisco Bay Area. Visit RebeccaKatz.com for more information. Mat Edelson is an award-winning science, health, and sports writer. He is the former anchor/director of the Johns Hopkins Health Newsfeed, a nationally syndicated daily radio program. This is the third book he has co-authored with Rebecca Katz. Edelson resides in Baltimore, Maryland.