Butternut squash and date brownies sweetened with ONLY dates. These are a super healthy powerhouse snack/dessert hidden in brownie form. Despite the uncool name of this recipe it is safe to say my kids loved them!

I’m always trying to find ways to give my kids something sweet every day. I mean they take after they’re mum and have a super sweet tooth. They wake up asking for brownies and go to bed asking for brownies!

If I’m gonna be dishing out something sweet everyday then I have to dig deep and find new ways and recipes. Not just any recipes, sweet, healthy and zero refined sugar recipes.

You know something I can’t feel guilty for and something they’re school won’t say they cant have because it’s not deemed healthy enough.

So far these are my newest addition to the healthy dessert family.

Butternut & Date squash brownies.

But wait. These have zero added sugar in them. Instead I have used the beautiful and holy dried fruit –  dates!

These brownies are also gluten and dairy free too, so my youngest son with both these allergies has been loving these after lunch this week.

This recipe is super clean brownies but you could definitely add chocolate to make these extra chocolatey and sweeter. Chunks or melted chocolate would be excellent additions.

My kids are used to healthy and naturally sweetened treats so they took to these brownies very well even though they don’t have the most exciting ingredient list for a kid to hear.

But nonetheless the ingredients are pure, healthy and rich. I don’t know about you but ingredients like these always excite me. My kids still wolfed these down, at this point anything that resembles chocolate they will just eat without question.

We have so many beneficial ingredients here:

• Cacao – giving you serotonin (this is the feel good hormone that boosts your moon when you eat chocolate!), anti oxidants and magnesium. I talk more on cacao benefits here.  – Almond butter swirl brownies. 
• Butternut squash – also high in anti oxidants butternut squash is rich in vitamin A, vitamin C, magnesium, and potassium too.
• Dates – these are a powerhouse dried fruit. They are super nutrient rich and the benefits are endless! This recipe has 10 dates in total and depending on how big the squares are when you cut them up you could have 1 date per brownie. Winning!
• Oats – great for increasing your fibre intake and helping you fill fuller for longer.
• Coconut oil – all important healthy fats!

Top tip on dates:

Make sure you use medjool dates. These type of dates are super soft and give that fudge like texture.

If you want them even softer, soak for 10 mins in boiled water and then rinse before blending.

Go ahead and give these veggie filled brownies a go I promise these are not complicated to make at all. It’s also an easy way to use up squash of any kind laying around the house this season. These would work just as well with pumpkin and all other types of squash too.