Eggless Jackfruit Flour Brownies | Healthy Millet Recipes

Most decadent, eggless jackfruit flour brownies can only mean healthy indulgence! Indeed, the crunch of caramel popcorn and drizzle of caramel sauce makes these healthy finger millet brownies apt for your sweet cravings when friends are visiting over, or even for packing into your child’s tiffin box. 

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If you’ve been around, you must be aware of my fascination with usage of wholegrain/ plant-based/ alternate flours for baking. In fact, I’ve never stocked all-purpose flour in my pantry and the one time I did try baking using APF upon request for a potential client, it was a disaster – my wholewheat/ millet/ oats/ refined-flour free bakes have almost always been a success, and I intend to stick baking with these.

Why Refined-flour Free?

Without a doubt, the answer is simple. Wholegrain flours are certainly much more nutritional. The dietary fiber remains intact in wholegrain flours, and so does the nutrition-rich outer layer or bran that contains essential minerals and vitamins – all of which gets stripped away while processing refined flour. Did you know that bloating and flatulence are among the second-most widely reported conditions and can lead to Irritable Bowel Syndrome soon?

As a matter of fact, increasing the amount of soluble fiber can help you keep these conditions at bay and enjoy a healthy digestive system. Easy ways to imbibe fiber into diet? Chuck that all purpose flour and use wholegrain flours wherever you can.

Why Jackfruit Flour Brownies?

Jackfruit flour is a rich source of soluble fiber, while the carbohydrate and sugar content is relatively low – a 30g serving of green jackfruit flour contains 24 grams of carbohydrates, of which 13 grams is fiber, while the same serving oats (hyped as a wonder grain full of fiber), has about 3 grams of fiber content. Do you see the contrast here! All we need to keep our guts healthy is swap out refined flour with plant-based, lower calorie, plant-based flour substitutes, that contain greater fiber!

The higher fiber and lower sugar content can prove to be a boon for diabetics and weight watchers, as jackfruit flour can also improve one’s insulin sensitivity and make one feel fuller and satiated for longer durations. The high Vitamin A content aids eye and skin health, and rich calcium and magnesium levels help in improving and maintaining bone health.

Crunch of Popcorn, Swirls of Caramel

I’ve made this recipe slightly indulgent, as there is plenty of benefits we’ve gained here from the usage of jackfruit flour and palm sugar. The crunch of caramel popcorn topping and the comforting caramel sauce drizzle adds some pizzaz to the brownies and makes them very party-worthy. However, if you’re looking to keep it as guilt-free and low calorie as possible, by all means avoid them, as both these elements do use some sugar.

What do I mean by Guilt-free Indulgence

In case you need to omit popcorn and caramel sauce, fret not. As a matter of fact, there are so many ways to glam up your brownies! By the same token, you can include roast, crushed nuts in the flour mixture/ add fruit slices on top to relish their caramelized texture once baked/ pour on some low-calorie dark chocolate ganache/ try a salted peanut butter ganache or cashew butter icing to keep things interesting, yet healthier. Indeed, sky is the limit if you decide to employ a little bit to creativity!

Similarly, if you’re looking for healthy bakes, do try my Peach Wholewheat Shortbread Tart, Lemon Poppy Seed Buckwheat Muffins, or Eggless Millet Carrot Cake too!

RECIPE: Eggless Jackfruit Flour Brownies with Caramel Popcorn Topping

Serves 14

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE BROWNIE

• ½ cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 cup green jackfruit flour
• ½ cup ragi flour
• ¾ cup dark cocoa powder
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1.5 cup palm sugar
• 1 tbsp instantcoffee powder
• 1.5 cup yogurt/ dahi/ buttermilk
• 1 cup water
• ¼ cup butter (softened at room temperature)/ oil
• 1 tsp salt

FOR THE CARAMEL POPCORN

• ½ cup caramel popcorn (I used Act II Popcorn Caramel Bliss)

FOR THE SALTED CARAMEL TOPPING

• ¼ cup palm sugar
• ¾ tbsp butter
• a pinch of sea salt

METHOD

Mixing the ingredients:

First, line a brownie tray with parchment paper and pre-heat the oven at 180°C.

For the brownies, meanwhile whisk together softened butter and ground palm sugar until light and airy. Now, add yogurt and water, continue to whisk until airy. Later, add vanilla, coffee powder and salt.

Consequently, sift the flours, baking soda, cocoa powder in another mixing bowl and mix well.

Meanwhile, we’ll add dry ingredients to the wet mixture in three stages, as you whisk the mixture. At the same time, take care to form a smooth mixture without any lumps; do not overmix.

Next, we’ll transfer the batter into the baking tray using a spatula.

Baking the brownies:

Now, we’ll bake at 180°C for about 40 minutes, check by inserting a toothpick. When it’s done, the surface should be crisp and dry, while the center still soft and gooey.

Eventually, we’ll remove the tray from the oven and allow to cool completely. Run a knife along the rim of the pans, turn over gently on a plate.

Consequently, we’ll divide into equal-sized brownie squares. Top each square with few caramel popcorn pieces. Press gently to ensure they stick to the surface.

Toppings:

Subsequently for salted caramel topping, heat butter and sugar on low flame for about 4-5 minutes as you whisk continuously, until a smooth pale brown sauce is formed. Lastly, drizzle immediately on the caramel popcorn topped brownie squares.

Devour!