The Two Hormone-Supportive Brownie Recipes I Can’t Stop Making
Rich, gooey, better-for-you brownies for your luteal and menstrual phase cravings
One thing I’ve learned on my hormone healing journey is that supporting your cravings and supporting your body do not have to be separate things.
Which is exactly why I wanted to put these two recipes in one place.
These are genuinely two of my favorite brownie recipes ever, and they’re both made with better-for-you ingredients that support your body during the phases where cravings tend to hit the hardest.
One of them is literally made with sweet potatoes, and the other is made with black beans…. And somehow they are both ridiculously good.
I originally shared both of these recipes inside my Cycle Syncing Meal Prep series on the paid tier of my substack.
The Small Batch Black Bean Brownies were included in my luteal phase prep in
→ Cycle Syncing Meal Prep 11
And the Sweet Potato Brownies were part of my menstrual phase prep in
→ Cycle Syncing Meal Prep 12
If you want to check out the rest of those meal preps, I’ll have them linked for you because both of those weeks were honestly so good!
Hi lovely!! If you enjoy this recipe, there are dozens more inside the paid Cycle Kitchen membership, including monthly phase-based meal plans, weekly hormone-supportive recipes, private meditations, and our Inner Circle community. For $12/month or $108/year, you get full access to the entire archive.
Sweet Potato Brownies
grounding, rich, and exactly what I crave during my period
Ingredients
¾ cup cooked and cooled mashed sweet potato (skins removed)
¾ cup almond butter
(You can also do ½ cup if you don’t love a strong almond butter flavor, but I personally loved the chocolate + almond butter combo.)
½ cup maple syrup
⅓ cup cacao powder
Dash of salt
Extra generous handful of dark chocolate chips
Flaky sea salt to top (this is a must)
Optional Add-Ins
Chopped nuts
Extra dark chocolate chips on top
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a bowl, mix mashed sweet potato, almond butter, maple syrup, cacao powder, and salt until smooth.
Fold in dark chocolate chips.
Spread batter into a parchment-lined baking dish.
Top with extra chocolate chips… obviously.
Bake for about 40 minutes until set but still slightly fudgy.
Let cool completely before slicing.
Top with flakey sea salt and store in the fridge.
Cycle Kitchen Notes
If you’ve been here for a little while, then you already know sweet potatoes are one of my holy grail foods during the menstrual/luteal phase.
They’re a slow-digesting carbohydrate, grounding, full of fiber, and genuinely make my body feel so supported.
Cacao is naturally rich in magnesium, which helps support muscle relaxation and cramping during your period. Which honestly makes so much sense considering how many of us crave chocolate during this phase!
This recipe feels like the perfect middle ground between nourishment and comfort. It satisfies the craving while still giving your body ingredients that support you instead of leaving you feeling heavy or inflamed.
Small Batch Gooey Black Bean Brownies
the brownie recipe that shocked all of us by how damn good it was
Ingredients
1 cup black beans, drained and rinsed well
2 tbsp cocoa powder
⅓ cup oats
¼ tsp salt
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup coconut oil or neutral oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp baking powder
Measure with your heart amount of chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°F and line a small baking dish with parchment paper. (I used a loaf pan since this was a small batch.)
Add black beans, cocoa powder, oats, salt, maple syrup, oil, vanilla, and baking powder to a food processor.
Blend until completely smooth and glossy.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Spread into pan and top with extra chocolate chips if desired.
Bake for 20–25 minutes.
Let cool completely, then chill in the fridge. They’ll still be pretty soft in the middle at first, that’s okay. They firm up as they chill.
Cycle Kitchen Notes
These turned out so good. Like genuinely… you cannot taste the black beans.
Black beans are perfect for the luteal/menstrual phases because they bring fiber, magnesium, iron, folate, potassium, and slow-digesting carbohydrates. In other words: actual nourishment disguised as dessert.
And the chocolate craving during the luteal phase? Very real. Chocolate is rich in magnesium, and sometimes your body is simply asking for more support.
These are fudgy, gooey, chocolatey, and deeply satisfying, which is something we all want in the luteal phase.
Closing Thoughts
I think one of the biggest shifts for me on this journey has been learning that supporting your hormones does not mean eating boring food.
It doesn’t mean cutting out joy, it doesn’t mean never having dessert, and it definitely doesn’t mean forcing yourself to eat sad tasteless food in the name of “wellness”.
It means learning how to work with your body instead of against it. And recipes like these make that feel really easy.
If you make either one of these, I’d love to know which team you’re on: sweet potato brownies or black bean brownies? Let me know in the comments below!!
Sending so much love your way,
Nevaeh 🍫