Is there anything more satisfying than an indulgent chocolate brownie? How about when you know that said brownie is free of refined sugar, gluten, wheat, grains, dairy, eggs, soya and preservatives? Sound good? How about if I tell you that they are SUPER easy to make? Sold? Great! Get baking!
Surprising though it may sound, I do struggle with dessert ideas when I’m entertaining. I make heaps of cookies, muffins, cakes – that sort of thing – but I always think desserts need to be more ‘dessert-y’, don’t you agree? So I never know what to make and the raw ‘cheese’cakes are a little time-consuming when I’m throwing a big dinner party, which I do every few weeks for our families as it’s tradition in Jewish households to have ‘Friday Night Dinner’. We do it Moroccan Style, which means more food than you can put away over a whole week, and it’s just how we like it!
Between soup, starters (which involves many types of Mediterranean salads) and main course, I often don’t have much time to prepare dessert, which I always prepare along with the soup the day before. So brownies actually work really well as a quick, easy option you can make the day before. I made the frosting on the day, though.
I made these using the recipe for my other brownies, of which I used Mrs Hollingsworth original recipe. The frosting is my usual chocolate sauce recipe…
Ingredients
1/2 cup coconut oil, melted
1 cup cacao powder
1 cup medjool dates, pitted
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup cashew or almond butter
Pinch Himalayan salt
1 tbsp water (more if needed)
1/2 tbsp bicarbonate of soda
2 flax eggs (2 tbsp ground flax seeds soaked in 3 tbsp water and left for 10 minutes to thicken)
Frosting:
1/4 cup coconut oil
1/4 cup cacao powder
3/4 tbsp maple
2 tbsp cashew butter
Method
Preheat the oven to 150*. A cooler oven really is key for brownies; any hotter and they won’t be gooey.
Make the flax eggs by mixing the flax with 5 tbsp water and set aside.
Now put all the ingredients (except for the frosting) into a food processor and blend until a smooth and sticky batter forms. If it’s too sticky (i.e. it forms a big ball), just add in a little more water or almond milk a tablespoon at a time until you get the desired consistency.
Once the flax mix has had 10 minutes to set, add this and mix it in.
Spoon the batter into a lined baking tin or mould and press down with a spoon to make sure it’s all nice and even.
Bake for 25 minutes, then leave for another half an hour to cool (as the brownies will continue to cook after they are taken out the oven).
Make the frosting while the mix is cooling by melting all ingredients together in a saucepan over a low heat.
Once the brownie mix is cool, remove from tin, spoon over the frosting then cut into squares and devour!
Love & health,
Lauren
