This brownie has come from a lot of inspirational sources. The brownie recipe I have had for years came from Nigella and was great because I would make a dairy free version and my husband could eat them too. I used to have grown men fighting over my brownies. This recipe went by the wayside when I went sugar free.
Then there was my damp almond lemon cake. But that had sugar too. Bye bye.
A raw food friend taught me a raw food chocolate brownie, which contained goji berries and nut butter. Lovely - but not a brownie.
A recipe circulated in this group for a chocolate almond cake from aspoonfulofsugarfree.com.
Combining all of these brought me to this - a sugar free, dairy free, wheat free brownie.
Ingredients
- 325 grams pitted dates soaked
- hot water 125 degree
- 3 pieces eggs
- 3 tablespoons coconut oil
- 200 grams almonds ground
- 50 grams cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon mixed spice
- salt pinch
- 50 grams pecans
- 50 grams Goji berries
- 7x7 square tin (double the quantities for a traybake size tin)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160 Celsius / 325 Fahrenheit
- Soak the dates in 125 ml hot water for at least half an hour. If you only have a hand blender soak them for as long as possible. It makes it so much easier later.
- In a separate bowl, mix together the ground almonds, cocoa powder, baking soda, mixed spice and salt.
- Place the dates and water in a food processor and blend until it forms a smooth paste.
- Add the eggs and coconut oil.
- (If your coconut oil is solid at room temperature, then gently warm it first so it becomes a liquid - I but the jar in a bowl of warm water - this isn't essential, but makes the mixing much easier).
- Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
- Then fold in the nuts and dried fruit.
- Pour into a 7x7 square tin (or a traybake tin if you have doubled the quantities)
- Make sure the tip is as smooth as you want it to be, this mixture doesn't move much as it bakes, so if you leave it rough - that's how it's going to look. (I like it that way).
- Bake for around 25 - 30 minutes depending on how gooey you like your brownies.
- This is a gooey brownie mix, which firms up very slightly as it cools in the tin.
- A skewer test won't come out entirely clean, but pretty much so.
- Cool in the tray.
- Cut into squares. Went for 24 - on the basis that if they are quite small, you can go back for seconds.
Variations:
- I would have used sour cherries, but can't find any at the moment that aren't sweetened. I love cherries in a brownie.
- Go for just nuts - of any type
- Or just dried fruit Or maybe 100 chocolate chips Or leave them plain
- Let us know what you add
- This recipe is one of Louise Ebrey’s. Lou joined 30dayssugarfree.com on 4th March 2014 and has successfully managed to deal with her undiagnosable joint pain by giving up sugar. Her sugar free journey started in Macau SAR, China and she’s currently based in the UK.
- When she’s not coaching as part of the mindset strand of this programme, she focuses on bringing clarity and engagement to projects and teams, often in construction. You can find her at https://uk.linkedin.com/in/louiseebrey