Seriously Chocolatey Brownies (Healthy Ones!)

Sometimes I put a load of stuff together in the food processor and it turns out pretty well (read: edible and not entirely disgusting). Sometimes it's an enormous failure, my attempt at raw flapjacks last week did not go so well.. they came out of the dehydrator completely flavourless and were only reasonably okay when immersed in honey. It turned out they weren't dehydrated enough either, as when I went back to them a couple of days later I discovered a fine web of flapjack mould was being spawned. Delish!


Sometimes though, chucking a load of stuff together works brilliantly, and you inadvertently create something completely wonderful. This, was one of those times.

All measurements are approximate and this amount makes enough 'dough' to fill half an 8'x8' baking dish. That amount gave me 12 bite-size brownies that are full of really wholesome, yummy ingredients!

The first thing to is to take about 8 prunes and 8 dates and soak them in water for at least 20 minutes. You can leave them to soak for a couple of hours if you want them really juicy, the longer the better.

In a food processor, throw in the following along with the soaked fruit:

• 1/2 cup buckwheat flour
• 1/2 cup walnuts*
• 1/2 cup cashews*
• 2 tbsp raw cacao powder
• 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp ground flax
• 1/4 cup shelled hemp
• Pinch of salt
• A really good squirt of something sweet e.g. honey, agave nectar or maple syrup

* you can also soak the nuts, this will make a smoother brownie mixture.

If the mixture is too dry, add some of the water from the soaked fruit. If it's too wet, add more buckwheat flour. Keep processing until you have a shape-able dough. Press the dough into some sort of tray/mould/straight into your mouth/dish, I'd recommend making it around an inch to and inch and a half thick. Refrigerate for a couple of hours or until it has hardened up a bit, then cut into squares.

You can just eat the brownies like this. OR you can top them with more chocolatey stuff...

Melt a couple of squares (around 20g) of good quality, dark chocolate with a tablespoon of coconut oil. Mix in half a teaspoon of vanilla extract and a generous squirt of your preferred sweetener. Lovingly ladle your liquid chocolate over the brownie squares and ogle as it drips between the cracks and down the sides. Once you've gathered yourself (it took me about 15 minutes), pop the brownies back in the fridge until the chocolate has set.

You're welcome.