The Best Vegan Brownies

The Best Vegan Brownies

serves 9 cooks in 1hr 10 minutes difficulty two

Brownies are the ultimate chocolate treat, and these ones like any unhealthy sugar-loaded brownie taste rich, indulgent and incredibly gooey! The best thing about these bites of amazing chocolate goodness, is they’re actually full of health-promoting ingredients, so you can have all the pleasure without any of the guilt!

Trying to make a delicious vegan brownie was a hard task, I tried making sweet potato brownies, black bean brownies.. all delicious but not quite as yummy as the unhealthy kind, and I needed them as good if not even better! After a few experiments, I hit the jackpot, with the most delicious gooey vegan brownies ever! They’re made from pecan butter, brown rice flour, raw cacao powder, Medjool dates, maple syrup and coconut oil.

Pecan butter is full of plant protein, skin-loving omega-3’s and Vitamin E. Brown rice flour is my favourite gluten-free flour, it’s really Low GI which balances blood sugar levels. Raw cacao powder is one of the richest source of antioxidants, even more than berries. Raw cacao is derived from the same plant as cocoa, but cacao is the raw form, taken before any additives and sugars have been added. This makes all the nutrients so much more potent and beneficial! Medjool dates are a wonderful natural sweetener, that along with 100% pure maple syrup adds a wonderful caramel sweetness and thickens the mixture. Lastly, we use coconut oil, which is bursting with healthy fats and is such a great source of Omega-3’s. Even though coconut oil is a tad pricey, don’t despair as buying one pot will last forever! If you don’t have coconut oil on hand and you’re desperate for some healthy brownies, you can use olive oil instead.

img9165-w725

The Ingredients

1 cup pecan butter (*See below)

1.5 cup medjool dates

1/4 cup chia seeds (4 tbsp)

3/4 cup water

1/2 cup brown rice/oat/almond milk

1/3 cup coconut oil

1 cup brown rice flour

1/2 – 3/4 cup cacao powder

1/2 cup maple syrup

1 tsp baking powder

*For the Pecan Butter, you can alternately place 2 cups of pecans into a food processor and blend until smooth – Like a nut butter

Method

Preheat the oven to 175°C.

In a bowl combine the chia seeds and the water and then leave for 15 minutes

In a blender put the melted coconut oil, Medjool dates, pecan butter, almond/rice milk, maple syrup and blend until smooth, don’t worry if it’s not 100% smooth, a few little pieces of dates adds texture!

In a bowl combine the baking powder, brown rice flour, salt and cacao powder.

Pour the mixture out of the blender and combine with the flour, salt, baking powder and cacao and add the soaked chia seeds.

Put into a lined tray about 2 inches thick is ideal, and put into the preheated oven for around 35 minutes. Or until you can insert a knife into it and it comes out clean.

Take out the oven and leave to cool. Cut into squares and serve!

Notes: If you’d like a little more superfood goodness, you can add 3 tablespoons of bee pollen to the mix and a heaped tablespoon of Lucuma Powder!