Chocolate = women's best friend. Chocolate brownie = women's best friend FOREVER!

I am so excited to share this recipe with you today. This one has been burning a hole in my recipe book as I have been busting to share it with you.

Can you tell by the picture that it's gluten free, dairy free and refined sugar free? Nup didn't think so! By the taste of it you wouldn't know either.

Now before I was diagnosed with dairy intolerance I was brownie lover ... or addict! One of the two. I made a mean brownie if I don't say so myself. It was called the Ultimate Chocolate Brownie. The recipe called for a 250g block of dark chocolate, 250g butter, 1 1/2 cups of sugar and a block of white chocolate diced throughout the brownie! It was pure indulgence in one bite - but OH so bad for you! No wonder I never felt well after eating it! I'm sure my sugar levels were having a spack attack!

So since being diagnosed with dairy intolerance brownies have being scratched off the baking list. Until NOW! I have recently been experimenting baking with coconut flour. I was pleased to find the texture of coconut flour when baked gave a nice fudgy, gooey consistency... hmmm it reminded me of a brownie texture! Coconut flour is made from the dried ground flesh of coconuts so it makes the perfect flour for anyone following a gluten free diet as it contains no gluten whatsoever! I played around with a few versions of this recipe until I got it right. I have also been following a clean eating diet of late and was craving something sweet but did not want it to contain refined sugar or any nasty processed ingredients such as white flours, white sugar, butter etc and well that ruled most recipes.

You''ll be surprised to find that this recipe is quite healthy for a brownie but should probably only consumed as a treat every now and then. You will notice there is no fats in this recipe - the pumpkin puree does the job of that, No refined sugars - the date puree and stevia does the job of that and no sickly over processed chocolate - the cocoa does the job of that. This brownie is not sickly sweet so don't expect it to be when you make it. It has a mild sweetness but sweet enough to stamp out those cravings!

This brownie also has a sprinkling of walnuts throughout! I love walnuts in my brownie , it's a must for me! However if your a no-nut-brownie-lover leave them out but you don't know what you'll be missing out on - trust me! You could substitute the walnuts for pecans or macadamia's - whatever floats your boat really. So what are you going to do today ...... MAKE BROWNIES! Preferably these ones :-)

No Ordinary Chocolate Brownie

by The Whimsical Wife

Prep Time: 30 min

Cook Time: 30 min

Keywords: bake slice

Ingredients (15 pieces)

wet ingredients

1 cups dates, roughly chopped
1 cup boiling water
1 tsp bicarb soda
2 cup pumpkin puree (approx 600g pumpkin boiled, cooled, mashed)
4 eggs, lightly beaten
2/3 cup almond milk (or normal milk)
1/2 cup agave syrup (or honey, melted)
2 tsp vanilla extract
125g sugar free, dairy free chocolate, melted - optional if you can find it I didn't use it in my second batch and it tasted fine. Just less chocolatey!

dry ingredients

2/3 cup coconut flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa (I use nestle)
3/4 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
1/2 cup stevia powder

Instructions

Preheat oven to 175 degrees

Grease and line a lamington slice tray.

In a electric blender place the chopped dates, boiling water and bicarb soda. Let this sit for 5 minutes to soften. Blend into a pureee and place into a small bowl.

In the same small bowl place in the remaining wet ingredients and mix to combine. Set aside.

In a large bowl sift the cocoa, coconut flour, salt and baking powder. Place the stevia and walnuts into the bowl along with the wet ingredients and mix thoroughly.

Place mixture into the slice tin and smooth down the surface.

Place in oven for 30 minutes and remove. Cool completely before slicing.

Serve with a sprinkling of cocoa and a dollop of natural yoghurt (or ice cream if you feel naughty)

These brownies freeze really well so if you have any leftover pop them in a air tight container and place them into the freezer. Enjoy them warmed in the microwave when you feel like a "brownie" day!

For a really quick healthy chocolate sauce recipe see below:

2 Tbsp Coconut Oil, melted
3 Tbsp Cocoa powder, unsweetened
2 Tbsp Agave syrup

Mix it all together in a bowl and spoon over warmed brownie! Delicious!

My mouth is watering looking at these photo's.... I'm off for a warm piece of brownie! See ya!

Linking up to wellness weekend @ Diet Dessert & Dogs

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