15 October, 2015

Protein Hazelnut Butter and Lavender Brownies

Posted in : Not So Naughty on 15th October 2015 by : Ugne

Chocolate Protein Hazelnut Butter and Lavender Brownies
(Sugar free, Gluten free, Dairy free and low in Sat fat)

With this recipe, I feel that I have finally arrived at the “Perfect Homemade Brownies”… yes, I know the word “perfect” is rather presumptuous. Certainly tastes and opinions will vary quite a bit from person to person…. so it would be impossible for everyone to agree on just what is a “perfect “ Brownie. I guess that’s one of the luxuries of being the author of a blog… I can pick what feels perfect in Ugne’s World!

However, when you ask people what they may deem to be the perfect “Brownie”, the vast majority will include the word “fudgy” in their description. If you are one of those “fudgy” brownie lovers, these are for you! If you like “cakey” brownies, you may still want to give these a try… they may have just enough (flavour/texture) balance to win you over! I used a combination of Coconut and Almond flour – these with the addition of date syrup and goji berries guarantee ‘fudgy’ heaven. Another key to good Brownies are the use of GOOD quality chocolate – I used 100% cacoa chocolate in this recipe. These brownies are rich, full of chocolate flavour, fudgy and moist (without being overly dense or oily) – they are after all ‘Free-From, but trust me the taste may try to convince you otherwise…they are just that good (OK, can you sense my excitement about this recipe!). The Lavender offsets the Chocolate and Hazelnut beautifully and the Chia seeds gives it a bit of a ‘texture’.

I’ve been searching for a perfect home made brownie recipe for a while, and finally I believe I’ve found it!

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INGREDIENTS:
170g Crunchy Hazelnut Butter ( I used Merridian)
100g 100% cocoa solids dark chocolate ( I used Seaforth)
40g triple chocolate protein powder
30g Goji berries(soaked for an hour in hot water and drained)
50g date syrup (used Merridian)
50g Truvia
25g Coconut flour (used Sukrin)
65g ground almonds
35g Chia seeds
3 large egg whites
1tsp baking powder
60ml unsweetened almond milk
1/2tbsp culinary lavender buds(optional, but gives great unusual flavour)

METHOD:

Preheat oven to 180’C/ Fan 160’C, line square 20cm-20cm tin with parchment paper, set aside.

In the heat proof bowl place broken chocolate and hazelnut butter, and heat over the pot with gently simmering water until chocolate is melted.Just make sure the water not to touch the bottom of the bowl.

When it’s melted, add your syrup and Truvia and mix well, set aside to cool.

In the separate large bowl mix together the flours, protein powder and seeds with baking powder. Add your lavender buds. Take a wooden spoon or spatula, add egg whites, almond milk, chocolate mix and Goji berries and mix all well until combined.

Place all mixture in to the prepared tin and bake for 20-25 minutes until the top all crusty. It has to be under baked to get the nice gooey centre when cooled down. So when you check it with a toothpick, it has to have mixture stuck to it 🙂

I have mixed some hazelnut butter with melted chocolate to drizzle the top with, but it is nice enough just on it’s own.