Recipe: Avocado Brownies

I love to bake. I find it very therapeutic, and often I bake for others without eating much of the finished product myself! I also love avocados, and I love brownies. So when my brother bought a 5-pack of avocados for me, I wondered what else I could use them for, other than a classic guacamole (which I did devour with vegetarian quesadillas – watch out for that recipe!). When we think of brownies, we don’t think of them as being healthy. However when you make dairy-free, flour-free versions using avocados, ground almonds and good quality cacao powder & chocolate, then you’ve got delicious brownies with a healthy twist! The particular cacao powder I used by Nua Naturals* is also high in vitamin c, calcium & iron – happy days!

Prep: 10 mins
Cook: 30 mins
Ready in 40 minutes

Serves 12

Ingredients

2 ripe medium avocados, mashed

3 eggs

150g soft brown sugar

70g ground almonds

100g Nua Naturals organic cacao powder* (cocoa powder)

180g Bourneville dark chocolate

1 teaspoon Madagascar vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon bread soda (bicarbonate of soda)

Coconut oil, for greasing

(Nua Naturals Organic Cacao Powder* is available online and from Lloyds Pharmacy nationwide)

Method

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Lightly grease a brownie tin and line with baking paper.
Break up the chocolate, place in a bowl over a pot with boiling water. Once the chocolate is fully melted and smooth, remove from heat and set aside.
Using an electric beater, mix the sugar and eggs together in a large mixing bowl then gradually sieve in the cacao powder and ground almonds, and mix well. Add in the bread soda and vanilla extract, mix and then combine the chocolate into the mixture.
In a separate bowl, carefully cut open the avocados, remove the stone and spoon out the flesh. Mash until smooth with either a fork or whisk, then add to the chocolate mix and beat well to combine.
If your mixture is a bit too thick, add a small amount of melted coconut oil or a splash milk.
Add the mixture into the lined tin and bake on the middle shelf for up to 30 minutes. Check with a skewer or cocktail stick, if it comes out clean your brownies are done!
Leave to rest in the tin for a few minutes, then transfer to wire tray and remove baking paper.
Allow to cool for up to 10 minutes then slice into bitesize squares, and enjoy!