I’ve included two brownie recipes:

• a healthy sweet potato brownie with a sugar-free option

• a decadent brownie recipe that’s dairy-free with gluten-free

I love making brownies as a special treat for family, my grandies dive gleefully into the warm gooey brownie sometimes with a spoon, usually rejecting the yogurt and berries; sharing love in a warm chocolate sweet.

The first recipe - a healthy sweet potato brownie - is baked in a microwaveable container. The brownie is healthy as it’s baked without sugar if use sugar-free chocolate, flour so there’s a gluten-free option with a 4 minute cooking time.

I bake the second brownie recipe in an enamel tin as its a great heat conductor, and if you prefer not to use baking paper the enamel shrouds the underlying steel, preventing it from altering the flavour of the food.

For this brownie, I used a small amount of grapeseed oil as a substitute for fat; grapeseed oil has a high smoke point (about 420-445’C) for a vegetable oil, so it’s unlikely to oxidise and produce off flavours during high temperature cooking. The combination of its high smoke point and very neutral flavour makes grapeseed oil one of the most versatile options in the kitchen.

Brownies are for special occasions, a time when I sometimes waver the “no sugar” rule for unrefined sugar. Scientific research proves all sugar, regardless of its “exotic” name, is sugar and it’s a myth that one is healthier than the other. If you choose to use sugar, realise the ‘natural’ and wholesome-sounding language used for sugars are still added sugars, the packaging is just more exotic.

Health benefits:

·       According to a study by Harvard researchers, their analysis of 21 studies with 2,575 participants shows that cocoa consumption is associated with decreased blood pressure, improved blood vessel health, and improvement in cholesterol levels, among other benefits.

·       Eric L. Ding, PhD, of Harvard Medical School says the apparent health benefits come from polyphenolic flavonoids in cocoa that have the potential to prevent heart disease.

HEALTHY BROWNIE

PB, V, DF, GF, SF option

½ cup (75 g) sweet potato mash

1 cup (130 g) nuts like pecans

4 tbsp (30 g) raw cacao powder

3 tbsp (23.5 g) flour - like spelt, almond or GF flour

1 tsp (3 g) baking powder

½ cup date paste - 10 medjool dates soaked in boiling water for 10 minutes. Drain and puree to a paste in the food processor with the plant milk

OR ½ cup (160 g) maple syrup

pinch of sea salt

200 g dark chocolate chips

Process the nuts until crumbly. Combine all the ingredients, except the chocolate chips, in the food processor until smooth. Mix in half the chocolate chips, spoon the batter into a microwaveable container, sprinkle the remaining choc chips on top and cook for at 900w for 4 minutes. Eat immediately with fresh berries and dollops of yogurt.

DECADENT BROWNIE

PB, V, DF, GF option

90 g 70% dark chocolate

¾ cup (90 g) wheat spelt flour or GF flour

½ cup (50 g) cacao powder

1 tsp (3 g) baking powder

¾ cup (165 g) unrefined sugar

pinch of sea salt

1 cup (250 ml.) plant milk

¼ cup (62 ml.) grapeseed oil

200 g 70% dark chocolate chips

1 cup (130 g) walnuts pieces

Preheat the oven to 180’C. Wet a sheet of baking paper and press into an 26 x 20cm enamel tin. Melt 90g chocolate in a bain-marie, a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure the base doesn’t touch the water. Set aside to cool a little. Sift the flour, cacao powder and baking powder into a large bowl. Add the sugar/date paste and sea salt and stir in the plant milk (w date paste if that’s your choice of sweetener), oil and melted chocolate. Stir in the remaining dark chocolate chunks and walnuts. Pour the batter in and spread evenly over the enamel tin with the back of a spoon. Bake for 20 minutes until it’s cooked on the outside with a slightly gooey middle. Leave to cool for 5 minutes on a wire rack, and serve warm at the table with dollops of yogurt and fresh berries.