B is for Brownies

This morning Bear and Bee had a play date organised with some friends at a nearby playground so we decided to make something special to take along to share for morning tea.  With the weather being a bit overcast we settled on chocolate brownies.

The recipe we used also fits with my recent post on allergy free cooking.  It can be adapted to be gluten free and is also reasonably healthy for brownies as it doesn’t contain any butter or eggs.  It is still deliciously chocolatey and gooey in the centre.

The original recipe was from an Australian healthy food magazine and was developed as a makeover to traditional high fat content brownies. I made it a few times years ago to take to work and had forgotten about it til this morning.

Ingredients

1 cup unsweetened apple puree (I have used canned puree in the past but since we had a few overripe apples I made my own this time)

1/3 cup cocoa powder

¾ cup self-raising flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ cup sugar

½ cup chopped dark chocolate

½ cup chopped white chocolate

What we did:

Preheat the oven to 175^oC and line a 20x20cm baking tin or slice tin with baking paper.

Place apple puree in a large mixing bowl and sift in flour, cocoa and baking soda.

Sifting the flour, cocoa and baking soda into bowl with puree.

Add sugar and mix until just combined.

Bee adding the sugar to the brownie mix.

Bear and Bee trying to gently mix the brownie mix.

Gently mix in chocolate. We used chocolate chips as that was what was in the pantry.  You could use blocks of chocolate and chop it yourself.

Bear adding the chocolate chips.  Bee eating the chocolate chips.

Pour mixture into prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes or until the centre feels just set.

Cool in the tin for 5-10 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack and allowing to cool completely.  The brownie will be quite soft while it is warm so be careful getting it onto the rack.

Slice into squares.  You could dust the brownies with icing sugar before serving or have them with fresh berries and ice-cream.

Yummy moist chocolate brownies.

Bee enjoying the chocolate brownies at the playground.

Variations

This recipe could be made gluten free by using gluten free flour, cocoa and baking soda.

To add a little crunch you could add ½ cup chopped nuts like pecans, walnuts or macadamias.

What is your favourite chocolate recipe?