Gooey raspberry brownies

I'm slightly addicted to the Great British Bake Off, and now that there's an Irish Bake Off too... I've got baking on the brain. I even rescheduled my training session in the gym to make sure I'm home in time to watch it... that's dedication! In fairness, that's dedication to both training and cake... I don't like to neglect the important things in life :)

I had an hour to kill this afternoon, and decided to bake brownies...a girl can never have too many brownie recipes after all... In my book, brownies are supposed to be fudgey rather than cakey, and have slightly chewy edge (that's why you always, always go for a brownie cut from the corner of the tin..they're the best!) These brownies are all that, and more... they're rich, chocolatey and best of all, they're grain, dairy and refined sugar free.. 

Brownies:

• 4 eggs
• 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted
• 2 tsp organic vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce
• 1 tbsp coconut flour (you can replace this with 1 1/2 tbsp almond flour)
• 75g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 tbsp almond flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt
• 50g walnuts, chopped coarsely
• 50g fresh raspberries

Raspberry jam: 

• 50g fresh raspberries
• 1 tbsp unsweetened apple sauce

Preheat oven to 160d. Line an 8x8" square cake tin with greaseproof paper. 

Start by making raspberry jam. Simple add raspberries and apple sauce to a saucepan and cook until you have thick raspberry purée. Set aside to cool. 

Whisk liquid brownie ingredients in a large bowl. 

Add in dry ingredients, mix well. 

Next add walnuts and raspberries.

Stir until combined. 

Pour brownie mixture into lined tin. 

Finally drizzle raspberry 'jam' over the brownies and swirl into the mixture with a skewer. 

Bake in preheated oven until just set (approx 15 minutes). Since ovens vary, I suggest you keep an eye on them to make sure they don't over-bake. 

You'll get 12 brownies from this recipe, and since they freeze well, you have no excuse for eating them all!!

Lemon Meringue Pie (Grain, dairy and refined sugar free)

The title is not a lie!

Seriously, for some reason I obsess over recreating classic dishes to fit in with my lifestyle. I really don't think it's healthy to live a life of deprivation... it's all about moderation, and when I make desserts like this, it's usually when I'm visiting someone, or when I'm cooking for a group. Basically what I'm trying to say, I make sure that there's no possible way I can sit down and eat it all myself with a giant spoon! Since I changed my eating habits, I don't crave sugar or sweet things anymore, so it's pretty easy for me to just have a tiny taste and settle for that.

And yeah, I do realise that by bringing friends cake that fits in with my lifestyle, I'm kind of pushing my views on them... but hey, I've never had any complaints yet, and it's good to help people realise that recipes don't actually need to be sugar laden to taste good. Mind you, I do know which friends I need to bring full blown sugar explosion desserts to, and that's ok too...not everyone has to eat the way I do.

So back to the Lemon Meringue pie..strange one really, it's not a dessert I'd go mad for, but for some reason I decided to recreate it at the weekend. Most likely because I had no idea how to manage pastry, custard and meringue without grains, dairy, and refined sugar... It seems I like a challenge!

Pastry crust

• 165g almond flour
• 80g coconut flour
• 80g tapioca flour
• 2 tsp baking soda
• 2 eggs 
• 3 tbsp raw organic honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 tbsp coconut oil, melted 

Preheat oven to 160d (fan oven).

Sieve dry ingredients twice. (Don't be lazy, do it twice... it adds far more air to the mixture, and will make a lighter crust) 

Mix all the liquid ingredients together in a bowl and whisk until incorporated. 

Add 3/4 of the liquid to your flour mix, and using your hands mix well. 

At this stage, your pastry should still be crumbly. 

Add the remaining liquid in stages, a little at time. You're looking for a pliable dough, and don't want it too sticky or it'll be difficult to work with. It shouldn't be crumbly either though! (I really should have taken photos as I made it!) 

If it's too sticky, add a little more almond flour just to make it easier to work with. 

No need to roll the pastry out.. it's going to be a little more fragile than standard pastry so you can just press it evenly into your pie dish (use a 9" dish). Be patient, press it in well into the corners of the dish.. there's plenty of dough, just keep at it until you have an even crust. 

Next you need to place a circle of parchment paper onto the crust and weigh down using baking beans or even dry uncooked rice. (This is called baking 'blind'). This stops the crust rising too much, and browning too quickly. 

Bake for 15 minutes, then remove baking beans and parchment. Bake for a further 5 minutes until pale golden brown. 

Lemon filling

• 4 lemons, zest removed and juiced
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 cans of full fat organic coconut milk refrigerated overnight (thick cream only..you can use the coconut water for smoothies later)
• 5 tbsp raw organic honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp arrowroot starch 
• 2 tbsp boiling water
• 2 gelatin leaves softened as per packet instructions

Add the first 5 ingredients to a saucepan, and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes. Keep stirring so it doesn't go lumpy and you don't end up with scrambled eggs! 

Mix arrowroot and boiling water to make a thick paste (if you add it to the custard as powder it will go lumpy)

Add your paste, and gelatin leaves (discard the water). 

Keep stirring until custard comes to just below a boil. Simmer until thick. 

You can check if it's going to set by dropping a teaspoon of the mixture onto a plate. If it forms a skin quickly, then your custard will set. 

Once ready, add to your pastry shell. 

Meringue topping

• 4 egg whites
• 4 tbsp raw organic honey
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar

Whisk egg whites and cream of tartar until opaque and stiff. 

Add honey 1 tbsp at a time, whisking well in between additions. 

Whisk until you have glossy, stiff meringue. 

Pile onto your lemon filling, and swirl with a fork to create peaks. 

Bake at 170d (fan) for 10-15 minutes until golden. 

Allow to cool before serving. 

I have to say... I was thrilled nobody realised until after they had eaten it that it wasn't my normal recipe! Success!! As I said before, dessert isn't an every day thing.. and just because it has healthier ingredients, doesn't given you licence to go crazy eating it. Keep it as a treat... 

Chocolate protein brownies...

I doubt there are too many people who could honestly say that now and again, they don't crave something sweet. Regardless of our health and fitness goals, we're entitled to a treat occasionally. I may have mentioned my love of cooking, and baking in particular in a previous post and plan to share some recipes as part of my blog.

I don't like calling it a cheat meal... to me that has all sorts of negative connotations associated with it, and feeling guilty about treating yourself the odd time is unhealthy in my opinion. I also think it's really important that if you are treating yourself, that you don't go crazy and undo a week of tough training and clean eating habits. It's for this reason, when I bake, I try to keep things as healthy as I possibly can. I avoid wheat, gluten, dairy (most of the time) and refined sugars. Baking is an exact science, so it's important that the ratio of ingredients is correct in order to produce a cake you actually want to eat! Believe me, I've come out with dry, grey cakes because of overuse of coconut flour... thankfully, you have me to do the testing of recipes on your behalf! 

Brownies are always my go-to recipe if I've to bake in a hurry. They're easy to make, inexpensive and always a crowd pleaser. Challenge was set... to bake a brownie, without all the nasty ingredients I try so hard to avoid... The internet is full of gluten free alternatives and sugar replacement suggestions and  I took a long hard look at potential recipes, but nothing seemed like it was going to yield the desired results. I wanted a chewy, chocolatey brownie that would rival my standard naughty brownie recipe. I set myself a task of taking the best bits of a lot of recipes, and trying to combine them to give a chocolatey, chewy but light brownie that hadn't got an overpowering flavour such as banana or coconut. 

Good news... mission accomplished! I swear these are incredible. I did add Greek yoghurt, which technically isn't Paleo. Who cares... if dairy doesn't make you puke or have some crazy seizure, then it can't be all that bad for you! It's bound to be 100 times better than a lot of  the stuff you've eaten... 

Ok I'm going to stop rambling and share the recipe! I swear it's worth the wait... 

1/2 ripe avocado
1 medium banana, mashed

12 dates
125g Fage 0% Greek Yoghurt (try to buy actual Greek Yoghurt instead of Greek 'style') 

75g Coconut oil (melted)
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
145g almond flour
80g coconut flour
80g unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp gluten free baking powder
50ml strong brewed coffee* 

The best part is how simple this recipe is... 

• Add the first 7 ingredients to food processor and pulse until you have a smooth consistency. 
• Add dry ingredients and pulse again until just combined. 
• *Stir in cooled coffee. This is optional, but really enhances the chocolate flavour of the brownies. 
• At this stage, you should have a thick mixture (similar to thick yoghurt consistency). If it seems too runny after adding the coffee, just add a little more almond flour to thicken it up. 
• Place mixture in 8"x8" cake tin. 
• Bake in fan oven preheated to 160d.

All ovens seem to vary, so as a guide you'll need to allow 20 minutes baking time. You're looking for a firm, just set appearance. Use a skewer to test the centre of the cake, there shouldn't be lots of raw cake mixture on it! Do keep an eye on them though, cakes with coconut flour tend to burn a little quicker than when baking with wheat flour. 

You're now faced with a dilemma... Do you A) Devour them warm or B) Allow them to cool in the tin so you can make them even more decadent with my protein icing... 

I went with B this time... 

Icing recipe: 

1/2 ripe avocado

100g chocolate whey protein powder

2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

75g Fage 0% Greek Yoghurt

• Pulse all the ingredients in food processor until you have a glossy, smooth icing.

When the brownies have cooled, spread chocolate icing on top, decorate with chopped nuts (if you're as fussy about detail as I am!), and enjoy... 

These brownies are really good... they're honestly nicer than most standard brownies (and a friend even claims they're nicer than Avoca brownies!!!) 

Stick around... scones, energy bars and even a strangely yummy chocolate bacon cake are coming up....