Chocolate Brownies with Walnuts
A decadent, yet super healthy, sweet for when you’re craving that chocolate hit. Perfect to take to a picnic or parties.
Ingredients
- 1 cup walnuts + 24 walnut pieces for garnish
- 3 cups cooked or canned blackbeans, drained
- 1 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 300g pitted fresh medjool dates
- ½ cup raw cacao powder
- 2 TBSP ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp ground cardamom
- 3 TBSP maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- ½ cup white sesame seeds
Method
- Pulse 1 cup of the walnuts lightly in a food processor.
- Add black beans and oil to the processor and blend until combined. Add dates, cacao powder, spices, maple syrup, vanilla extract and continue to process until smooth.
- Transfer the mixture into a large bowl and fold in the sunflower and sesame seeds with a wooden spoon.
- Preheat oven to 180oC.
- Spread the mixture into a baking pan (12”x 9”) and flatten with spatula to a height of approximately 1.5cm. Cut into 24 squares and press an additional walnut piece in the centre of each square.
- Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Leave to cool in the pan before removing brownies. Enjoy freshly baked or store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
Makes 24 brownies
Tip
- You can line the pan with baking paper and simply lift brownies out of the pan when cooled.
- Pull the brownies out of the oven after 30 minutes even if they appear as if they’re not fully cooked otherwise they will burn on the bottom.
- For a spicy version, swap the cardamom with ¼ tsp ground cayenne pepper.
Per serve: energy 1079 kJ (258 Cal); protein 6 g; fat 18 g; saturated fat 2 g; cholesterol 0 mg; carbohydrate 16 g; fibre 6 g; calcium 38 mg; iron 1.9 mg; sodium 4mg