There are brownie days. Days when a meek muffin leaden with flax just won’t cut it.
Last week we had quite a few of them. There must have been a glitch in the universe, because somehow, David Bowie, circa 1986 as the Goblin King came and stole my child. He replaced him with a screeching, head thumping, small bowls of blueberry bircher muesli hurling, Mummy-slapping, Mummy BITING, nap refusing banshee. The only thing that really pleased this tiny tyrant was raising a quarter sized Yankees bat (courtesy of The Hungry One’s sojurn to New York) aloft and slamming it down on the floor. You know you haven’t had enough sleep when the sight of a 20 mth old swinging an inflatable bat at you is vaguely menacing.
You know you haven’t had enough sleep when you find yourself messaging an old friend and asking ‘is it ok to sometimes think your child is an arsehole?’ The sage response was ‘yes, but probably best not to say it to their face too often’.
Good point.
So instead, we channel our energy into things that are good for morale.
Chocolate is good for morale. Chocolate should be for everyone. I say this, as someone who spent a good portion of their tweens unable to eat any of it (migraine trigger- oh the joys- luckily it was one I grew out of). I can safely say, life is much better with brownies. So I present to you some that will work for a good smattering of folk. Feed them to your #paleo pals (my new favourite joke- how do you know if someone is Paleo? Wait five minutes and they’ll tell you all about it). Send them along to your kids’ nut free institutions on treat days. Parcel them up for your lactose or gluten intolerant buddies. And if you’re just trying to still eat good tasting treats, without leaning on refined sugar or white carbs, then they fit the bill perfectly.
You can muddle them up in a blender quick smart. They have the pleasing flavour and texture that’s a little like a fudgy coconut rough, while the sneaky antioxidant boost from the pomegranate juice and dried cranberries offers plenty of perky enthusiasm. Though you could easily substitute espresso for the juice if your day really needed an extra boost. The shards of coconut over the top aren’t essential, but they do add another toasty textural contrast and make them look rather fetching en masse.
These brownies saved me last week. I made three batches. I won’t tell you how many of them I ate, but I will tell you that this week is looking a lot brighter.
My boy seems to be back from the goblin king (with three new teeth in tow). And morale once again, is good.
Flourless (nut free) Pomegranate and Coconut Brownies
Makes 12 larger brownies, or 18 modest portions.
Shopping/foraging
60 ml pomegranate juice (could also substitute for prune juice/ cherry juice/ espresso if you wanted an extra kick.
100 g pitted dates
4 tbsp coconut oil (or melted butter)
1 ripe banana
4 eggs
40 g desiccated coconut
30 g coconut flour
50 g cocoa powder
Pinch salt
50 g dried cherries, or dried cranberries
1 large handful coconut shards (optional)
Here’s how we roll
1) Preheat the oven to 180C/350 F and line a brownie pan, approx size of an A4 sheet of paper with greaseproof paper.
2) Combine the juice, pitted dates and coconut oil in a blender. Blitz until you have a smooth, sweet slurry.
3) Add the banana and blend to combine.
5) Add the eggs and then blend to combine.
6) Add the desiccated coconut, coconut flour and cocoa.
7) Blend to combine.
8) Fold through the dried fruit and transfer batter to the prepared pan.
9) Sprinkle the top with the coconut shards.
10) Bake for 20 minutes, until the coconut shards are toasted and a skewer comes out with just a few fudgy crumbs on it. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then cut into bars or small squares. Either eat warm, or allow to cool. These will keep well in the fridge for up to 6 days.
I have all the things for this! 🙂
Great recipe. I used the Trader Joe’s aolnmd meal (which was suggested in an earlier post) and the raspberries looked nasty at our market, so I used strawberries.I made this along with the Pecan Apple pie and and they were both hits. It was so good, I’m going to make this again soon, because I have leftover aolnmd meal, but I’m not going to make it Pareve. I think regular milk and butter will round it out a bit more.I so look forward to your weekly emails! I’m going to try your Smoked Papriks Chicken soon!