A raw brownie… so good!

Version française disponible ici !

You’ve probably noticed it, I’ve started to cook vegan a bit (cf. the last recipe!). And I really like it! What a pleasure to delight ourself with healthy food :) But it won’t stop me from proposing you some “classical” recipes, I’m not ready to give them up.

Riding this new wave (“new” for me) makes me think of a recipe (in English for once!) that I had noticed a while ago and which was at the bottom of my to do list. This time, I would say that vegetal step is exceeded, because this is a raw recipe. As it was actually the case for the “Smooth avocado chocolate cream” I’ve recently presented to you.

Raw is synonymous with vitamins to me. Not cooking will preserve nutriments / vitamins / minerals from ingredients and it will be more beneficial to your body! This type of cuisine is admittedly not easy to make in the everyday life but punctuate our diet with some small “raw” touches is easy and I’m going to share with you my first steps on this way :)

So today, I propose you something good, sweet and strong! A raw cacao brownie. Really easy to make – without cooking so – without egg / butter / sugar / flour, here is a dessert you will eat without scruple. :)

• 1 cup walnuts (or about 100g)
• 1 ¼ cup pitted dates (or about 160g)
• ½ cup cacao raw if possible then! (or about 50g)
• A pinch of salt

Start by finely grinding the walnuts.

Add cacao and salt, blend.

Add dates, little by little to not traumatize your blender ^^, while blending your mixture.

When you get a “crumble” texture, pour the mixture into your pan and press it with a tablespoon. Wrap it with some plastic wrap in contact with the cake and keep aside in your fridge to harden (you can put it in your freezer for a short time if you’re in a hurry ;).

Not really lovely those photos, but I promise, it’s good!

TIPS AND TRICKS

As you can see, I haven’t put whole walnuts in my cake (you can find almonds in Sarah Britton’s recipe). I don’t really like their taste actually and at all their ‘soft-hard-weird’ texture. But think about it if you like them! It could just be better :)

And some small date lumps not blended can be found when you eat this cake (in my case at least), very good!

Ensure that you’re using a good sized pan (a silicone pan would be perfect, it’s easier to remove the cake) to get a brownie high enough. I used a classic cake pan for this quantity of ingredients, but I will use a smaller one next time!

For a smoother brownie, you can maybe add some dates :)

The nutritional info of the day ...

… some dates to get dietary fibers!

It’s advised to eat between 25 and 30g of fibers each day, including 10 to 15g of soluble fibers. Insoluble fibers help bowels move quickly and soluble fibers can reduce risk of cardiac diseases by regulating cholesterol and glucose levels in our body.

Some more numbers: 3 dates (or about 25g) give 2g fibers, that means between 6 and 8% of the daily advised quantity.

Walnuts are rich in fibers too. But their main strength is their omega-3 fatty acid content. Globally, walnut contains the perfect distribution of omega-3 / omega-6 fatty acid (which is about 1 per 5), two polyunsaturated fatty acids necessary to our body which is not able to produce them. Those attributes make walnuts a strong ally to reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) and consequently, into protection against heart diseases.

Walnuts also contain lots of other good things but we can talk about that later ;)

SERVING SUGGESTIONS

At the first mouthful, I thought: “F*** I think I’m going to be the only one to eat this dessert” (not that it would bother me you know ^^). A very very strong cacao taste, I was sure it would have been too much for Mister. But no, I was wrong, he ate his portion … and even took some more!

To accompany with some nice strawberries or a fresh fruit salad for example.

You just have to enjoy it now :)

Rose.