Deliciously moist and not that naughty…I promise!
These little beauties are a Zobird’s twist based on a post on my new favourite blog Yammie’s Noshery! Her nblog is amazing…mostly because she does lots of naughty treats, totally indulgent and off-the-calorific-scale! Something I hugely approve of! Yet she posted this up recently and I thought ‘Why not?!’ Tiki G is a firm believer that vegetables shoudl not be in cake and as a result has a total aversion to carrot cake…much to my dismay! However I was determined to sneak some some manner of vegetable in to cake and prove him wrong. My school buddy Nicola has been declaring her love for courgette based edibles for a while so this seemed the perfect opportunity to give it a whirl.Obviously this recipe is based on Yammie’s but I’ve added a few twists and made my own apple sauce to start just to make it as low in sugar content as I could. If you choose to make these delicious delights with both nuts and frosting, you’re looking at about 120cals per brownie…and they’re pretty big – this tray makes 15 and I was surprised at the proportion you got for cal-count!
Give them a go, I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised!
A surprisingly chocolatey delight!
Apple Sauce Ingredients
- 2 apples
- 2tbsp sugar
- 100ml water
- 1 cinnamon stick or 1/2tsp cinnamon powder
Brownie Ingredients
- 2 cups courgette-grated
- the above made apple sauce
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup light soft brown sugar
- 2/3rds cup of wholemeal flour
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- 2tsp vanilla essence
- 2tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 1 and 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 50g mixed nuts
- Frosting made from 60g dark chocolate and 1 and 1/2tbsp smooth peanut butter
Method
Speedy low-sugar apple sauce is easy…get 2 apples, peel, core, slice and chunk in to pieces
Pop in to a saucepan with 100ml water and some cinnamon sticks (you could use1/2tsp of cinnamon powder)
Boil up and simmer. After 10mins mash the apples, then add 2tbsp of sugar…allow to simmer for 5mins more and then allow to cool
Now for the veg! – Grate a large courgette – equivalent of 2cups of grated courgette
Now you should also pre-heat your oven to 160degrees and prepare a brownie tin or baking tray by greasing it with margarine – I used a 9x12inch tin
Measure out your sugar, vanilla essence and add to the courgette and eggs – stir until fully combined – stir through the cooled apple sauce and set aside!
In another large bowl mix together your flour, cocoa, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda. Add the wet courgette ingredients to the dry and stir thoroughly
If you have chosen to include mixed-nuts for depth of flavour, chop these in to chunks
Add the chopped nuts and stir again until evenly distributed
Spread out in to the greased baking tray and level the top
Bake at 160degrees for 35mins – a skewer should be inserted to check but be aware that these are very moist , so you are looking for a clean moist end of the skewer with no gunky mix on it!
Leave to cool in the tin for 30mins and then turn out on to a cooling rack
Meanwhile melt some chocolate in a glass bowl over simmering water.
When the chocolate is melted add your 1 and 1/2tbsp of smooth peanut butter and stir.
Once it’s fully combined, remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly
Once the brownie is cool smooth the frosting over the top evenly…it won’t be too runny and should hold it’s shape but will gradually set as it fully cools!
If you want to be naughty and like pretty brownies (which I always do!) then sprinkle with a choc based topping…be careful though, I added mine too soon and some melted in to the frosting a bit as it was still warm!!
Stand back and admire your awesomely moist, chocolatey and low-sugar sweet treat!!
These brownies got a great reaction at work, mostly it was surprise at how good they taste despite the lack of butter and oil and the reduced sugar content. Why not give them a try and see for yourself…Plus seen as they are reduced in calorific content surely that means you can consume double the amount…right?!!
Happy Baking
ZoBird xx