Raw Chocolate Brownies

A few weeks ago my sister in law came over with some "raw brownie" which she had made. I was a bit sceptical that something which had no butter, sugar, flour or chocolate, and with a "frosting" made almost entirely of avocado, could even vaguely resemble a brownie. I sampled it none the less, and was surprised at both the taste and the texture. It tasted chocolatey, it was moist, the frosting was soft and tasty and it left a nutty taste in my mouth, all assets of a good brownie. It didn't taste conventional but it certainly did give me a brownie fix.

I didn't think much more about it until I stumbled acrossed Teresa Cutter's website, The Healthy Chef, a few days ago and read about many more "raw" ingredients and recipes. She has a Chocolate Fudge Brownie recipe which I gave a shot today. Making this brownie, which involves processing nuts and dates together, has re-enforced the need for a food processor in my kitchen. The processor attachment to my stick blender, which comes in useful for occasional processing, doesn't quite cut it for recipes like this. I was also unable to add the frosting because I couldn't make the macadamia nut butter Teresa used on her brownies, without a decent food processor. I think that will be the next addition to my kitchen. An alternative to the macadamia nut butter can be made by blending the following in a food processor (this is what my sister in law made for hers):

1 avocado
40ml honey
30ml cocoa powder (raw if you like)
2 tsp vanilla extract
pinch salt
pinch cinnamon

I didn't have any avocado, so my brownies remained frosting-less.


The combination of walnuts, almonds, fresh dates, raw cacao and vanilla extract produced something unbelievably healthy and mighty tasty. The only part I didn't consider when using my homemade vanilla extract was the fact that this recipe is not cooked, therefore the vodka used for the extract has full potency. It's only 2 tbsp for about 12 pieces of brownie, but still more than I'm willing to let the littlies sample. If you want to make this for the kids, I'd recommend getting some imitation stuff from the supermarket.

Watch this space for some more raw recipes!