Tag Archive for: uncooking

5 Ingredient Chocolate Brownie Recipe (No Baking Required)

This is my new favourite thing to make. Aside from the fact that it tastes amazing, it is also super simple to assemble.

Now I love a cooked brownie, when the edges are crispy and the middle is molten, but there’s a bit of an art to it. Knowing your oven well and being super accurate with timings is the only way to catch the brownie in that tiny window between still-raw-and-gloopy-and-dissintegrates-upon-touch and overcooked-and-crunchy-and-dry-all-the-way-through. There’s also a lot more mess generated, and washing-up, with cooked brownies, and you need more time. Luckily, his cousin, the raw brownie, means none of this to worry about!

With this brownie, there’s no cooking. Hurrah! You can’t over- or under-cook it, and you don’t have to wait ages for it to be ready. Also, you only need 4 ingredients (plus salt). How awesome is that?! The other great thing is you can make this in small batches rather than having to make a tray full. If you’re greedy like me and can eat 24 brownies in 24 hours, this is a great way to exercise some restraint – just make less!

I also imagine that these would keep much longer than normal brownies which dry out over time, but I’ve not been able to resist eating them long enough to find out. They will definitely keep for a week in the fridge or freezer in an airtight container, and I can’t see any reason why they wouldn’t last longer if you have more willpower than me.

This recipe makes enough for 6 pieces. You will need a food processor or high powered blender.

Ingredients

100g walnuts (approx 1 cup)
60g macadamias (a very full half cup)
10 medjool dates, stones removed
1/2 cup cacao powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (recommended but optional)

Method

Grind the walnuts and salt into a flour. Add the cacao and mix well. Blend the dates in a few at a time until the mixture has formed small crumbs.

Roughly chop the macadamias by hand. Stir into the mix.

Line a container with baking paper. Tip the mix into the container and press down firmly. Place in the freezer before cutting into pieces (it will cut into pieces better if it is cold).

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Store in the fridge or freezer.

You can eat straight from the freezer, or allow to warm to room temperature. I dust extra cacao powder on the top to serve but this is optional.

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Yum!

My weekend baking extravaganza

I set myself a challenge this weekend. I decided to try three new recipes of things that I’ve never made before. I love food and I love cooking (which if you read this blog you’ll probably have noticed) but I often feel like I’m making the same things over and over again. That’s partly true because I get a seasonal veg box delivered, and the contents don’t vary much week to week – especially in winter. I consider myself pretty good at knocking something nutritious and tasty up out of whatever is in the fridge and in the pantry, and I love making recipes up, but when I have the same ingredients I tend to make the same kinds of things.

I was feeling a bit stifled, creatively speaking. I don’t tend to use cookbooks and recipes much apart from special occasions, but I decided maybe this was what I needed to re-spark my culinary inspiration. I decided I’d find three recipes that looked great and that I’d never made before, go shopping for any new ingredients that weren’t already hanging about, and get baking.

I had such a fun time! It was great to make things with new ingredients, and follow other people’s recipes rather than tinkering for hours with my own. I used spelt flour for the first time, made raw vegan chocolate brownies and learned about wakame gomasio. It’s definitely re-sparked my creativity again; I’ve been thinking up new ideas and I’m already planning some variations and new recipes.

Here’s a mini showcase of my weekend (I’m so proud of my efforts I thought I’d take the opportunity to show off!):

rawpasty cookedpasty pasty rawbrowniejpg brownie2 brownie3 brownie4 bars2 slicej bars3 So I have a challenge for you. This weekend, make a recipe that you’ve never made before. Maybe something you’ve been meaning to make for a while. Maybe just flick through some cook books for inspiration. You’ve got a week to find a recipe and make sure you’ve got all the ingredients to hand. Good luck!

In addition to my renewed passion for cooking, the other great thing about the challenge was that I started my week with a fridge full of delicious things to eat. How awesome is that?!