Tanya Burr's healthy chocolate brownies

I recently went to Whole Food Market in London and bought lots of healthy baking ingredients such as coconut sugar, coconut oil and coconut flour. There is a big hype about them in the world of healthy eating since they make great alternatives to the regular baking ingredients which are high in saturated fats.

So I was very excited last week when one of my favourite youtubers/bloggers, Tanya Burr, posted a recipe for her healthy, gluten free & dairy free brownies made with coconut sugar and oil - perfect opportunity to test my new ingredients! 

Ingredients

- 1/2 cup Coconut Oil
- 300g Dark Chocolate
- 2 cups Coconut Sugar 
- 1tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Ground Almonds
- 1 mashed Avocado
- 1 tsp Baking Powder
- 3 Eggs

 When I first looked at the ingredients Tanya used I was interested to see avocado on the list. Beetroot is commonly added to brownies and I often incorporate root vegetables into my baking, courgette cake is my favourite, but I was less familiar with the use of avocados in baking. While I was already aware of the health benefits of eating avocados, I hadn't thought about combining them with something sweet. They are often perceived to be 'bad' as they are high in fat however this is a large misconception as these fats are unsaturated and promote a healthy heart - not to mention being good for your skin! They are also highly nutritious, containing vitamin E, iron and potassium. 

I decided to do some research into the use of avocado in baking to see how it would change the composition of a bake. I found that avocados are a good substitution for butter as they have a similar soft, creamy texture when mashed and can therefore be substituted in a 1:1 ratio. Anyway, after that geeky baking lesson, let's get back to the baking! 

These brownies are so easy to make; all the ingredients are combined in one saucepan which makes the washing up easy, as this usually the only downside to baking!

Method:
1. Pre heat the oven to 190 degrees C. 
2. Melt the coconut oil and chocolate in a saucepan over a very low heat - do not overheat or the chocolate will burn.
3. Stir in the coconut sugar
4. Add the ground almonds and baking powder
5. Pour in the vanilla extract
6. Mash the avocado on a plate before adding to the mixture
7. Crack the eggs into a mug and lightly beat before adding to the mix
8. Pour the mixture into a greased brownie tin and bake for 30 minutes
9. Leave to cool before cutting brownie into pieces. 

These are the gooiest, yummiest brownies I have ever tasted and what's even better -they are guilt free! They taste just as good as any normal brownie but have a slight hint of coconut which I really like. I feel like I should add a warning here though, do not eat too many at once or you will feel sick. I learnt the hard way! 

I would definitely recommend these brownies to anyone so why don't you give them a go?

Hannah xx