Serves: Makes about 25
Just because these brownies happen to be gluten and dairy-free does not in any way make them more healthy-you only have to look at the sugar and chocolate content to see that. However if you are coeliac or lactose intolerant you can indulge without suffering. I’m not a great believer in substituting ingredients but people with bona fide food intolerances still need to eat delicious things. You will need to find dairy-free plain chocolate but good quality plain chocolate usually fits the bill. I used a mixture of chocolate with 70% and 85% cocoa solids because I had both in the cupboard but use whatever you have as long as it is at least 70%. As with most brownies, these squares benefit from a night in a cool place to firm up. If you can’t resist no matter-they will just be a little crumblier.
Ingredients
- 300g plain chocolate, 70-85% cocoa solids
- 5 tablespoons sunflower oil, plus extra for greasing
- 4 medium eggs
- 250g light brown muscovado sugar
- 70g gluten-free flour
- 50g ground almonds
Method
- Oil and base-line a 23cm square cake tin. Break up 250g of the chocolate and place in a microwaveable bowl with the oil. Microwave on high for 1 minute, stir to combine and continue to microwave in bursts of 30 seconds until the chocolate has melted. Set aside and cool a little.
- Heat the oven to 190˚c, fan oven 170˚c, mark 5. Place the eggs and sugar in a large bowl and beat with an electric whisk for 5-6 minutes until the mixture is thick and bulky. Carefully fold in the chocolate until thoroughly combined then fold in the flour and ground almonds. Roughly chop the remaining 50g chocolate and fold into the batter. Pour into the prepared tin and smooth to the edges. Bake for 18-20 minutes until just firm in the centre. Leave to cool completely before cutting into squares.