ZERO BADDIES Peanut Butter Brownies

The most decadent tasting, rich and chocolatey treat, with minimum amounts of guilt.

These taste as naughty as anything, but have zero refined sugar, dairy or wheat and I challenge you to only eat one...

It's impossible.

Pop a couple in your bag as an afternoon treat at work and you'll have a little buzz of energy for the rest of the avo.

Packed full of ooey gooey dates, sticky PB, dark chocolate and nuts.

I'll probably be making another batch on the weekend as they only take about 10 mins to make!

What you'll need //

50g cashew nuts
100g dark chocolate
100g destoned dates
50g coconut oil (melted)
50g good quality cocoa powder
3 tbsp peanut butter (I used Meridian cos they're good to the Orangutans'!)
2 tbsp honey

handful pistachios
sprinkle freeze dried raspberries (optional)

What to do//

Line a baking dish with greaseproof paper - approx 6x6in.

Place your cashews into a food mixer and blend into small pieces.

Chop up 50g of your dark chocolate into small pieces, (not all 100g of it!) and add this into the blender along with the dates, coconut oil, cocoa powder, PB and honey. Blend on a high setting. You may need to scrap down the sides and blend again.

Smush the mixture into your lined dish with the back of a spoon making it as flat as possible.

Leave to chill in the fridge whilst you melt the remaining 50g of dark chocolate in a bain marie, or gently in the microwave stirring every 20 seconds, (don't heat it on too high!) Drizzle over the top of the mixture.

Chop up some pistachios (I used about 25 - yes I did count them for you :) ) and sprinkle over the top along with your freeze dried raspberries.

Chill for as long as you can be bothered to wait.

Chop into small squares, (trust me you won't want much bigger than this as they're super decadently rich).

Bobs your uncle.

Fanny's your aunt.

Don't forget to check out my other scrummy 'Zero Baddies' recipes for more sin-free delights!

Let me know how yours turn out - it makes my day seeing y'all try out my recipes :)

Betty x

Ps, did you see my Courgette & Lime Cake post?

The Best Courgette and Lime Cake!

Forget chocolate, forget peanut butter, close your eyes, imagine it's the summer and bake one of these fresh tasting, colourful courgette and lime cakes. 

Although maybe open your eyes to bake it....you don't want to burn yourself.

With little bursts of pomegranate and the zingy taste of lime, my taste buds were a-tingling with every slice I ate and I can hand on heart say, this was my favourite cake I ever did bake! (William and my lovely flatmate agreed too).

Cream cheese frosting is my favourite thing on the planet, and adding in the extra element of zesty lime lifts it to that extra level of scrum. The courgette element of the sponge makes it incredibly light and moist and could I get away with saying it's healthy....? 

Two of your five a day? ..... Courgette and lime....?

Let's go with yes and agree to do 10 extra star jumps before eating it. 

What you'll need//

250g caster sugar

200ml sunflower oil

4 eggs

couple drops vanilla extract

250g courgette (coarsely grated)

zest of 1 lime

juice of half a lime

250g self raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

half tsp of ground ginger

x1 tea towel

50g unsalted butter

100g cream cheese

2 tsp lime juice

200g icing sugar

couple drops vanilla extract

handful of pomegranate pips

handful of pistachios

What to do//

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C (fan) and line an 8 inch cake tin with greaseproof paper. 

Coarsely grate your courgette into a tea towel and squeeze as much water out of it as you possibly can. 

In a large bowl, whisk together your eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla, lime zest, lime juice and grated courgette.

Into the wet mixture, sift the flour, baking powder and ground ginger and mix until the flour is gone. Don't over mix.

Pour mixture into the lined tin and bake for 45 mins or until a knife comes out clean.

Leave to cool on wire rack.

For the frosting//

With an electric hand mixer, mix the butter for a couple of minutes, add the cream cheese and whisk for a further 2 minutes. 

Add the icing sugar 100g at a time, lime juice and vanilla and mix until you're happy with the consistency. If it's too thick add more lime juice, if too thin add more icing sugar.

Frost the cake when it's completely cooled and sprinkle on some chopped pistachios and pomegranate pips and grate over a little more lime zest.

Enjoy the refreshing taste!

Let me know how yours turn out in the comments below. I can't wait to bake another one!

Betty x

Ps, are we instabuddies? Come say hi!