The Fit Life with Gauri Chopra: Healthy Chocolate Orange Brownies

As a food blogger constantly looking for new weird and wonderful recipes to experiment with, there are many things I make, and rarely revisit them unless requested to do so. This one however, is a definite exception! I've made these a couple of times now, and anyone who has tasted them would never guess what the main ingredient was, nor would they believe they were 100% healthy!

Previously I used chocolate protein powder for additional flavour. However I understood that this one ingredient would potentially put a lot of people off for various reasons. This time, I went for all natural ingredients that were easily accessible to anyone and everyone - and they turned out just as good, if not better! Apart from the great taste and amazing nutritional content of this brownie, that one factor definitely made it my favourite and best recipe to date!

This time I also decided to give it a slight Christmas twist by adding the sweet yet zesty flavour of clementines to this batch. As well as them being flourless, gluten-free, and unrefined sugar-free, they're naturally high in fiber, protein rich, and super nutrient dense! They'd make a perfect healthier (and definitely tastier) dessert alternative to serve to your guests than the traditional Christmas cake - totally guilt-free too! Plus, I can guarantee you no-one would ever guess that they weren't the real, unhealthy kind of brownies if you didn't tell them... An all round win win situation for you AND your guests I would say! ;)

Ingredients:

1 can drained and rinsed black beans (230g) - bet you wasn't expecting that one!

2 large free range eggs

50g (about 3 heaped tbsp) honey*

35g (about 3 tbsp) virgin organic coconut oil

15g (about 2.5 tbsp) Creative Nature Superfoods raw Cacao powder*

10g Xylitol (or can sub for more honey or alternative sweetener of choice)*

1 tsp natural vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder (can use gluten-free)

Zest and 2 tbsp of 1 clementine*

Optional: 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp all spice*

Pinch of sea salt

(*See below for possible substitutions)

1. Pre-heat fan oven to 180 degrees Celsius

2. Simply throw all of the ingredients together into a food processor and blend until a completely smooth consistency is reached. You may need to scrape the sides and/or blender in between.

3. Pour into a 6"6" baking tin lined with a little coconut oil on some grease-proof paper. Gently shake and tap the tin to make sure the batter reaches the corners and is spread evenly.

4. Place onto the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 18-20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean when poked through the middle.

5. When baked, turn out and allow to cool on a cooling rack before cutting into slices.

6. Dust with stevia and some more clementine zest to make it look all pretty!

Makes 16 bite sized brownies.

Macros per brownie:

66 kcal, 3.3g Fat, 7.3g Carb, 2.3g Protein, 1g Fiber

*Optional additions/substitutions:

Add some dark chocolate chips for an even richer decadent treat, or some dried fruit or crushed nuts of choice for some added texture! Walnuts and hazlenuts in particular work great with this recipe.

Feel free to sub the honey with an alternative liquid sweetener such as pure maple syrup or agave, and the cacao with cocoa if you do not own any (although cacao is a lot better and 10x more nutritious for various reasons!).