Gluten Free Chocolate Brownies

Posted on July 17, 2018 by teesnutrition

These brownies are definitely a favourite with my friends and family!! Also a bonus that my sister can enjoy them as well 🙂 Not one of my most nutritious recipes but I’m all about balance and these brownies are so delicious, perfect with a cuppa tea!

Ingredients (makes roughly 15)

375g butter

300g milk/dark cooking chocolate

120g cocoa powder

100g gluten free self raising flour (I use doves)

500g caster sugar

6 eggs

Method

Preheat your oven to 180°C and get your baking tin ready, I used a 30cm x 20cm tin and lined it with baking parchment.
In a heatproof bowl over some simmering water or in the microwave, melt the butter and chocolate and mix until smooth.
In a separate bowl, sift the cocoa powder and flour. Add the sugar and mix together.
In another bowl, whisk the eggs.
Add the melted butter/chocolate mix and the eggs to the flour mix. Mix altogether until you have a smooth, silky consistency.
Pour the mix into your baking tray and place in the oven. Check after 30 minutes, at this point the brownies are starting to brown well on top but still have a wobbly centre. Put back in for another 15 – 30 minutes (a total of approx 45 – 60 minutes bake time).
You want the brownies to be slightly gooey and moist in the middle so if you skewer them, it’s not going to come out clean. As long as there is a slight spring on the outside once you take them out of the oven, this will be fine.
Allow to cool on a tray and cut into delicious brownie squares 😀

Enjoy,

Tee. X

Creme Egg Brownies

Posted on March 27, 2016 by teesnutrition

I’m such a chocoholic so Easter is definitely one of my favourite times of the year because of that! Creme eggs aren’t out and about for that long so I just had to make these brownies! These brownies are to die for, rich in chocolate and so moist, it’s hard not to eat the whole batch! I sneaked in a few nutritious ingredients to try balance the recipe out as best I could but they’re still pretty lethal with those creme eggs in there 😀 80/20 😉

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Ingredients

185g dark chocolate

185g coconut oil/butter (I used a combo of half coconut oil/half butter)

85g plain spelt flour

40g cacao powder

3 eggs

275g coconut sugar

6 cadbury creme eggs

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Melt the coconut oil/butter and chocolate together in a bowl over a pan of simmering water. Once melted, leave to cool slightly.
Whisk your eggs and sugar together using an electric mixer until well combined.
Add the chocolate mixture into your eggs and sugar.
Sift in the flour and cacao powder and fold everything together gently.
Pour everything into your brownie tray and cook for about 20 minutes.
While that’s cooking, cut your creme eggs in half. This can be tricky without making a mess 😛
After 20 minutes, take out your brownies. Place your eggs on top of the half cooked brownies and gently press down. I fitted 3 across each row.
Bake for a further 10 minutes or until cooked through.
Once cooked, leave to cool for a while before cutting.

Enjoy 🙂 Try not to each the whole batch at once 😉

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Happy Easter ♥

Tee.X

Donal Skehan’s Raspberry Almond Muffins & Red Velvet Beetroot Chocolate Muffins

Posted on February 8, 2016 by teesnutrition

Made both these recipes at the weekend for a fundraiser coffee morning. The original recipes are both from Donal Skehan’s cookbook ‘Fresh’ but I changed them around a bit using a few different ingredients 🙂

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Raspberry and Almond Muffins

Ingredients

150g coconut oil, melted

125g coconut sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

150g buckwheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

50g ground almonds

100ml almond milk

250g raspberries

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
Beat the coconut oil and sugar together in a large bowl until combined. Add the eggs and continue whisking again until well combined. Stir through the vanilla extract.
Sift in the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and then fold through. Fold in the ground almonds and almond milk. Finally, gently fold in the raspberries until evenly dispersed.
Divide the mixture between the muffin cases, filling each one about two-thirds full. Bake for 20 minutes-25 minutes, or until golden brown and a thin metal skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.
Leave to cool slightly on a wire rack.

Red Velvet Beetroot Chocolate Muffins

Ingredients

100g dark chocolate, melted

200g cooked beetroot

110g coconut sugar

110g coconut oil, melted

2 large eggs

175g buckwheat flour

1 tsp baking powder

50ml almond milk

(For the chocolate frosting, if you want to be very good you can leave this out 😛 )

100g butter, room temperature

100g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbsp boiling water

50g cacao powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper cases.
Purée the cooked beetroot until smooth using a hand-held stick blender and then add in the melted chocolate.
Beat the coconut oil and sugar together in a bowl, using a hand-held electric mixer. Whisk in the eggs until well combined. Mix in the flour, baking powder and milk and finally fold in the chocolate and beetroot mixture.
Divide the muffin mixture between the paper cases, filling each about two-thirds full, and bake for 20-25 minutes until a thin metal skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Allow the muffins to cool.
For the frosting; beat all the ingredients together until you have a thick paste. Once the muffins have cooled, spread the frosting on top of the muffins using a small palette knife.

Enjoy 🙂

Tee.X

Raw Chocolate & Caramel Squares

Posted on January 6, 2016 by teesnutrition

I have the biggest sweet tooth and chocolate is definitely one of my weaknesses! So as you can imagine Christmas was a bit indulgent with all the sweets and chocolates around!

Even though I’m so sad Christmas is all over with now, I love the feeling of getting back into my normal eating routine which is filled with lots of nutritious foods! My sweet tooth is never going to go away though so I always try to make sure I have some healthy treat lying around so that I don’t go for the bad stuff!

I love these raw chocolate and caramel squares because they are the perfect treat after all the Christmassy indulgences and are guilt free too! Definitely worth a try and they’re so easy to make too – no cooking required 🙂

Ingredients

First Layer:

20 medjool dates, pitted

5 tbsp coconut flour

1/4 cup water (more if needed)

Second Layer:

20 medjool dates, pitted and soaked

1 tbsp cacao butter, melted

Third Layer:

100g dark chocolate, melted (the darker the better)

Method

Start with the first layer. Blend dates in a food processor until you have a big and sticky ball. Break the ball up slightly before adding in the coconut flour and mix again until you have a powder consistency. Add water gradually until it starts to look like a crumble. Remove and place in a square glass container (mine was 20cm x 15cm). Spread with the back of a spoon until you have a nice flat layer. Freeze.
Next is the second layer. Using the same food processor (no need to clean it out), blend the soaked dates and melted cacao butter. Slowly add in the water used to soak the dates until you have a smooth and creamy consistency, be careful when adding the water, you don’t want it to be too liquid, should be thick and creamy. Spread over the first layer and freeze again while you prepare your melted chocolate.
Once your chocolate is melted, spread over the caramel layer and freeze again for 5 minutes until the chocolate has hardened.
Top with some of the leftover first layer if you have some. Slice into squares…

…and enjoy 🙂

Yummy! 😀

Tee.X

Healthy Rice Krispie Buns

Posted on June 29, 2015 by teesnutrition

These look like rice krispie buns don’t they…

But.. They’re not 😉

Instead of using rice krispies I followed one of Deliciously Ella’s recipes from her cookbook and made these really delicious Quinoa and Cacao Crispy Treats! The main ingredient used in this recipe instead of using rice krispies are Quinoa Pops…

Quinoa is one of my favourite foods because it’s so nutritious and I love adding it to everything and anything so you can imagine how excited I was when I found this recipe 😀 I used love making rice krispie buns when I was younger for any parties that were going on and I know to this day that rice krispie buns are a staple food party piece at most children’s parties which is why I really want to share this recipe with you all because these quinoa and cacoa crispy treats are just as fun to make as your normal rice krispie buns but they have the added bonus of being super nutritious 😀

Anyway enough chatter.. here is the recipe from Deliciously Ella’s (http://deliciouslyella.com/) cookbook which I would highly recommend purchasing!

Quinoa and Cacao Crispy Treats ~

Ingredients

1 and a 1/2 cups (60g) of quinoa pops (I was able to buy these in Cornucopia, the health food shop in Macroom)
1/3 of a cup of raw cacao powder (80g)
6 tbsp of pure maple syrup/honey
5 tbsp of coconut oil
2 tbsp of almond butter (or preferred nut butter)
cupcake cases

Method

Place the coconut oil, cacao powder, maple syrup/honey and almond butter into a saucepan and gently heat it for a few minutes until it’s melted.
Next, pour in the quinoa pops and stir it all together until all the quinoa pops have been covered in chocolate.
Scoop the mixture out into the cupcake cases and place in a fridge/freezer for approx. 20 minutes or until the chocolate has set.

Enjoy 🙂

Tee. X

Guilt Free Carrot Cake

Posted on May 2, 2015 by teesnutrition

I love carrot cake but I especially love this one knowing that it is guilt free and healthy 😀

Ingredients

Cake

2 cups oat flour (blend/process 2 cups of porridge oats until it is flour like)
1 tbsp + 1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp allspice
5 large egg whites
1 + 1/2 carrots grated
1/2 cup agave syrup/honey/maple syrup

Frosting

1 cup low-fat cottage cheese
1/2 cup greek yoghurt (I used FAGE)
1 + 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 + 1/2 tsp agave syrup/honey/maple syrup
walnuts, chopped (optional)

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C.
Line a loaf tin with baking parchment/grease proof paper.
In a large mixing bowl combine all the cake dry ingredients and mix well. Grate the carrots into this bowl.
In another bowl, combine the cake wet ingredients and stir well. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well.
Pour the batter into your prepared tin, smooth out the top with a spoon and bake for 30-35 minutes or until the middle of the cake is firm (knife comes out clean). Remove from the oven and allow to cool on a cooling rack.
While the cake is cooling combine all the frosting ingredients in a blender and process down until it is nice and smooth and you can no longer see the cottage cheese chunks.
Pour onto the cooled cake, smooth out with a spatula and sprinkle with toppings of choice (I used chopped up walnuts). Refrigerate overnight or for 1-2 hours to allow the frosting to set.

Enjoy 🙂

Tee X

An Oreolicious Cake – Nutfree and Vegan!

Posted on December 31, 2014 by teesnutrition

Not the healthiest of my recipes as the lovely oreos aren’t the healthiest of ingredients but the remaining ingredients are so it’s as bad as a healthy recipe is gonna get and since it is the final day of the year, let’s just call it a treat 🙂 Nutfree and Vegan so perfect for any dairy free lovers!

Ingredients

For the Crust:

1 pack of oreos crushed
5 dates
1/3 cup agave syrup or honey
Drop of water

For the Filling and Topping:

1 1/2 cup coconut milk
4 oz dark chocolate pieces
1 pack of oreos

Method

Mix the dates in a food processor.
Carefully add the oreos and continue mixing. It’s ok if there are bits of oreos left in the dough.
Add the agave syrup/honey and a drop of water and mix it with a spoon.
Place everything in a small round tin.
For the filling, heat the coconut milk and dark chocolate pieces in a pan.
Pour the mixture over the bottom.
Freeze the whole cake for about an hour.
Check the cake after the hour, before it is fully set, stick some oreos into the cake standing up and crush the remaining oreos and sprinkle over the top.
Put it back in the freezer to fully set.

Slice up and enjoy 🙂

Tee x

Flourless Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Posted on November 14, 2014 by teesnutrition

I found this recipe on instagram during the week and was so excited to make them! However, one of the main ingredients in the original recipe was black beans which I failed to come across in Tesco yesterday so I compromised and bought a can of red kidney beans instead (my friend thought I was crazy!).

Today, just before going ahead with making these brownies, I stared at the can of red kidney beans because I wasn’t sure if I should chance it or not seeing as the recipe had black beans so I put the can back in the cupboard. A few minutes later I came back and decided to give it a go because how bad could they turn out right?

This recipe was very easy to make, literally threw everything in the food processor, not giving the measurements much attention as I was so afraid of how they would turn out. Once all the ingredients were processed, things started to look good.. Into the oven and about 20 minutes later I decided to take them out. After letting the brownies cool for a while, I cut them up into squares and had my first taste…

And GUESS WHAT?! They tasted GREAT! Extremely moist and melt-in-the-mouth delicious! I even tricked my sister into trying one (my toughest critic) and without telling her that there was red kidney beans in the recipe, she tried one and after a while I asked her what she thought and she was convinced they were just like normal brownies… *victory dance* 🙂

These brownies are really so healthy. They are a great source of plant protein, fibre, iron, potassium, magnesium, folate and antioxidants! They’re a great recipe for anyone that is gluten-free, dairy-free or vegan as the oats and chocolate can be adjusted to your needs.

I’m so excited about this recipe and so excited for you all to try it so here it is:

Ingredients

1 15-oz can (Net weight 400g/Drained weight 240g) of black beans/ red-kidney beans (drained and rinsed very well)
3 tbsp cocoa powder/herbalife chocolate formula 1
1/2 cup oats
1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup agave syrup/honey/maple syrup
1/4 cup coconut oil
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp baking powder
200g of chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C.

2. Combine all the ingredients except for the chocolate chips in a food processor, and blend until completely smooth, so blend really well.

3. Stir in 3/4 of the chocolate chips, then pour into a greased 8×8 pan (I used grease proof paper for lining the pan).

4. Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top.

5. Cook the brownies in the oven for 20-25 minutes but keep an eye on them because temperatures of ovens differ.

6. Then let cool for at least 10 minutes before trying to cut them into squares.

7. Makes between 9-12 brownies.

These brownies were perfect warm after coming out of the oven so if you want them later on, heating them up slightly will probably enhance their taste.

Would make a great dessert warm served with some chocolate and toasted almond nobó ice-cream (Going to try this later!)

Also if anyone tries this recipe with the black beans before I do, I would love to know how they turn out 🙂

Enjoy 🙂

Tee x