For all the excellent speakers and interesting talks at Podcamp in Kilkenny, I think few would disagree that among the biggest hits of the day were Deborah’s Chocolate Brownies, a huge pile of which disappeared with indecent haste!

Though they definitely are not low carb, I ate one (oh ok, two!) and all I can say is yum, yum, yum.

It sent me back to a recipe that resulted from a task that absorbed me off and on for months: to make a successful low-carb brownie. Not a pale imitation of what a brownie should be, but the real deal -succulent, rich, deep and luxurious.

It took a little experimentation, and a couple of almost inedible results, but these ones totally hit the spot. And they contain absolutely no flour or sugar.

This is what you need:

• 100g ground almonds
• 100g Linwoods milled Flaxseed, Sunflower and Pumpkin seeds *
• 10g Splenda
• 20g unsweetened cocoa powder (Green & Black is best, Bournville will do)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bread soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 80 mls cream
• 40g dark chocolate (ie. 4 squares Lidl Ecuador or Fair Trade dark chocolate)
• 1/4 lb butter, cut into dice
• 3 eggs

* The milled seeds are essential – I tried several versions using just ground almonds as the ‘flour’ and they were not good. The seeds are available in most supermarkets but are usually cheaper if you buy them in a health food store.

Mix all the dry ingredients (down to the salt) together.

Put the cream into a bowl with the chcolate and warm in a microwave for about 20-30 seconds. The chocolate should then dissolve into the cream with a little stirring. Add the butter to this and stir until the butter is soft, it doesn’t need to be completely melted.

Beat the chocolate mix into the dry ingredients. Beat in the eggs one at a time. You’ll end up with a slightly granular mixture.

I use this octagonal silicon tray which is 9″ in diameter for these, but any baking tray of about that size will do – the bigger the tray the thinner the brownie. I like ‘em deep as the picture shows!

Bake at 180° for about 30 mins – the centre will set but yeilding to the touch when they’re done.

The icing is sort of optional, but to my mind if you are going to be self-indulgent, don’t half do it! For it you will need:

• 40g dark chocolate (as above)
• 2 tablespoons cream
• About half an ounce of butter
• 125g Mascarpone cheese
• 1 dessertspoon Splenda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or real vanilla)

Melt the chocolate into the cream in the microwave to the point where there are still a few lumps in it. Stir to melt these. Add the butter and stir to melt. Beat the chocolate mixture and the splenda and vanilla into the mascarpone. Spread over the brownies in the tray when they have reached the point of being just warm.

The icing will take an hour or two to set, so leave the brownies uncut in their tray for this time.

This makes about 16 large or about 20 smaller brownies, depending on how you cut them.

For those interested in such things, they come out at just a little more than 2g net carbs per brownie – not bad for such a luxury and well under 10%, perhaps as little as 5%, of what’s in a ‘normal’ brownie of the same size. You can get them down to 1.5g if you use Lindt or Green & Black 85% chocolate. There is a tremendous amount of fat in them as you can see, so if low fat is your concern, these are a big no-no.

They are however horrendously expensive to make, no getting away from it. Compared to using flour, almond and milled seeds cost a LOT. Getting the chocolate, mascarpone and cream in Lidl helps, but doesn’t make them a bargain by a long shot.

Still, life isn’t ALL about bargains!

Tags: Brownies, Chocolate, Treats

Posted on Friday, October 10th, 2008 at 6:09 pm in Chocolate, Low carb, Recipes
Subscribe | Comment | Trackback