Fig and chocolate brownies

The airy soft, moist brownies get their natural sweetness from the banana, the deep flavour from dark chocolate and cocoa powder, and little bites of almond and figs.

In this dessert I was trying to give a healthy kick to traditional brownies. Brownies are normally made with a considerable amount of refined sugar giving them intense sweetness and a sticky moist bite. Banana proved to be a perfect substitute for the big quantity of sugar in the recipe and, while their sweetness lingers making the cake delicate and moist, its taste is not overpowering due to the loads of dark chocolate in the dough. The brownies turned out so good no one would be able to tell that you did not use any sugar or flour when making.

Sometimes you really just want to enjoy the natural sweetness of fruits and treat your body with something comforting and delicious that leaves you content, with the feeling that you did something good to your body.

Use the ripest bananas for the best results, or if your bananas are not quite soft yet see my advice on Simple banana-oat cookies how to get them ready in 10 minutes. The few minutes of baking can really make a difference. The sweetness is just perfect, not overpowering and complimenting the deep taste of the dark chocolate.

Ingredients:

• 150 g dark chocolate (63%)
• 125 g coconut oil
• 100 g dried figs
• 30 g grated almond (or blitz almonds in a blender for a few seconds to get a fine texture)
• 40 g oat flour (or blitz rolled oats in a blender for  20 seconds, use gluten free if intolerant)
• 25 g cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large (over)ripe babanas (200g)
• 2 large eggs
• 50 g chopped almonds

Pre heat oven to 170 degrees.

Melt the chocolate and coconut oil in a bowl over simmering hot water until combined and let it cool to room temperature. Slice figs and tip in a small bowl. Pour some hot water over it and let it soak for a few minutes. In a small bowl mix grated almond, oat flour and shift in cocoa and add baking powder then set aside. Drain the figs but keep soaking water to use for overnight oats or smoothies.

Mash the bananas in a separate bowl, add eggs and with a hand mixer beat until it gets pale and fluffy (about 5 minutes on high speed) then carefully fold in the chocolate and the flour mixture and half of the figs and chopped almonds. Be gentle, try not to knock too much air out. Line a small baking tray (27x17cm) with greaseproof paper and pour in mixture. Sprinkle with the rest of the figs and almonds and bake for about 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean from the middle. It is best when served warm or at room temperature, but you can keep covered it in the fridge for 3-4 days.

Ps:

Try substituting the almonds with walnuts and the figs to dates, it is also delicious!