Vegan Black Cherry Chocolate Brownies

These Vegan Black Cherry Chocolate brownies are the perfect treat this holiday season as they are a healthy vegan alternative to traditional brownies. They are naturally sweetened with dates as dates contain their own natural sugars. Therefore, they are a healthier alternative to sugar and are loaded with fiber, antioxidants and nutrients. They are also gluten-free as almond flour was used as the flour base. The brownies are 100% vegan friendly as chia seeds were used as an egg substitute alongside the vegan dark chocolate.

Ingredients

• 100 g Medjool dates, pitted and roughly chopped
• 2 ½ teaspoons of bicarbonate of soda
• 60 ml of boiling water
• 80 ml of coconut oil, melted
• 2 Tablespoons of chia seed egg mixture*
• 45 ml Maple syrup
• 5 ml vanilla extract
• 100 g almond flour
• 40 g rye flour
• 30 g cocoa powder
• 1 ¼ teaspoon of baking powder
• a pinch of salt
• 100 g 70% vegan dark chocolate, roughly chopped
• 250 g Cherries (Pitted)

Chia seed egg mixture*

To create the Chia seed eggs soak two tablespoons of chia seeds in 4 tablespoons of water. Allow to sit for at least an hour. Take this mixture and place it in a food processor and blend until a thick egg-like texture appears. use this mixture as an egg substitute. 1 Tablespoon = 1 egg.

Method

Preheat your oven to 180 °C. Then prepare your 20-cm square baking dish by greasing it and lining it with baking paper. Place the dates and bicarbonate of soda in a dish and cover it with the boiling water. Set this aside for about 15 minutes until softened. Once softened place the dates along with the liquid and bicarbonate soda into a food processor with the coconut oil, maple syrup and vanilla. Then blend the mixture until smooth. Once this is all blended and smooth add the chia seed mixture and blend until just incorporated.

Sift together all of the dry ingredients. Add the date purée into the dry ingredients and mix to combine. If your mixture is too dry add a tiny bit of water to combine it all. Then lastly Fold through the chocolate and cherries.
Spoon the batter into the tin and smooth over. Bake for about 23–25 minutes,

Cool in the tin before cutting into squares. Serve at room temperature and decorate with some whole cherries and cocoa dust.

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