Gluten Free Cherry, Walnut and Chocolate Chia Brownies
Easy
Prep 15 min Cook 20 min
Oh Tanya Hubbard from “Gluten, Grain and Nut Free” you have saved my life! I interviewed Tanya on my 4BC radio show “Fresh on Sunday”, and she was chatting about this brownie recipe she had brought in baked as a cake. I made these Gluten Free Cherry, Walnut and Chocolate Chia Brownies adapted from her recipe.
I was lucky enough to try the cake myself and from that moment I was blown away. I must have asked her on air about three times for the recipe, she relayed it to me and now this is my quick go to “I need a chocolate fix but still want to love and give nutrition to my body “ brownie, and believe me I have served this up to a lot of people and they have all loved it not knowing what was in it.
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons chia seeds, soaked in 1 cup of water for 15 minutes.
- ½ cup cocoa
- ½ cup macadamia oil, sunflower, peanut or light olive oil
- 5 medium eggs
- 1 cup (175g) almond meal
- 3/4 cups of rapadura sugar, coconut sugar, brown sugar or 3/4 cup of honey
- good pinch salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
- 1 cup chopped dried cherries/ white chocolate/dried figs or any other filling
- 1 cup chopped Walnuts
Recipe Steps
Preheat oven to 180C.
Line a 21 x 30cm tray with baking paper
Soak the chia seeds in 1 cup of water for 15-20 minutes, giving them a really good stir making sure that you have them all combined. Chia seeds when mixed with water start to form a sort of gel and expand making them the perfect addition to cakes and other foods giving moisture and texture.
Combine all the dry ingredients together including the nuts and fruits that you may be adding. Whisk together the eggs with the chia seeds and then mix this into the almond meal and the cocoa until a smooth batter. Pour the mix into the tray and bake for about 20 minutes until the brownie bounces back when touched in the middle.
Allow the brownie to cool for about 10 minutes before slicing and serving and dusting with icing sugar or your favourite chocolate topping. If you are wanting to make a cake then cook the mixture for about 30 – 35 minutes after pouring into a standard round cake tin.