I do love traditional baking with a vegan twist. Means most of the time I substitute non vegan ingredients for vegan ones and dont add extra funny ingredients that could be a) expensive and b) difficult to source. So I do use plain flour, white sugar, margarine….But with the lockdown in full swing, us staying at home more and gyms closed I feel we all would benefit from a healthier version of our favorite treats. I ve worked out a high protein low fat brownie recipe with healthier ingredients like courgette, buckwheat and coconut sugar. And it tastes like the real deal! Yum! (and if you dont have buckwheat flour and coconut sugar you can use oat flour and brown sugar!). Using buckwheat flour the brownie is glutenfree too. Buckwheat flour comes with almost 12g of protein in 100g and makes in combination with high protein "skyr like" soy yoghurt a great protein source. One large brownie has just as little as 160 calories - if you are counting calories. As a certified vegan nutritionist I am an absolute fan of this recipe!
Ingredients: ( for a large tray, making 15 large Brownies)
Batter:
- 250g buckwheat flour (or oat flour)
- 250g cacao powder
- 250g coconut sugar (or brown sugar)
- 250g soy joghurt ( the high protein "skyr" Version)
- 300g apple sauce/purree
- 400g finely grated courgette
- a pinch of salt
- 15g baking powder
- 3tsp vanilla essence (optional)
- a pinch of cinnamon
Topping:
- 200g dark chocolate
- almonds (optional, as decoration)
Method:
1. Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add all wet ingredients and the finely grated courgette and fold it using a spoon or spatula into a moist but not runny batter. ( I actually used my hand but that was messy)
3. Line a baking tray with baking parchment and preheat the oven on 180*Celsius.
4. Pour the batter on the tray and level it with a spoon.
5. Bake for 40minutes, take it out and leave it in the tray to cool.
6. Melt the dark chocolate using the "bain marie" method / a water bath.
7. Pour the molten chocolate over the brownies (they can still be warm) and sprinkle almonds on top or decorate as you like. Cut off the edges and then into 15 squares when the chocolate has set. You can freeze the Brownies too.