As most of you know, I am not so crazy about raw food – I am not against it but I am not also trying to eat everything raw. I actually saw the photo of these brownies on instagram one day and they looked so good that I had to try it. I googled the recipe, it is a recipe by Panaceas Pantry published on shesaid.com, and I wanted to do it right away. I even searched for the matching sweet dessert wine in local Alko shop. The brownies turned out incredibly delicious and sweet but looked much more different than the photo on the recipe. Mine turned out heavy avocado colour on the upper layer, but well, who cares, it was deadly delicious in any case.

 

It was the weekend of raw desserts – on Friday I made a semifreddo with figs and on Sunday I made this brownie. Friday morning I went to Alko shop close to Arkadiankatu with a short googled list of dessert wines that would be suitable for semifreddo and brownie (2 separate wines, as the two desserts have distinctively different tastes and ingredients). The sales woman in Alko shop was simply, INCREDIBLE. I think I got the best customer service ever in my 5-years in Helsinki. She explained everything in detail, giving me her own recommendations and telling me how to read the cards in the shop, and how to choose the suitable wine for future as well.

 

 

The wine she suggested for the brownie was M. Chapoutier Banyuls red wine. It was quite sweet but it created a good balance with the really sweet brownies.

 

 

 

The brownie is very easy to make, make sure you have a good blender or food processor. Once you have them, it is the easiest thing. You just need to give it a few hours to set in the freezer and for the flavours to develop. The original recipe calls for 1 hour in the freezer but I kept it 4 hours in the freezer before serving and they had really rich taste in the end.
Enjoy your raw brownies!

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Ingredients:

 

Difficulty: ★☆☆ (Easy)
(serves 8 people)

 

For brownie:
2 cups / 4.8 dl. raw pecans
1 1/2 cup / 3.6 dl. dates, soaked in warm water for 1 hour and then drained
1/2 tsp / 2.5 ml. Himalayan sea salt
2/3 cup / 1.6 dl. raw cacao powder
1/2 cup / 1.2 dl. coconut flour
1/4 cup / 0.6 dl. rice syrup

 

For frosting:
1 avocado, just the flesh
1/4 cup / 0.6 dl. organic peanut butter (recipe calls for smooth but I used textured peanut butter, I simply like it better)
1/4 cup + 2 tsp / 0.6 dl + 10 ml. organic coconut cream
1/4 cup / 0.6 dl. rice syrup
2 tbsp / 30 ml. coconut oil (melted in room temperature – you can use bain marie style to melt it if you need it fast)

 

To serve:
Pecans
Cacao powder

 

 

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1. We will first make the brownie. Put all the ingredients for brownie in a food processor or a blender and combine until they are uniform and look like a dough.

 

 

 

 

2. Prepare your pan with baking sheet in it. Grease the baking sheet to stick on the pan for easier use – I greased with coconut oil as the original recipe did. Put brownie dough in the pan and press firmly to create a flat, uniform base. Put in the fridge while preparing the frosting.

 

 

 

3. Now we will do the frosting. Put all frosting ingredients except coconut oil in a food processor or a blender and combine well. Add melted coconut oil in the end and blend all until you have a smooth frosting.

 

 

4. Put the frosting on the brownie and smoothen the top as much as possible. Then put in the freezer for at least 1 hour but more is better as the flavours develop very well as the hours pass.

 

 

 

5. When you want to serve, remove from the freezer and from the pan. Allow it to warm for just a couple of minutes and then cut into smaller pieces in the size you want with a sharp knife. Decorate each piece with a pecan and cacao powder (optional).