Chocolate pumpkin brownie slices
Craziness going on here... I just realised I haven't posted these brownie slices yet!
I made them weeks and weeks ago...as in around the time of thanksgiving and pumpkin overload. I think at the time I felt I had already posted so many pumpkin recipes and there were so many other similar recipes in the recipe world that I held off a little...then forgot!
This is basically a twist on the chocolate courgette cake (mmmm, still love that beauty!) and just goes to show the veggie component is pretty versatile. I reckon cauliflower would also work (don't think i've tried that one yet though) and what about sweet potato, pureed carrot or parsnip? Some may give a slight flavour variation- but chocolate covers and compliments pretty much everything, so feel free to play around with your taste buds to find combos that you love!
One thing to note, I tried making this with cooked, pureed fresh pumpkin (I bought a glut of pumpkins after halloweeen and froze them in chunks!) and also at another time with regular canned pumpkin. I actually preferred the fresh cooked version- not sure why that is as I can't see there would be much difference, but i could definitely taste a slight underlying pumpkin taste with the canned whereas i couldn't at all with the other- that was just my taste preference.
Makes 1 8” round or square cake
ingredients:
1 cup packed dates
approx ½ tsp pure stevia
1 ½ cup pureed pumpkin (fresh cooked or canned- see note)
2/3 cup water (if your dates are hard soak them in this water prior to blending)
1/3 cup oil of choice (I use coconut)
¼ cup flax seed
1 cup cocoa powder
1 ½ cup oat flour (I ground some regular porridge oats)
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp mixed spice
1/4 tsp salt
1 heaped tsp baking powder
1 heaped tsp baking soda
handful of walnuts or pecans for toppping
Method:
Blend the pumpkin with the dates and all the wet ingredients and the flax seed to form a smooth fairly runny paste. Allow to stand for a couple of minutes.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl and then add the wet. Mix lightly but well to form a thick soft batter. Add a little extra water if necessary.
Spoon the batter into a lined/greased muffin pan or round cake tin (you could also make cupcakes?) and smooth the top as best you can.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for approx 20-25 minutes, you may need to lightly cover the top of the pan with foil for the final 5 mins to prevent the top browning before the centre is cooked through.
Allow to cool before slicing. Store in the fridge for up to 1 week…these taste even better the next day!
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