Terry’s Chocolate Orange has got to be one of the best tasting chocolates ever created, right? I know, I know, ‘I shouldn’t like chocolate – I’m a health blogger’. But I do people…I do. I just choose to create natural and raw chocolate treats and eat them instead! Why fill yourself up with processed and unhealthy sugars, bad fats, sweeteners etc when you could eat something just as good (I vote better) with the huge difference being it’s actually good for you! Please someone honestly raise their hand if they can think of a better chocolate treat than a healthy, practically superfood, chocolatey fudgy gooey sticky sweet rich orange brownie? There’s nada. (N.b you are excluded if you don’t like chocolate and orange as a combination…!)

That is exactly what these are: fudgy, gooey, sticky, rich and raw chocolate orange brownies – exactly what it says on the tin.  They. Are. Heaven. These took my five tries. Five tries to get the perfect balance of fudgyness that allows you to pick up the brownie like a proper brownie rather than it all falling apart in one big, albeit delicious, but gooey mess. And now, they are perfect. My perfect little chocolate orange brownies, and hopefully yours too. Pack them for your afternoon cup of tea at work, have them with your partner in the evening and get the kids involved with making them! Teach your friends and family how delicious, REAL food tastes.

It’s important to know the difference between a shop bought brownie and a homemade raw brownie like mine. If any of you know a little about Biology, you will know that technically the dates which give the brownies their juicy sweetness are ultimately broken down into the same sugars that white table sugar is broken down into. So why are dates better for you than ‘normal sugar’ out the bag? It’s because there is still a huge difference between the two and this difference is why I choose to live my life this way and why my body is much happier and healthier because of it, and why yours should be too.

To break it down: Table sugar has zero nutritional value – dates have high nutritional value. Your body can not only use the vitamins and minerals that dates contain, but they will also break down into their simple sugars much more s-l-o-w-l-yyyy than table sugar or any other simple processed sugar. This means you don’t get a severe spike in blood sugar levels which is what causes fat gain. Not only that but these raw brownies are full of ingredients like protein-rich nuts. What your body does is it uses the protein and good fats from the nuts to build and repair cells in your body AND slows down the absorption of the natural sugars from the dates into your blood stream, again helping us avoid gaining fat.

Just to note, by no means do all these fantastic health benefits mean you can eat 100 batches of these brownies a day without getting a sugar overload! But what it does mean is you can enjoy them guilt-free, not feeling restricted in taste or the indulgence of the treat. I sure munched through a few on my five cooking days! And that’s what my blog and lifestyle is all about: no restriction, no compromise on taste, no guilt, just pure delicious enjoyment! Savour these scrumptious gooey brownies and enjoy them more than any Terry’s chocolate orange you have ever eaten because your body is THANKING you for eating these, and so is that chocolate-loving heart :)

5.0 from 7 reviews

Raw Fudge Chocolate Orange Brownies

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Total time

15 mins

 

Author: Lean Living Girl

Serves: 6

Ingredients

• ½ cup of pitted Medjool dates
• ¼ cup almonds
• ¼ cup pecans
• ⅛ cup brazil nuts
• ½ cup raw cacao powder
• 1 Tbs desiccated coconut (unsweetened)
• Zest of one large orange
• Juice of ½ large orange
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ⅛ cup water
• 1 Tbs cornflour
• Large pinch of rock sea salt

Instructions

1. Put all the nuts in a blender and blend until almost fine, set aside in a bowl.
2. Add the Cacao powder to the blended nuts and stir with a spoon to mix.
3. Put the dates in the blender and blend until finely chopped.
4. Re-add the cacao mixture to the blender for a quick spin on a low speed to combine all 3 ingredients and then place in a bowl together.
5. Add the cinnamon, orange zest, coconut and sea salt to the bowl and mix.
6. In a small ramekin, mix the orange juice and cornflour until the flour has dissolved.
7. Pour ⅛ cup of boiling water into a pan on a low heat and add the orange mixture.
8. Stir until mixture thickens, leave to bubble for a minute then remove from heat.
9. Add the orange mixture to the remaining ingredients and stir well, combining everything.
10. Line a Tupperware with cling film and pour in your brownie mix.
11. Smooth it out so that it is level and refrigerate for 1.5 hours.
12. Eat and enjoy!

Notes

Tip:

To evenly level off your brownie mix in the Tupperware, use the back of your grated orange to press down on mixture and level. The orange skin doesn't stick and gives it a lovely gloss!

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