Gluten-Free Brownies By Lorraine Pascale

A Lighter Way to Bake by Lorraine Pascale is published by HarperCollins at £20 (photography by Myles New)

These brownies by Lorraine Pascale are rich and fudgy - just as a brownie should be - but with a healthier twist. Replacing the sugar with dates ups the fibre content and helps avoid any refined sugar spikes.

Ingredients:

Rapeseed oil, for greasing
75g oats (optional, use gluten free)
200g Medjool dates, pitted
125g unsalted butter, melted
75g unsweetened cocoa powder or Aduna Super-Cacao Powder
5 tbsp unsweetened almond milk
2 free-range eggs medium size
1 tsp baking powder
Seeds from 1 vanilla pod

Method: 

Preheat the oven to 180C (fan 160C), 350F, Gas Mark 4. Grease and line an 18cm (7in) square baking tin with baking parchment and set aside.
Put the oats in a food processor and blitz until they become like a powder or fine flour. Add the dates, butter, cocoa powder, almond milk, eggs, baking powder and vanilla seeds and process until the mixture is smooth and fudgy.
Spoon the brownie mixture into the baking tin, smoothing the top evenly with the back of a spoon. Bake in the oven for 12-15 minutes until firm on top but a little soft in the centre. That should mean that the centre of the brownies should still be the tiniest bit gooey.
Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool a little. Cut into nine squares and serve.

Enjoy! 

Recipe by Lorraine Pascale