Brownies. Doesn’t the word just make you excited when you hear it? This recipe is definitely an exciting one for me, because it’s part of a CHOCOLATE recipe collaboration! Is there any better kind? I’ll answer that – no. Recently, the lovely crew from Magic Mayan Chocolate emailed me, asking would I be interested in working with me to create some deeeelicious recipes with their fantastic range of artisan dark chocolate. And of COURSE I said yes. Magic Mayan are an Irish company, based in Ennis, Co. Clare (which is in the West of Ireland for those of you from other countries!), who produce a range of  organically sourced, dairy-, gluten- and soya-free dark raw chocolate bars – in FOURTEEN different varieties. FOURTEEN. I can’t say fourteen enough – including mouth-watering names like Crazy Caramel, Mucho Mocha, Raspberry Rendezvous, Creamy Cashew, Black Velvet – PLUS a 100% Cacaoa Pura bar. That one is an intense experience, trust me. I chose Mucho Mocha, Creamt Cashew and Black Velvet to create some recipe magic with (get it, Magic Mayan? I’m good, I know). This is the FIRST of a mini-series of recipes I will be posting over the next few weeks via my site AND of course the Magic Mayan website – so of COURSE we’re kicking off with brownies!

Given that my blog has the word ‘balance’ in it, you won’t be surprised to see my series of choco-tastic recipes will be a blend of treat-style snacks and desserts that have a cheeky little healthy twist. That DOESN’T mean I’m against anyone indulging in any totally decadent desserts – after all, a regular brownie doesn’t have beetroot, duh, and if you wanna have a standard no-veg brownie, do it! The recipes I’ll be posting are a combination of what YOU guys have asked me to try my hand at (via comments/messages, etc) plus my own ideas! I really hope you enjoy this series – I think it’s timed really well with the countdown to Christmas too! So – let’s BAKE                                       

Recipe (Makes 10-12 brownies)

Ingredients

• 250g cooked beetroot (I used the brand Chef from a jar without juice!)
• 2 whole eggs
• 1 cup of oats, ground into flour using a food processor
• 4 tbsp cacao powder
• 50g High Quality Dark Chocolate (the darker the better!), broken into small chunks – I’ve used the brand Magic Mayan 85% ‘Black Velvet’ Dark Chocolate for my brownies!
• 1/3 cup of raspberries, sliced in half
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or hazelnuts
• 2 tbsp melted coconut oil or cacao butter (or extra virgin olive oil)
• 3 tbsp agave sweetener
• 3 tbsp cacao nibs or extra dark chocolate chips
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C (fan oven), and line a baking tin with greaseproof paper or greased tinfoil.
2. Place the dark chocolate chunks in a microwave safe bowl and set aside for now.
3. Add your dry ingredients to a big mixing bowl – oat flour, baking powder, cacao powder and hazelnuts. Stir well to combine.
4. Add the wet ingredients to your food processor or blender – eggs, beetroot, oil, vanilla extract and sweetener. Blend until smooth.
5. Pour the wet mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients, and stir until well combined. If the batter is a little too dry or too wet, feel free to add a little more sweetener or oat flour respectively, but it should match up well!
6. Heat the chocolate chunks in the microwave to melt for approximately 1 minute. Give them an extra 20-30 seconds if not fully liquid after that time!
7. Taking care with the hot bowl, pour the melted chocolate into your brownie batter. Stir everything up again until well mixed.
8. Finally, add the cacao nibs/chocolate chips and raspberries and mix again.
9. Pour the batter into your baking tin, and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes approximately. Check with a toothpick inserted into the centre of the batter – if it comes out 99% clean, you’re good to go!
10. Allow the brownies to cool (ESSENTIAL) for about 15 minutes before slicing up and devouring them!

Enjoy guys! This is a pretty special creation for me – not just because it’s brownies (DUH) but more because it’s the first of my exciting recipe collaborations with Magic Mayan chocolate! I can’t wait to share more of these with you guys – stay tuned for what’s coming, it is ALL delicious don’t you worry! Tag me and Magic Mayan if you try these brownies out – @theirishbalance on Instagram/Twitter/Facebook, you know by now!

Ciara 🙂 x