Chocolate & almond butter swirl brownies
Chocolate and nut butter, a flavour friendship rarely bettered. If you can’t have nuts, then sunflower seed butter will work here, too. To make your own nut butter, blitz raw or roasted nuts for a minute or two until you have a coarse powder, scrape down the sides and blitz again until you have a smooth paste. If it looks dry at that point, add a little coconut or groundnut oil, and blitz again. Sweeten with a little honey, maple syrup or vanilla, if you like.
■ Makes 12 VEGETARIAN
For the chocolate batter
200g dark chocolate, cut into 5mm chunks
100g coconut oil
100g white spelt flour
100g golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs, or 8 tsp flaxseed
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
For the almond butter batter
75g golden caster sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 egg or 4 tsp flaxseed
1 tsp vanilla extract or paste
100g smooth almond butter
1 Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a 20cm brownie tin with baking parchment.
2 To make the non-vegan brownies, melt 150g of the chocolate (reserve the rest for the top) with the oil in a small pan over a low heat. Whisk together the dry ingredients. Create a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and add the eggs and vanilla. Stir to combine. Pour in the melted chocolate and give the batter another stir until the chocolate is mixed through. Make the almond butter batter by whisking together the sugar, baking powder and a pinch of salt in a large bowl. Whisk in the egg and vanilla, then add the almond butter and stir until well combined. The batter will be thick.
3 For the vegan chocolate batter, mix the 8 tsp flaxseed with 6 tbsp warm water in a separate bowl. For the vegan almond butter, mix 4 tsp flaxseed with 3 tbsp warm water in a separate bowl. Follow step 2, adding the flaxseed instead of the eggs. Leave to thicken for 15 mins.
4 Dollop alternate heaped spoonfuls of each batter into the tin. Once all the batter is in, swirl it in figures of eight with a butter knife.
Top with the remaining chocolate, pressing each piece slightly into the batter, then sprinkle with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Bake for 25-30 mins, until the brownies are just set with a little wobble and the almond butter swirls are golden. Take out of the oven and leave to cool in the tin completely before cutting.