These were originally meant to just be peanut butter brownies. Baby H went to sleep one day, so I started writing up the recipe, which began with the words ‘peanut butter is my jam’. Then I started thinking about jam, which led me in turn to think about raspberries, at which point I remembered I had some raspberries in the freezer that I needed to use up before I defrosted it. My life is so glam. Then baby H woke up and the PB brownies remained untested and unwritten about, that is until now.

Looking through my old unfinished articles the other day (nap time again) I stumbled across this one and its sad little one liner and realised that I still needed to use up the raspberries and i still hadn’t defrosted the freezer. And that’s the (rather uninteresting) story of how these insanely delicious brownies came into existence.

But don’t judge a book by its cover (or a brownie recipe by its blurb) these are honestly some of the most mouth-wateringly incredible things that have ever come out of my oven and they get demolished within minutes every time I make them. The combination of chocolate, peanut butter and raspberry is a total winner, and they’re just so gooey and fudgy and delicious I defy you not to like them!

Ingredients

• 1 cup cacao powder
• 1/2 cup coconut oil
• 1 cup medjool dates
• 1/2 cup maple syrup
• 2 flax eggs (2 tbsp flax seeds soaked in 6 tbsp water and left for 10 minutes to thicken)
• 1/2 cup ground almonds
• 1/2 cup peanut butter, plus 1/4 more to swirl
• 1/2 cup raspberries
• Pinch of Himalayan salt
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the frosting

• 1 ripe avocado
• 5 tbsp cacao powder
• 5 tbsp maple syrup
• 4 tbsp peanut butter
• 4 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/4 cup raspberries, to decorate

Start by preheating your oven to 150 degrees, then pop all the ingredients except the extra peanut butter and raspberries into a food processor and blend for a couple of minutes until a smooth and sticky batter forms. If it’s too sticky (i.e. it forms a big ball), just add in a little more water a tablespoon at a time until you get the desired consistency. Spoon the batter into a lined baking tin or mould and press down with a spoon to make sure it’s all nice and even, then swirl the extra peanut butter on top and scatter on the raspberries, pressing them down into the batter.

Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes, then leave for another half an hour to cool (as the brownies will continue to cook after they are taken out the oven). Whilst they cook, make yourself useful and get on with the frosting! Scoop out the insides of the avocado and place in your food processor with the other ingredients, then whizz for about 3-5 minutes until you have a beautifully smooth chocolatey frosting.

Then, when the waiting is finally over and the brownies have cooked, smother (and I mean SMOTHER) them with the frosting, sprinkle any extra raspberries on top, cut into squares and enjoy!

Love, Mrs H xx