Enjoy the best of both with this vegan cookie brownie hybrid.
Hazelnut Brownie Cookies
I know it’s January but I don’t think any month should be devoid of chocolate. These are like a hazelnut brownie cookie hybrid (hence the name) and they’re just so good they’re hard to describe. Don’t touch them until they’ve cooled and set – they’ll end up with the best fudge texture so it’s really worth it, I promise.
Gluten-free & vegan
Ingredients
80g solid coconut oil
140g coconut sugar
100g cashew butter
45g cacao powder
80g buckwheat flour
Pinch sea salt
35g hazelnuts
50g dark vegan chocolate
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Add the coconut oil, coconut sugar and cashew butter to your food processor and blend on high until it comes together.
3. Add in the cacao powder, buckwheat flour and a pinch of sea salt and blend well until it comes together into a dough.
4. Take about a tenth of the cookie mixture and roll it into a ball. Then shape it into a cookie shape on a lined baking sheet. Repeat with all the cookies.
5. Pop them in the oven to bake for about 10 minutes. At the same time, on another tray, roast the hazelnuts until golden, about 8 minutes.
6. Take them both out and leave the cookies to cool on the tray for about 20 minutes before touching them.
7. Melt the chocolate and finely chop the roasted hazelnuts. Drizzle the chocolate over them and sprinkle on the chopped hazelnuts.
Nutterly butterly
If you’ve got leftover hazelnuts from this recipe why not make your own nut butter? I make mixed nut butter all the time that’s just a combination of whatever half-empty bags of nuts I have.
Here are my two top tips for runny nut butter:
1. Roast your nuts first – no oil, just straight in the pan at 180°C until golden and toasted (6-12 minutes depending on the nut).
2. Just keep going! A good machine helps a lot (I use a Vitamix), but any decent food processor will work, it just might take a while. The more you blend, the runnier it will be so don’t lose faith and when you think it’s ready, blend it even more.
Indy loves…
Larq bottles
It’s no secret I’m a fan of reusable water bottles but like everyone, I’m certainly not a fan of the weird smell that seems unavoidable with every type after a few uses. Enter Larq, a self-cleaning bottle with built-in purification. It sounds a bit over the top but it’s so clever – its UV light technology purifies 99.99pc of bacteria and viruses in the water at the touch of a button, and you only need to charge it once a month. The light also cleans the bottle (so no weird smell) and I love the design. They’re also great for anyone who travels: double click the lid for ‘adventure’ mode, which purifies the water even more. See livelarq.com
