Vegan Hazelnut Brownies

After having an insane Vegan Hazelnut Brownie at Banana Cafe, Bordeaux, France I knew I had to make my own version   using 'whole food' ingredients. This recipe took some fiddling around, but I think I've achieved an equally insane  brownie with a delicious fudgy centre and chewy crust.  

Enjoy!
​
Love Alex, Ballerina Bites. xx
PS: Be sure to tag me @ballerina_bites so I can see your wonderful recreations.

​Ingredients
- Dry -
1 cup spelt flour
3/4 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup cacao powder
1/2 cup hazelnut meal 
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt

- Wet -
1 cup unsweetened applesauce
100g 70% dark chocolate (dairy free; I use Lindt)

​1/4 cup dairy free milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 cup raw hazelnuts

Method
Preheat the oven to 170°C fan and line a 20cm square brownie tin with baking paper.

In a large bowl add all dry ingredients and stir until well combined. 

Add apple puree to a small saucepan and begin to warm over low heat before adding broken chocolate pieces. 
Take the saucepan off the heat and allow residual heat to melt the chocolate. This ensures no burnt chocolate!

Pour melted apple chocolate over the dry ingredients and begin to incorporate before adding the milk and vanilla extract. 

Give everything a good stir (making sure not to over mix) before evenly spreading batter into lined brownie tin.

Scatter hazelnuts over brownie and gently press into the batter. 

Bake for 20min- 30mins until a hard crust has formed.
(It is ok to under bake your brownies as it will result in a more fudge-like brownie.) 

Allow to completely cool before slicing. 

Makes 9 brownies