The Raw Coconut Brownie

My friend from work has cut out all the bad stuff from her diet – sugar, carbs, alcohol. As her commitment to this ‘good’ way of eating has grown, her skin has gotten increasingly clearer (I mean it’s GLOWING – she looks like she has just had the best sex of her life 5 times over). She looks thinner and she says her energy levels have never been better.

The most interesting thing about this is that she is/was the biggest chocoholic I know. When I asked her how she was going with this ‘good’ way of eating and not eating chocolate she was so excited to tell me about the recipe, shrieking “It changed my life”. No longer craving chocolate like she used to, she is completely satisfied plus more since making this brownie.

And as it is a new year (I can see all of you groaning already about those ‘resolutions’ that you happily pronounced at 3am on the 1st of Jan right between your 5th cocktail and the stumble home/spew in the garden) -  I’m posting this recipe for some encouragement and a reminder that sometimes the ‘good’ things can taste better than those bad things.

So this one is for all you no sugar crusaders trying to get through the slug of January.

What You Will Need:
3 cups whole walnuts
2 ½ cups Medjool dates, pitted
1 cup raw cacao
¼ teaspoon of sea salt
1/4 cup of flaked coconut (check for preservatives)
Make it Happen:
1. Place 2 cups walnuts in food processor and blend on high until the nuts are finely ground.
2. Add the cacao and salt. Pulse to combine.
3. Add the dates one at a time through the feed tube of the food processor while it is running. What you should end up with is a mix that appears rather like cake crumbs, but that when pressed, will easily stick together (if the mixture does not hold together well, add more dates).
4. In a large bowl  combine the walnut-cacao mix with the rest of the walnuts roughly chopped and coconut. Press into a cake tin lined with baking paper.

5. Place into the fridge for a 2 hours then cut and serve with another sprinkling of flaked coconut.