Chocolate Orange Brownies

When I first tried the mixture for this last night I knew I was onto a winner. All over the internet there are versions of these healthy brownies, falling roughly into one of the following categories: vegan and gluten free (such as these from Deliciously Ella), paleo (like the ones here) or vaguely traditional ( like this).

Of course following a single recipe out of all the ones I'd found would be far too simple, so I took it upon myself to do my own version and for once actually recorded what I did. The result? A fudgey brownie that tastes exactly like a Terrys Chocolate Orange. I don't have weird flours on my single baking shelf, nor do I like using millions of eggs in a single recipe, so I used what I had on hand, crossed my fingers and hoped for a good result. The risk paid off, so I figured I'd share the method to my madness.

Recipe
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and steamed until soft
About 20 pitted dates (mine were old and small and had gone a little hard, so I soaked them in boiling water for 20 minutes to soften them up)
3/4 cup ground almonds (mine were fairly chunky as I blitzed them in the mini chopper)
1/2 cup plain flour
5 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp honey
1 egg
zest of 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 180C and line an 8x8 inch tin with greaseproof paper.
Blitz your dates and sweet potatoes until smooth. I only have a small blender, so I did it in batches, as long as everything is fairly smooth it doesn't matter.
In a large bowl combine all the ingredients aside from the egg and orange zest and mix well. Beat the egg in a cup and then add to the large bowl to help stick everything together and then stir in the orange zest. The mixture will be very thick, but try to ensure everything is well incorporated and that there are no patches of flour left.
Scoop the mixture into the prepared tin and spread it out evenly, trying not to each too much mix in the process.

Bake for 35-40 minutes in the middle of the oven and leave to cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.

Initially I baked mine for 20 minutes, however then decided it was still much too fudgey and so stuck it back in the oven. If you want it to firm up a bit more then bake for longer, but be careful that the edges don't catch and burn slightly.