Brownies (low gluten, low dairy)

My last attempt at a healthy cake was labelled "joyless" but this one got an enthusiastic thumbs up, so worth a try...

Ingredients

2 mugs oat flour (any other flour probably good too)
1 mug porridge oats
1 mug brown sugar (or golden syrup or other sweetener)
1 mug water
Half mug vegetable oil or vegan butter
2 bars (or 200g) dark chocolate
Optional: chopped nuts

What To Do

Melt the chocolate - start this first as it takes a few minutes. It is best to put a glass bowl in a pan with water and heat the pan on the cooker with the chocolate in the bowl. This gently heats the chocolate. The bottom of the glass should be resting in the water. Melting chocolate in the microwave usually ends in tears.

In another bowl, mix the oats, flour and water together. Now stir in the sugar/syrup. Mix well. Next, add in the oil/vegan butter (if you use butter, the butter should be melted) and mix well again.

The chocolate should be melted by now, so pour the chocolate in and stir. If you want to add chopped nuts, stir them in too.

The mixture should be fairly runny.

Cooking

Heat the oven up to 180C. Pour the mixture into a ceramic baking dish - mine is 25 x 18cm (10 x 7 inches). Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, depending how soft you like your brownies (I went for the 20 minutes option).

Storage

Probably best stored in the fridge, but should stay good for several days even at room temperature.

Joyless Cake

This is my current favourite. It is a vegan no-sugar cake bake with oat flour, chopped dates and orange. Chewy and delicious. But don't take my word for it - listen to the food critics:

"it is like a cake but with all the joy taken out of it"

 (an Aldershot resident)

So here is how to make it:

Ingredients

1 mug oat flour
1 mug wheat bran (or oat bran)
The grated peel of a large orange
The inside of a large orange
1 mug of chopped dates
1/2 mug of water

What To Do

Put everything in a food mixer and mix it up until it is the consistency of one of those premium cat foods.

Cooking

Then spoon into a large baking tray and put in the oven for 25mins on 180C.

Let it cool completely before tasting.

Storage

Store in the fridge.

Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients

185g unsalted butter

185g dark chocolate

85g plain flour

40g cocoa powder

50g white chocolate

50g milk chocolate

3 large eggs

275g golden caster sugar (other sugar does just as well)

What To Do

Butter & Dark Chocolate Mix

Melt butter and the dark chocolate in a saucepan. 

It is best to break up the chocolate into pieces first!

Melt on a very low heat - I turn on the gas ring to warm the pan then turn it off again. It takes time but avoids burning the chocolate.

Egg & Sugar Mix

Break the 3 eggs into a large bowl and beat until smooth

Stir in the sugar

You can use an electric mixer for this if you like.

Pour Butter/Choc Mix Into Egg/Sugar Mix

Stir well.

Flour & Cocoa Powder Mix

Mix the flour and cocoa powder together in a small bowl.

Add Flour/Cocoa Powder Mix To The Rest

Add the flour/cocoa into the rest and stir. It is best to add the flour/cocoa mix a bit at a time to avoid it going lumpy. Keep stirring until the whole thing is smooth.

Add White/Milk Chocolate Chunks Too

Break up the white and milk chocolate into chunks.

Stir the chunks into the mix

Cooking

Pour the mixture into a ceramic dish - make sure it is not too large or too small. 

The depth of the mix should be about 8cm or thereabouts (3 inches in old time) - too thin and it will over-cook, too thick and it won't cook in the middle.

Cook on 180C for about 25mins. You did pre-heat the oven, didn't you?

Attribution

This is a much abridged/mangled version of this recipe:

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/best-ever-chocolate-brownies-recipe

Margaret's Fruit Loaf

Margaret's Fruit Loaf is quick & easy to make - you need to let it cool before serving though.

2 cups self-raising flour

1 cup of sugar

1 cup of water

1 cup of rasins & sultanas

1/4lb butter (120 grams or 1/2 cup)

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 egg

Put butter, sugar, fruit & water into large pan and bring to boil

Add baking powder - stir for 2 minutes - it all goes a bit mad and bubbly

Turn off heat - leave to cool

Stir in flour & egg

Put in a lined loaf tin or similar.

Gas mark 4 or 180C for 40 minutes.

Leave to cool.

Rock Cakes

225g self-raising flour
75g sugar
1 tsp baking powder
125g butter
150g currants or raisins
1 egg
1 tblsp milk

Mix everything together.

If you like vanilla, add 2 tsp of vanilla essence. Or if you like nutmeg and cloves, sprinkle a little of that in the mix and give it another stir.

Put small balls of mixture on grease-proof paper on an oven tray.

15-20 mins 180C oven.

Bread Pudding

Put 250g of bread and 350ml of milk in a bowl to soak.

Grate the outside of an orange. Mix in a bowl with lots of sultanas. Add some nutmeg too if you like. Add the squeezed orange juice for a more orangey taste.

Add

100g brown sugar
2 eggs and
50g of soft butter

to the fruit and grated orange and mix it together.

Add in the bread/milk to the rest and mix until smoothish.

180C oven for 50 minutes

Brownies (with kidney beans!)

1 tsp vinegar
1 can kidney beans
2 eggs
65g cocoa powder
100g sugar
1/2 tsp oil
1 tblsp milk
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

(extra - some cooking chocolate... smash into very small pieces and add to the mix just before it goes in the oven)

whizz ingredients in some sort of food processor

20mins in 180C oven

Ali's Fruit Loaf

200g sugar 
150g raisins/&sultanas 
230ml water 
240g self-raising flour 
115g marg or butter 
1 egg

Put sugar fruit and water in pan and bring to boil then add 1 tspn baking powder and stir for a minute leave to cool 

When cool add flour and eggs put in lined tin and cook 180C for a while - may be longer than 20 mins