Yes, as the title would suggest, i am about to divulge an amazing vegan recipe! Since becoming vegan in Oct, it’s been really hard finding vegan desserts, or desserts that i can eat – nearly all desserts have milk or butter or eggs – or all of the above. I managed to find a place that sells chocolate vegan croissants – they are good, but i kinda OD’ed on them….had way too many…got overexcited 😉 Anyway, it isn’t easy finding vegan dessert options, especially in Italy….I’ve prob got it better than other italian cities, as Milan now has quite a few options when it comes to vegan restaurants, there’s been a sudden boom over the past 2 years….when i first arrived here nearly 3 years ago: nada, zilch. I’ll list all the places to go to eat vegan in Milan – but i’ll leave that for another post! 😉

Back to the recipe, i found this on MindBodyGreen – they’ve got loads of interesting and different vegan recipes, i can’t wait to try more! Tho these brownies are so good, i just keep coming back to this same recipe – i must’ve made them like at least 5 times since May….

The recipe is by Angela Rooney and she says about them: “These brownies are gluten, wheat, dairy, and soy free, and they’re vegan! The cacao powder is a superfood packed with antioxidants. You’ll get plenty of protein from the almonds, fiber from the dates and figs, and a bit of healthy fats from all of the coconut. Plus, these brownies are sweetened with a bit of coconut sugar, which has a low glycemic index and dates which are a great substitute to refined sweeteners.” – sounds too good to be true? Try ’em to find out!

A quick note about the ingredients, as i’m in Milan you can find all of the ingredients from Super Polo, or Natura Si or even Esselunga for the basic stuff (organic cacao, figs, dates, baking soda etc). I bought organic everything that i could find. And yes you can find coconut sugar, it’s at Super Polo! I’m sure you can find all of the ingredients in any organic shop or health food store…if i managed to find all of the ingredients in Italy, then you guys have no problems! 🙂

Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com

Ingredients:
½ cup raw almonds
½ cup dried pitted dates
½ cup raw organic cacao powder
1/3 cup applesauce
¼ cup organic coconut sugar
¼ cup light canned coconut milk
¼ cup organic coconut shreds
5-6 stemmed dried figs
2 Tbsp. organic unrefined coconut oil
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. sea salt

MY Directions:
Firstly, i turned on the oven.

Secondly, i blended the almonds until ground, then i added all of the dry ingredients (caao, sugar, salt & baking soda) into the food processor to continue blending with the ground almonds.

Then i set this mixture aside. I then blended the dates, figs, coconut milk, oil and shreds until they’re all well blended and then i added the dry mixture i set aside into this one and blended all together again.

Lastly, i stirred in the applesauce.

I then greased whatever baking tins/trays i had with coconut oil and filled them with the batter.

I placed them into the warm over and left them to cook for 20min in 200*C.

Thru trial and error, i found it was best to let them cool before cutting them, so perhaps place them in the fridge once they’re done cooking, or better yet, let them cool off outside, and then place them in the fridge and then cut them. It’s definitely less messy this way – trust me!

Now, all that’s left for you to do is enjoy! 🙂