A Carob & Orange Brownie Recipe

I woke up this morning and felt like eating some sort of walnut, carob, orange, superfood concoction..... like maybe a brownie.

This was a little unexpected for me at the moment because I haven't made any raw cakes and sweets for Pras and I since I started my 2012 juice feast on Jan 1st (I've only been making those ordered by my lovely customers ♥ )

What's a little strange is that even when I'm eating raw cakes I'm usually not one for orange flavours or walnuts but hey ho, if it's what my body's asking for then why not? Walnuts are actually my least favoured nut. I like almonds, cashews, pine nuts, macadamias, etc etc but walnuts are generally the last nut I'll choose. I think of food cravings as being the body's way of meeting our nutritional needs so I was curious about what I might be missing. I did a little googling to see what the nutritional profile of walnuts tells us. It seems that walnuts contain Vitamin E in the form of gamma-tocopherol. Gamma-tocopherol has been found to be beneficial for heart heath. There is a lot of nutrition close to the walnut skin (as is the case for a lot of fruits and vegetables too).  If you want to read more about these benefits have a look here.  Let's move on.....

So this morning I started messing about in the kitchen and a walnut-carob-orange-superfood brownie happened.  I haven't named them and to be honest, I probably won't make them again until I feel like walnuts next time!  But they are nice, very healthy and have a slightly crumbly texture. 

Please keep in mind I've made this once and that was today!  There is a bit of fiddling and adjusting the ingredients 'to taste' but I'm sure if you haven't made any raw treats before you'll figure it out.

 

1 c     walnuts

1/2 c  almond flour

1/2c   brazil nut flour

1/2c   coconut butter

1/4c   coconut sugar (or substitute a sweetener of your choice)

2T     carob 

2T     mesquite

1T     lacuma

1t      powdered orange peel

4T    Almond milk

2 drops orange essential oil

         reshi powder

         ashwaganda

All you need to do is break down the walnuts in the high speed blender or food processor untill they are smaller pieces.  Keeping some texture is important.  Put  the broken down walnuts in a bowl with the nut flours and other dry ingredients and thoroughy mix.  Add the orange essential oil and the almond milk, mix through.  Then stir in the melted coconut butter.  Press it into a pan and refrigerate until set.

I added reishi and ashwaganda to these today but you could add whatever superfoods you like or just leave them out if you don't have them.  As I'm not eating cacao at the moment I avoided using it as an ingredient but it would be really easy to turn these into a raw chocolate brownie.

The general advice given about eating essential oils is usually 'don't'.  As Pras and I are eating these and we're not bothered about consuming small amounts of essential oils, I included it.  If you don't like the idea, just leave it out and add extra air-dried and ground orange peel. 

These ones are a little thinner that I would suggest making them, if they are a little thicker they will slice better and probably won't crumble as easily.  Keep them in the refrigerator.