Featured Recipe: Black Forest Crunch Brownie with Chocolate Whipped Creme
Exhilaration hits the palate, an eyebrow raises with intrigue, and there you are ... in an inviting state of anoesis where the grand intensity of pure chocolate bursts in the mouth. The body joyously quivers, the taste buds delightfully tingle, you are in divine, flavorous splendor. Wow, all of this ... and salutary too!
Recipe yields 7 3-ounce brownies.
Brownie Base
Do Ahead:
1} Remove seed from each date. Use a knife or food processor, turn room temperature dates into a smooth paste.
2} Chop dried cherries, walnuts and cacao nibs.
3} If taking prepared walnut butter from fridge shortly before prepping brownie base, place the jar into a hot water bath for 15 to 20 minutes.
4} In a mini grinder, powder coconut sugar (optional).
Note: This chocolate masterpiece is fun, easy and quick to form. However if time is an issue, consider creating the brownie base and designing the creme on two different days.
5} Have a scale available to weigh ingredients.
Method & Ingredients
Place into a bowl:
Cacao powder
The cacao powder herein = coco powder and not powdered cacao nibs.
Vanilla, whole bean powder
Salt, Himalayan
If using an unsalted walnut butter, add this salt amount.
Cinnamon powder, Ceylon (true and sweet cinnamon)
If a sweeter brownie is the desire, add:
Palm nectar crystals (coconut sugar), powdered
Use a whisk, and mix the ingredients listed above.
Add to the bowl:
Date paste
Dates, Medjool (weigh before removing seeds)
Walnut butter needs to be stiff and of a thick consistency (not liquid, loose or fluid).
Note: If not wanting to create homemade walnut butter, Living Tree Community's brand works wonderfully well in this recipe. Their walnut butter is nicely salted, and therefore the brownie base needs no salt.
If a sweeter brownie is the desire, add:
Maple syrup (pure, grade B)
To incorporate date paste, walnut butter and optional maple syrup, use a heavy wooden spoon or knead mixture with your hands.
Add to the bowl:
Cherries (dried, unsweetened)
Before adding to batter, mince dried cherries.
Walnuts, having had no heat applied (weigh first, soak and dehydrate second)
Before adding to batter, chop walnuts into 1/8 inch by 1/8 inch pieces.
Cacao nibs
Before adding to batter, chop any large nibs to a smaller size.
To incorporate minced cherries, walnut pieces and cacao nibs, use a heavy wooden spoon or knead mixture with your hands.
Place this brownie base into a dish that is 5" inch by 6-1/2" inch.
Chocolate Whipped Creme
Do Ahead:
In a mini grinder, powder coconut sugar.
Method & Ingredients
Place the following ingredients into a food processor:
Cashew nuts, having had no heat applied
Cacao butter (white chocolate)
Before adding to food processor, chop cacao butter into pea size pieces.
Salt, Himalayan (fine grind)
Vanilla, whole bean powder
Until smooth, blend ingredients listed above.
Add to food processor:
Cacao powder
The cacao powder herein = coco powder and not powdered cacao nibs.
Palm nectar crystals (coconut sugar), powdered
Maple syrup (pure, grade B)
Blend until smooth.
Spread creme evenly atop brownie base.
Store brownie in refrigerator and before partaking, bring brownie to room temperature for peak sapid.
Notes
*1 For best flavor and best nutrition, choose foods that are heirloom, grown organically, sustainably or biodynamically.
*2 Soak walnuts in lukewarm, Himalayan salted water. Cover and leave at room temperature. After 12 hours, drain walnuts. Submerge walnuts in water, swish and drain. Rinse then dehydrate for 24 hours at 95 degrees. For soaking walnuts, bottled spring water from the marketplace is not recommended. Fresh water from one of earth's natural springs is highly recommended.
*3 Many cashew nuts sold as raw have been heat processed to remove the shells. The definition of "raw" for the cashew industry means not roasted. In this scheme of things, cashews-in-shell have been either boiled in oil or scorched in fire to condition the shells (prior to cracking) and to speed the process. During this heating process, the cashew nut degrades significantly. Seek organic, truly raw (unheated) cashew nuts that have been hand shelled.
Wishing you pleasure to the palate and health to the body!
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