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gluten_freeI needed a recipe to go with our current theme of Recipes For Small Appliances, so I cracked open Sweets in the Raw from Laura Marquis and found my bookmark at these Orange Zest Brownie Bites. Orange and chocolate? Past me knew what she was doing.
So I whipped up a batch, and they smelled great and tasted as good as they smelled, with the sweet orange and vanilla right up front, and the earthy cacao and walnuts bringing up the rear. No oven required.
Ingredients:
1 cup raw walnuts (100 grams)
1 1/3 cup deglet noor or medjool dates, pitted (200 grams)
1/4 cup cacao or cocoa powder (25 grams)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp fine salt
zest from one orange ~1 Tablespoon
juice from 1/2 orange ~1/4 cup
Time: Less than 15 minutes if your dates come pitted.
Tools: A food processor. Though you could probably use a high powered blender if you believed in it.
Instructions:
0. If your dates aren't pitted, pit them. I like to take a wooden chopstick, push it in one end of the date, and shove the pit out the other or just rip the date open up the side and pick the pit out with my fingers, whichever happens first.
1. Zest your orange, then juice it. In that order. I threw some of the pulp in with the juice because I'm like that.
2. Throw everything but the orange juice into your food processor and process until it's finely ground and crumbly. If you pinch the mixture between your fingers and it sticks together, it's good. Don't over process or the nuts will break down and release their oil and things'll get greasy.
3. Add in your orange juice and process until blended and everything comes together.
4. Form into balls. I used my 2 tsp disher as a scoop, then shaped the scoops into bite-sized balls with my fingertips. I got 20. Wet hands may help the stuff not stick to you, or Marquis suggests chilling the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes before shaping. Alternately, you could press the mixture into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper, chill it, and cut it into squares, or you could press it into a silicone mini-muffin pan (or novelty ice cube tray), chill, and then pop the pieces out for storage.
5. You can eat these immediately or after they've chilled for a bit. Store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container or bag for up to a week. Or in the freezer for longer. Pro-tip: If you eat these straight from the freezer, they have a wonderful fudgy texture, like a truffle.
Notes: The measurements in grams are mine. I measured by volume and then weighed the result. I used cacao powder, and deglet noor dates, and I'd do it again.
If you want these to look extra fancy, you can sift some cacao power over them before serving. This will also cut down on their sweetness.
Variations: These orange brownie bites are more about the orange than the chocolate. You could of course fix that with some shaved chocolate bar added to the mix.
Or, if you'd rather these bites not be about the orange at all, leave out the juice and zest and, voilà, you've got brownie bites.
Questions? Ask 'em!
So I whipped up a batch, and they smelled great and tasted as good as they smelled, with the sweet orange and vanilla right up front, and the earthy cacao and walnuts bringing up the rear. No oven required.
Ingredients:
1 cup raw walnuts (100 grams)
1 1/3 cup deglet noor or medjool dates, pitted (200 grams)
1/4 cup cacao or cocoa powder (25 grams)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp fine salt
zest from one orange ~1 Tablespoon
juice from 1/2 orange ~1/4 cup
Time: Less than 15 minutes if your dates come pitted.
Tools: A food processor. Though you could probably use a high powered blender if you believed in it.
Instructions:
0. If your dates aren't pitted, pit them. I like to take a wooden chopstick, push it in one end of the date, and shove the pit out the other or just rip the date open up the side and pick the pit out with my fingers, whichever happens first.
1. Zest your orange, then juice it. In that order. I threw some of the pulp in with the juice because I'm like that.
2. Throw everything but the orange juice into your food processor and process until it's finely ground and crumbly. If you pinch the mixture between your fingers and it sticks together, it's good. Don't over process or the nuts will break down and release their oil and things'll get greasy.
3. Add in your orange juice and process until blended and everything comes together.
4. Form into balls. I used my 2 tsp disher as a scoop, then shaped the scoops into bite-sized balls with my fingertips. I got 20. Wet hands may help the stuff not stick to you, or Marquis suggests chilling the dough in the fridge for 15 minutes before shaping. Alternately, you could press the mixture into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper, chill it, and cut it into squares, or you could press it into a silicone mini-muffin pan (or novelty ice cube tray), chill, and then pop the pieces out for storage.
5. You can eat these immediately or after they've chilled for a bit. Store in the refrigerator in an air-tight container or bag for up to a week. Or in the freezer for longer. Pro-tip: If you eat these straight from the freezer, they have a wonderful fudgy texture, like a truffle.
Notes: The measurements in grams are mine. I measured by volume and then weighed the result. I used cacao powder, and deglet noor dates, and I'd do it again.
If you want these to look extra fancy, you can sift some cacao power over them before serving. This will also cut down on their sweetness.
Variations: These orange brownie bites are more about the orange than the chocolate. You could of course fix that with some shaved chocolate bar added to the mix.
Or, if you'd rather these bites not be about the orange at all, leave out the juice and zest and, voilà, you've got brownie bites.
Questions? Ask 'em!