Amaretto Almond Brownies

So this whole blog began life following a post work pub conversation one Friday. One of my colleagues (a.k.a Terry) thought it was about time I started airing my weird and wonderful kitchen experiments to a wider audience…and after a couple of pints of real ale I agreed with him! But even once the beer had stopped coursing through my veins I thought why not? And so ‘Something Missing’ was born. And upon its creation the very same Terry pointed me in the direction of a tahini brownie recipe to try out. Now I love tahini, there isn’t much better than eating sesame paste straight from the tub with a spoon (or is that just me!?!). My slight addiction to all things sesame, however, meant that when I got around to making this recipe my tahini stocks were depleted. But rather than let this get in the way of brownie production I made a few replacements and so the Amaretto Almond Brownie was born….a wonderfully nutty vegan treat!

INGREDIENTS

125g good quality dark chocolate

150g almond butter (like peanut butter but made from almonds, I imagine any other form of nut butter could be substituted in here)

150g plain flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

150g caster sugar

100ml orange juice

50ml amaretto liqueur (or if you don’t want to use any alcohol just add another 50ml of orange juice instead)

Set the oven to 180 deg C / 350 deg F

Line an 8” square deep baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Melt the chocolate in a bowl set over a pan of gently simmering water, removing from the heat once melted.

Put the sugar, orange juice and amaretto in a separate saucepan and heat gently, stirring occasionally until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

Add the almond butter to the melted chocolate, stirring until combined. Then add the orange juice, amaretto and sugar mix to the chocolate.

Sift the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda together and gradually add to the chocolate mixture folding all of the ingredients together until fully combined.

Pour the mixture into the lined tin, spreading it as evenly as possible and bake in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the top is nice and crispy, leaving the middle slightly gooey.

Allow to cool slightly before slicing into brownie sized chunks!

Adapted from Taste of Beirut and  We Heart Food