Well today’s been pleasant.
The bitter wind we’ve been blessed with all week, accompanied by icy rain, which got sleetier and sleetier throughout the day – it felt like gravel in your face by this evening – and which made having a lesson on THWNN a real joy this morning 
But when the sun made a brief appearance yesterday, it really had some warmth in it. Spring’s on the way – and so’s Easter, which means so is Lent.
Last year, I gave up chocolate and as I said afterwards, it made me realise how much I like ice cream. As I don’t think that’s quite in the Lenten spirit, this year I’m giving up both.
So as a final chocolatey feast, I made these:
White chocolate hazelnut brownies, inspired by some of the same name made by my sister, and some flourless chocolate ones made by my mum, last weekend.
Preheat oven to 160C and line a 30x20cm roasting tin with baking powder. It would probably be a good idea to grease the paper slightly too as my brownies stuck a bit.
150g (51/2oz) white chocolate
100g (1/4 standard tin) haricot (Navy) beans
100g (2/3 cup) ground almonds
1tsp baking powder
3 eggs
180g (3/4 cup) caster sugar
1tsp vanilla
80g (<1/2 cup) hazelnuts, roughly chopped
Melt the chocolate and blend in a food processor with the beans until completely smooth. Stir together the almonds and baking powder and, in a separate bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar and vanilla (you don’t need an electric mixer, just whisk till combined).
Make a well in the almond mix and add the egg and chocolate mixtures (they’ll overflow the well but fear not). Stir together from the middle till well combined, then fold in the hazelnuts. Pour into the tin and bake for about 30 minutes, till the top’s set and pale gold all over.
Delicious. I love the combination of hazelnut and white chocolate – if I’d had more hazelnuts, I’d have used them ground instead of the almonds but as I didn’t, I didn’t. I know I’m far from the first to use beans like this either but they work perfectly – the fat from the almonds is plenty to keep the texture lovely and brownie-like.
Now the only thing I’ve got to do is get them out of here by the end of Tuesday… it’s a hard life
Are you giving anything up for Lent?
Good luck on your Lenten fast!
Good luck with giving up those things
I love the sound of the hazelnut/ white chocolate combo.
Good luck with your Lent goals! Those white chocolate brownies look fantastic!
They look amazing! You are brave giving those up for Lent! I’m not sure I could go without Chocolate
Oh I don’t thnk I could give up chocolate for Lent! It’s too hard! I guess that’s the point…
I love the look of those brownies, its crazy how different they look from normalbrownies because of the colour but they look all fluffy and delicious regardless! And I like the idea of using the beans in them, very interesting
They look lovely, I love white chocolate brownies. If I gave up chocolate for lent I would become a demon.
The brownies sound incredible, Eleanor! Two years ago I gave up chips for Lent and haven’t had one since! I’m proud of myself for that. Helped me to learn that chips were a trigger food and a problem for me. I’ve had so much less trouble staying at my goal since then. Got to think up something to give up this year!
I’m giving up negativity for Lent
Hazelnuts are delicious.