Chocolate brownies are always a real treat to both make and eat, and these chocolate and date brownies are absolutely divine!
They came into being after I found a bag of dried dates, and thought these would work wonderfully in a chocolate brownie because of their lovely, fudgy flavour. And they did! The dates also meant I could use less sugar to sweeten the brownies, which is of course a bonus.
I don’t often share sweet recipes so I hope you will enjoy this one! It’s perfect with a cup of ginger tea on the side.
I made mine in muffin cases because I realised half way through making them that I didn’t have any greaseproof paper – you could of course make them the traditional way in a large tin, slicing them after they are cooked.
These will take you 30 minutes and will make 12 large brownies.
Ingredients, Substitutions and Variations
- Unsalted butter – you can use salted, but it will really up the sweetness of the recipe.
- Cooking chocolate – you can use either milk or dark.
- Pitted dates – any type will do. I like mejool.
- Brown sugar – this works really well in this recipe because it gives that fudgy flavour. You can use dark or light brown sugar.
- Baking powder – for the rise.
- Plain flour – use white flour.
- Eggs – three medium/large eggs is enough.
- Vanilla essence – try to use a natural one.
- Honeycomb – optional.
Top Tips
- Melting the chocolate and butter
Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl over a pan of boiling water. This melts them gently and stops them from splitting.
- Stir well
You want to make sure the brownie mixture is well combined – no lumps of flour in the mix! It is better to do it by hand rather than with a food processor though, because you don’t want to overwork it.
- Baking the chocolate and date brownies
Because I made mine individually, they only needed 20 minutes of cooking time. If you make one large brownie, give it an extra 10 minutes to cook properly.
Get the cook books:
Chocolate and Date Brownies
Save This RecipeIngredients
- 140 g unsalted butter
- 160 g cooking chocolate
- 140 g dried pitted dates, chopped
- 90 g brown sugar
- 2 tsps baking powder
- 160 g plain flour
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- Smashed honeycomb to sprinkle on top (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
- Bring a pan of water to a simmer and place a mixing bowl on top. Gently melt the butter and chocolate in the bowl.
- Weigh out the sugar, flour and baking powder and place in a large bowl. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat together.
- Mix the chopped dates into the chocolate and butter mix, then add it to the flour mix. Stir well to combine, then spit evenly between your muffin cases.
- Sprinkle each brownie with a little smashed honeycomb, then bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Allow to cool before tucking in.
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