Spicy Chocolate Banana Brownie - dairy free (and egg-free option)

I love brownies ... we didn't have them when I grew up and I can't believe I survived into adulthood ;-) It is a firm family favourite and can be customised in any which way you like.

Brownie Recipe:

2 cups of plain flour
3/4 cup of unsweetened dairy free cocoa powder
1/2 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
2 tsp of mixed spice (omit if you don't want to do a spiced brownie)

3/4 cup of dairy free margarine
180 gr of dark cooking chocolate (dairy free)
1 cup of dark brown sugar firmly packed

2 eggs (or 2 egg-free egg replacements - Organ does a No-Egg that is available in health food stores - or if you can't find egg replacer you can also use 1/4 cup of 100% corn flour)

2 ripe puréed bananas - or a cup of other puréed fruit like stewed apples or pears or raspberries

if you like it extra chocolaty, add 1 cup of dairy free chocolate chips as well

Directions:

1, preheat oven to 180 degrees

2, mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, salt, mixed spice in a bowl (and cornflour if you are not using eggs)

3, in a separate bowl, melt margarine and chocolate in the microwave. In my microwave it takes 2 min on high and then I leave it to sit for 3-5 mins until the chocolate is all melted

4, add sugar to the margarine and chocolate mix

5, add either eggs or no eggs (if you use cornflour you mix that in with the flour in step 2)

6, add flour mix and stir until no lumps remain

7, add banana - or other fruit (if you use cornflour you might want to add a little extra as the cornflour tend to dry it out a bit)

8, mix in the chocolate chips if you so desire

Baking:

line a brownie tin with baking paper and add the mix

Baking times: it really depends on your oven and just how cooked you like your brownies.

• I like mine slightly undercooked, so I bake it in a small brownie tin (7x7 in) for 30 min.
• If you bake it for 40 min it'll be cooked and if you insert a toothpick into the centre it'll come out clean.
• If you use a larger tin and the mix is spread more thinly, the cooking time needs to be reduced
• If you use cornflour, you need to reduce the cooking time by 10 - 15 min as it cooks quicker and can dry out. 

As you can see, mine still has a gooey centre ... yum ... and no, I wasn't able to get a picture before the ravenous hordes got to it (yes, I do include myself in that)