I was shopping with my younger 2 girls yesterday (my middle daughter has a viral eye infection so has been home from school) and we were approached by a lady who was giving away free chocolate, Whittakers brand to be exact. She had samples of white, milk and dark chocolate and I was surprised Carlie went for the dark (its called Dark Ghana). I tried a tiny bit and was most impressed. Its 72% cocoa and no milk solids so great for those lactose intolerant but it doesnt have that full on bitterness like lindt dark chocolate, give me this one anyday over lindt dark chocolate. Carlie too was impressed and as they had a special on in woolworths 2 for $6 I grabbed 2 and wanted to cook with them.

I had guests thisarvo so decided why not get stuck into some gluten free baking, and test out this new recipe of mine!

Here is the first recipe I came up with (who doesnt love chocolate and hazelnuts together and in a brownies….its heaven) we all know how good dark chocolate is for us too!!!

Dark Chocolate & Roasted Hazelnut Brownies

serves 12

150 grams Whittakers Dark Ghana Chocolate (any is fine but this one has beautiful flavour)

1/2 cup hazelnut meal

1/3 cup rice malt syrup

1/3 cup sorgham (or you can use amaranth or brown rice flour, but I havent used sorgham before so thought I’d try it out in this recipe)

1 Tbsp tapioca starch or cornstarch or potato starch

2 eggs

1/2 cup nuttelex dairy free spread (or butter)

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup roasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped (I roast my own in an oven 180 degrees C for about 15 minutes then rub off the brown outer layer, not all will come off but most come off easily)

Preaheat oven 180 degrees. Line an 8×8 inch baking dish with grease proof paper. Melt the dark chocolate and dairy free spread (or butter) together in the microwave or you can use a double broiler on the stovetop. In another bowl beat the eggs with a mixer for 3 minutes then add rice malt syrup and vanilla beat for a further minute. Add the chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and beat for another couple of minutes until nice and smooth. In another bowl combine dry ingredients except chopped hazelnuts) and mix together with a fork until evenly combined. Add the flour mixture to the wet and beat until combined. Gently mix in chopped hazelnuts and pour into prepared dish making sure its all even in the dish and place in the oven for about 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool slightly then using the grease proof paper gently pull out of the dish and let cool on a wire rack. Cut into squares when cool.