Last year I began my Very Important Quest to find the best brownie recipe out there. This included a brief detour into the world of special diet brownies, the results of which were varied. My first attempt was a gluten free, dairy free, no added sugar, vegan ‘brownie’, made primarily of sweet potatoes and dates. Lionel wrote about our friends’ honest response here. It’s fair to say, they didn’t go down particularly well.
But I have a confession to make. I am guilty of having *slightly* adapted the original recipe – I didn’t use the specified type of dates, and I used cocoa powder instead of cacao powder (you swap a few letters round – how different can it be?!) So I decided it was only fair to have another go, this time following the recipe to the letter.
I was excited that maybe these two slight changes would make all the difference and I would actually discover a delicious healthy alternative that still tasted like a brownie. But they didn’t. And I haven’t. They tasted exactly the same as when I made them with cheaper dates and cocoa powder (and I now have a huge bag of cacao powder that I’m wondering how to use).
I’m sorry, Ella, but these are not Delicious! She says ‘I have to admit that when I made these I was beyond excited, 
like really way too over excited. I was jumping around a lot, making a lot of ‘mmmmm… delicious… wow… these are outrageous… can you believe it’ type noises!’ I was hoping for a similar moment, but alas it never came. Perhaps because my diet actually contains sugar, gluten, dairy etc. on a day to day basis my taste buds expect more. They are certainly not ‘the sweetest, gooiest, softest, most moist, chocolatey brownies ever.’ 
For those looking for that experience I feel you would have to add chocolate, butter, eggs and the usual. However, if you are after a healthy alternative then these are fine – just don’t claim they taste like chocolate brownies!
I would also like to question the purpose of putting them in the oven for 20 minutes. The taste and texture were completely the same before and after cooking (and, yes, I did turn the oven on!)
The Quest continues…
Sorry these weren’t good! They promise so well. Maybe we just all like sugar too much?
I think you’re right Kat- maybe an okay healthyish snack- just don’t claim it’s a chocolate brownie!
Brownies are all about texture, both in appearance and taste – a crisp, crackled sugar shell on top, a soft, meltingly gooey middle, and dense chewiness on the edges (that’s why the corner pieces are so awesome!). These ingredients just don’t add up to anything that would come close to replicating that! If I want a brownie, I want a *real* brownie…