I have been on a diet recently and managed to shift a few pounds, and a big part of the shift has been achieved by cutting out the sweet stuff and my big weakness chocolate.Apart from managing your weight, cutting back on sugar is a good idea for your skin too, as it attacks collagen, which you need to keep your skin looking good.

However, I do have a sweet tooth and a life without any treats would be very dull.  But I want to know, more than ever, what is actually in the food that I eat.

So whilst trying to curb a recent sugar craving I conjured the recipe below.  It is not sugar free but the sugars are natural and whilst the fat content is high – it is the good or better sort.

My quantity didn’t make very many brownies but this was a conscious decision as I know what I am like when it comes to sweet things – I have a tendency to hoover them up in one go!

Brownies: Most definitely contain nuts?

Brownie mix

• 50g pecan nuts*
• 50 g walnuts*
• about 12 dates

* these are the nuts I had in the house, would work well with others – almonds, cashew etc

Icing

• 50g The Groovy Food Company Extra Virgin Coconut Oil
• 2 teaspoon Sweet Freedom Choc Shot
• 1 teaspoon Green & Blacks Organic Cocoa Powder

Put the nuts and dates in a food processor and pulse until they resemble breadcrumbs.

You may need to add a few more dates, you should be able to squish the mixture together and it should hold its shape.  I find that if it doesn’t fall off a spoon it is done.

Line a dish with greaseproof paper and then add your mixture and squash it together, can be any thickness you like.

Refrigerate for at least a couple of hours – overnight is perfect.

Make your topping – (entirely optional)

Melt the coconut oil – I melted mine by putting it in a bowl which was sitting in hot water.  I didn’t do it over any heat as I didn’t want to ‘cook’ it.

Stir in the Choc Shot and a good teaspoon of cocoa powder, give it all a really good stir and then let it set.

Once set you will need to stir your icing again to get a spreadable texture.

Spread it (thick) on top of your brownie base.

Cut the brownies up into whatever size you wish and put them back in the fridge just so the topping has time to reset.

My mixture made 8 brownies.

My version of a kind of healthy sweet treat.

I really like them, if you give them a go please let me know what you think – just try to resist hoovering them!