It's hard to describe how much I love these. I could happily eat an entire tray in one sitting … and have done too many times! Each square is wonderfully gooey and chocolatey, with sweet raisins and crunchy toasted buckwheat bites adding extra texture and substance. All I can say is that you just have to go and make them; I promise you'll adore them, too. You can also make them nut-free, with just a couple of tweaks.
Makes 15
150g buckwheat groats
100g cacao butter
200g oats
100g pecans (or pumpkin seeds, if you're nut-free)
300g medjool dates, pitted
2 heaped tablespoons almond butter (or tahini, if you're nut-free)
5 tablespoons maple syrup
5 tablespoons raw cacao powder
pinch of sea salt
100g raisins
Preheat the oven to 200°C (fan 180°C). Pour the buckwheat groats evenly on to a baking tray and bake for 10 minutes, giving the tray a shake halfway through so they all get a bit of colour.
Meanwhile, place the cacao butter in a saucepan and heat gently until melted.
Pour the oats and pecans into a food processor and blitz until they're fully ground down. Add the dates, almond butter, maple syrup, cacao powder, melted cacao butter and salt. Blitz together to form a really smooth and sticky consistency.
Pour the mixture into a large bowl with the raisins and toasted buckwheat and mix well.
Line a 20cm square brownie tin with baking parchment, pour in the mixture and smooth it down with a spatula. The mix can be pretty sticky, so make sure you press it well into all the corners. Freeze for about 1 hour, then slice into 15 pieces to serve.
This recipe is republished with permission, from Deliciously Ella with Friends, by Ella Mills, Hachette NZ, $34.99 RRP
© Ella Mills 2017
Ella Mills is the blogger behind https://deliciouslyella.com, which has recipes that are vegetarian, wheat and refined sugar free. But as she says, it's not about diet or deprivation, there's no one size fits all, and everything she does can be adapted to suit you.