Recipe: Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies

Feeding the Family

Recipes

Published on Saturday, 02 February 2013 09:15

Last Updated on 18 December 2018

Monica Costa

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This amazing Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies Recipe was kindly donated by Dean and Sarah Gough, authors of the book ‘Recipes For Life – Fighting Back With Food’, a recipe book with a difference. Each individual recipe was eaten by their two-year-old son Alfie when he was battling Stage 4 Neuroblastoma. Sadly, little Alfie died in 2010, however, Dean and Sarah believe the nutritional diet they chose for their son gave him a fantastic quality of life in his fight.

Ingredients (Makes 12)

100g organic dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids) for melting

50g organic dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids for flavour finely chopped into chips

150g coconut oil

100g xylitol

2 ripe bananas, mashed

4 large organic eggs, beaten

2 tsp vanilla extract (not artificial vanilla flavouring)

150g ground almonds

2tsp gluten free baking powder

25g cocoa powder

200g hazelnuts, chopped

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/ 350°F/ Gas Mark 4.

• Line a 22cm square baking tin with baking paper.

• Melt the 100g of chocolate in a heat-proof bowl, above a pan of hot water.

• Beat the coconut oil & xylitol together, then either blend in the rest of the ingredients in a food processor or, to do it by hand: beat in the chocolate, bananas, beaten eggs & vanilla extract & then stir in the chocolate chips, ground almonds, baking powder, cocoa powder & chopped hazelnuts.

• Pour mixture into the prepared tin & bake for 20 minutes or until the mixture no longer wobbles when shaken & the top is just firm to the touch. You don’t want to cook it for too long or the brownies will lose their squidgy quality. Leave to cool then cut into slices for serving.

*Can be made in advance.

*Suitable for freezing.

‘Recipes For Life – Fighting Back With Food’ (£15.99 Ecademy Press) is an essential source of information for families in the same situation, not only does it help try and save other lives, by releasing this book it will also hopefully help the funding of the Alfie Gough Charity. #alfiestrust

“The side effects of the chemotherapy were barely noticeable, he had no hair of course, but he gained weight on treatment and he never suffered from any of the symptoms that we were warned about. We are 100% convinced that this was due to the diet we had chosen for Alfie,” says Sarah.

Several celebrities have pledged their support already, including Chef Gary Rhodes OBE donating his Leek & Potato Soup to the cookbook. Additionally, Sir Ian Botham visited Alfie at Great Ormond Street Hospital in April, 2010 and says: “I am delighted to be part of this book in memory of a special boy and knowing that the success of this book will be Alfie’s legacy living to help others.”

Dean and Sarah share their nutritional knowledge in this book, hoping to help families in a similar situation with information on the importance of nutrition. Dean says: “We learnt a lot about nutrition from the experts in this country and even when we went across to an alternative clinic in Mexico.”

“In summary, the common theme we found was focused on purity and cleansing the system to allow the immune system and the body’s natural defences to work correctly,” Dean says.

However, the main purpose for writing this recipe book is to fund the charity set up in memory of their son Alfie; the Alfie Gough Trust. After Alfie tragically died, Dean and Sarah decided to carry on with the fund-raising in memory of their son to try and help other children, consequently creating the Trust.

Sarah says: “By providing families with what we found was essential nutritional information, the aim is to reduce some of the severe side effects of the Chemotherapy, ultimately keeping a child with this disease stronger throughout the treatment, giving them the immune support to help fight this disease.”

Recipe: Chocolate Hazelnut Brownies