Frosted Brownies

September. What a tease. 

Shows us a few days of sunshine only to snatch them away and replace them with endless mornings of waking to the grey misery that is autumn. There are no crunching leaves and crisp, cool nights. No - it's raining, it's cold and I'm going to be blunt - Summer is over for another year. 

Yeah, it's here, it's really happened. I've bought a coat, turned the heating on and succumbed to the fact that Saturday nights will now probably revolve around a take away and the X Factor...

Luckily, September also means my birthday is very soon, so it can't all be that bad. 

For those of you who don't have a birthday this month, I have a delicious-almost-guilt-free new recipe for you - Frosted Brownies. 

Indulgently rich and chocolately and as comforting as your favourite jumper, with the bonus that they're dairy free, gluten free and vegan. These babies will cure any problems...weather induced or otherwise...
Just 'cos Septembers a tease doesn't mean it has to be all down hill from here. 

Ingredients:

For the Brownies:
4 tbsp flax seeds + 8 tbsp water
1/4 tsp baking powder
50g dairy free dark chocolate
100g vegan margarine
175g soft light brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g GF self raising flour - I use Doves Farm
50g nuts - I used walnuts and a mix of a few others - pecans, almonds, brazils etc. (+ extra hand full to top)

For the Frosting:
250ml (1 cup) coconut milk
226g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids minimum)
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons of maple or agave syrup 

To Make:

To Make the Brownies:

• Preheat oven to 180C. Grease and line an 8"x8" baking tin. (would also work well in muffin cases in a deep muffin pan, if you wanted to make them individual.)
• Mix the flax, water and baking powder together in a small bowl and set aside. It'll be a thick, paste like consistency.
• Melt marg. and chocolate together in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring occasionally. 
• Remove from heat and let to cool slightly.
• In a large bowl, stir together the melted chocolate, flax mixture, sugar and vanilla. 
• Whisk to combine. 
• Roughly chop your nuts. 
• Sift in the flour and and fold into the chocolate mix with the chopped nuts.
• Pour into the prepared pan and smooth out evenly.
• Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the brownies start to pull away from the sides of the pan and they spring back slightly to the touch. They should have a crisp top and be gooey in the middle.
• Let them cool slightly in the tin and then leave on out to cool completely whilst you make the frosting.

To Make the Frosting:

• Chop the chocolate up into small pieces and tip into a medium heatproof bowl. 
• Boil the coconut milk in a small pan, and then pour over the chocolate. 

• Let the milk and chocolate sit without stirring for around 10 minutes. 
• Using a spoon, mix until completely smooth and shiny. 
• Cover with cling film, and pop in the fridge for around 1 hour or until cool (don’t leave it longer as it will become very hard and impossible to work with). 
• When cool, remove from the fridge and add the maple syrup.
• Using an electric whisk, beat until the mix becomes fluffy looking and begins to hold its own shape. At this point, stop the beater. Make sure you don't over whip. 
• Dollop onto the cooled brownies and spread evenly with a palette knife. You could use a piping bag here if you're fancy...but I'm not fancy.

• Sprinkle over the remaining chopped nuts, cut into squares and serve.