Chocolate Courgette & Blueberry Brownie

It’s not often that you read ‘chocolate, courgette and blueberry’ in a sentence, let alone an ingredients list…but here is my Chocolate, Courgette & Blueberry Brownie.

Excess Courgette Harvest

I had excess harvest last week and had given a bundle of produce away to anyone who was passing. A little timid at first, one or two passionfruit were taken, followed by a cucumber, a pocketful of pears, handfuls of tomatoes…then to my surprise, a recipient gave me a large yellow courgette to say thanks! I grinned. Little did he know I had a garden full of courgette to tend with, but the intention was very lovely!

So, with an extra courgette milling around my fridge (verging on a marrow really, it was pretty huge) I decided to do some baking.

I had great success a few years ago with the making of my Chocolate Courgette Cake and wanted to experiment further with a brownie. So, inspired by nutritionist Claire Turnbull (who always endeavours to offer healthy recipes), I proceeded to mix both fruit and veggie into a brownie to defy all odds. Not only would my very large yellow courgette be grated skin-on, I would also add blueberries to the mix. In theory, it would work and in actuality, it rocked!

Dairy-free, it could well be gluten-free too by using gluten-free flour.

This is a very moist and chocolatey brownie, but not over-sweet. Don’t be fooled by the courgette, you will hardly notice it there (and certainly won’t be able to taste it).

TIPS:

• If you are looking to use a big old marrow, you may wish to remove the skin before grating the flesh in case it is a little tough. Personally I would discard the seeds in this instance once grown to mature marrow size!
• If using courgette, top and tail it, then grate it all. The skin and seeds are soft and work well.
• Be sure to squeeze the grated courgette/marrow in your hands to remove as much liquid as possible. The brownie is already very moist and doesn’t need extra liquid!
• I have experimented with this recipe several times. In one baking session I found I was running low on flour, so topped up the 1.5 cup requirement with ground LSA (linseed, sesame and almond). It worked a treat too!

Chocolate Courgette & Blueberry Brownie

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 1 Tbsp vanilla essence
• ¾ cup maple syrup
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• ½ cup cocoa powder
• 1 ½  tsp baking soda
• 2 cups  courgettes, grated
• 1 cup blueberries
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180°C fan bake.  Line a square baking tin with grease-proof paper.
2. Mix together eggs, vanilla and maple syrup in a large bowl.
3. In a separate bowl, sieve flour, cocoa and baking soda.
4. Add wet and dry ingredients together and mix into a batter.
5. Wash courgette and leaving skin-on, grate. Squeeze out as much liquid as possible before measuring, then  fold in to the batter with blueberries and chocolate chips.
6. Pour mix into the baking tin, smoothing into the corners with a wooden spoon.
7. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until firm to touch (and a skewer in the middle doesn’t come out gooey).
8. Allow to cool then sprinkle with icing sugar.

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