Double Chocolate Guinness Brownies

Being on a low gluten, vegetarian diet means making a little more effort to eat sufficient iron rich foods and also to consider the absorption of iron in order to avoid iron deficiency anaemia (vitamin C consumed at the same meal can help the absorption of iron, whereas tea, coffee, calcium and fibre can inhibit the absorption).  On two occasions I have had to do the walk of shame at the blood donor centre because I didn't pass the iron test.

Green leafy veg are rich sources of iron, but I hate the taste of broccoli and kale (which would be very good for me).  Fortunately I love watercress, rocket and spinach - in the winter these greens make great soups and then once the weather warms up, they make for tasty salads. I'm also trying to eat more nuts and raisins and sprinkle a mixed seed mix on my cereal every morning.  I also need to start eating amaranth - but I need to find some first!

Other good sources or iron are dark chocolate, dried fruit and Guinness and the recipe below includes all 3 - but is low gluten rather than gluten free.  I have slightly adapted this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie to help give a daily iron boost and having tried them - all I can say is ... wow!!

Katie's recipe includes flaxmeal but as I didn't have any flaxmeal to hand (although I will be trying this next time as its very nutritious and also helps the brownies to be less crumbly), I swapped in 28g of gluten free oatmeal which worked quite well instead.  I also added half a cup of raisins which also worked really well - I may add a few more next time.

Thanks Katie for such a brilliant recipe - 1 tablet to be taken daily!!

Chocolate Guinness Brownies

• 2 tbsp milk of choice (30g)
• 1 cup Guinness (240g) (EDIT: I’ve just been informed that Guinness is technically not vegan, and I deeply regret my error! Vegans, feel free to use your favorite vegan stout in this recipe. Or 1 cup milk of choice may be substituted.)
• optional: 2 tbsp flaxmeal (highly recommended so that they don’t crumble) (11g)
• 1/2 cup plus 3 tbsp olive oil or vegetable or coconut oil (110g)
• 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract (15g)
• 1 cup spelt, all-purpose, or Bob’s gf flour (120g)
• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa or cacao powder (80g)
• 1/4 tsp plus 1/8 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup brown sugar or date sugar (115g)
• only if using Bob’s flour, add 1/4 tsp xanthan gum
• 1/3 cup stevia baking blend or regular sugar (you can reduce to 1/4 cup if you have no sweet tooth and are used to healthy desserts)
• 2/3 cup mini chocolate chips, optional

Preheat oven to 330F and grease a 9×13 pan. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, whisk together all liquid ingredients and flaxmeal. In a separate bowl, thoroughly combine all remaining ingredients. Pour wet into dry, stir to combine, and pour into prepared pan. Bake 13-17 minutes (13 for fudge-like brownies, 17 for cakey brownies). Brownies will look underdone when they come out but this is okay! Let cool, then refrigerate overnight and the texture will firm up nicely. DO NOT eat until the next day, as the taste and texture will change while they set.