Diet Diaries: Low-carb chocolate brownies to carry you through the cravings

A reader that, like me, is following a low-carb high-fat diet, recently shared a chocolate brownie recipe with me that I tried out and turned out really well. The family scoffed them in one go! They are a bit high on the carbs because of the banana, so I didn’t have any fruit for the rest of the day. The recipe makes 12 brownies, but don't use cheaper dark chocolate, as it is full of sugar. I also used almonds instead of the hazelnuts. You can use butter instead of the coconut oil, but I did like the coconut flavour.

Low-carb chocolate brownies

150 g extra virgin coconut oil

100 g xylitol

100 g 70% dark chocolate, melted

50 g 70 % dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces

2 ripe bananas, mashed

4 large free-range eggs

2 t vanilla extract

150 g ground almonds

2 t baking powder

25 g cocoa

200 g hazelnuts, chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a 22 cm square baking tin with greaseproof paper.
2. Beat the oil and xylitol until creamy. Beat in all the remaining ingredients and pour into the tin.
3. Bake for 20 minutes until still a little wobbly in the middle. As the brownies cool, the chocolate will set.
4. Cool them in the tin before slicing.

There’s nothing better than a gooey-centred brownie, especially when you haven't had something sweet for a month, trust me! I think I went into some sort of euphoric state!

My latest experiment is a “bullet” coffee, which keeps the hunger pangs at bay for hours. My husband whisked one up for me this morning. I was a bit skeptical about whisking 2 T butter into a cup of freshly brewed coffee, but we shook it up in a Consol jar and it turned all frothy and tasted really delicious. Apparently the Tibetans and Ethiopians have been drinking this style of coffee for ages for energy. You can use a blender if you like, but the jar works just as well. I honestly wasn't hungry until about five hours later and felt I had so much energy. Try it, but make sure you use a good-quality grass-fed unsalted butter. Tomorrow morning I will try adding 1 T coconut oil in addition to the butter.