Delicious no bake brownies (no sugar & with hidden veg!)

secret hidden veg brownies but you wouldn’t know it!

I made these brownies because I had some leftover pumpkin from Halloween so decided to half the amount of dates in the original recipe and swap it out for pumpkin & it turned into one of the best ideas I’ve ever had! What was even better was that the taste wasn’t compromised at all as the dates provide plenty of sweetness & the cacao gives such a rich chocolatey taste. Uh-mazing!!

These are so good when I make them I’m like:

The original recipe was from the Happy Pear but by swapping some of the dates you not only reduce the sugar but you get some veg in there too which adds more nutrition. I’ve also used butternut squash and sweet potato before, these seem like the best options to use. You can use canned pumpkin puree if you can find it.

lower sugar brownies

Recipe (makes 8/9 medium brownies)
*170g dates (soaked in warm water for 10mins)
*170g cooked veg: pumpkin, sweet potato, squash are best
*110g oats
*120g nuts
*5 generous teaspoons cacao/unsweetened cocoa powder & 1 teaspoon vanilla powder/extract OR for a Christmas flavour add 1 tsp of my pumpkin pie spice mix and 1 tsp of orange extract

Directions
First roast/steam your veg then allow it to cool for a few minutes and soak the dates.
Then grind the oats, cacao powder and nuts into a fine powder/flour using a food processor. Move this to a bowl then blend together the drained, softened dates, vanilla/spice mix & veg, next tip the dry mix into the wet mix. Blend until it all sticks together then smooth out into a lined rectangular pan and place into the fridge for a few hours to set/firm up.

They also keep fresh for ages in the fridge so are great for lunch or snack attacks!