This deliciously moreish brownie has become a firm favourite at Beanies HQ. First introduced by Gwilym, it has become the regulation “birthday brownie” of choice!
Preheat the oven to 180C fan/gas mark 6 and line a 20cm cake tin with greaseproof paper. In a small bowl, mix the milled chia seeds with 270ml of water and set aside. (I use a nutri-bullet to grind regular chia seeds to a fine powder)
Place the coconut oil and broken chocolate into a medium-sized saucepan and set over a low heat. Stir occasionally until melted, then take off the heat. Mix in the sugar, flour and miso, and crumble in the salt flakes. Finally, add the chia seeds/water mix, which should be gloopy by now. Make sure the batter is very well combined – you don’t want lumps of chia gloop in the final brownies! Pour the entire mixture into the lined tin and gently shake to distribute the mixture.
Place on the middle shelf of the oven for 45 minutes, then remove.
The brownies might be wobbly in the middle, but they will soon settle down and become deliciously fudgy. Leave to cool completely, then cut into 16 squares.
This is originally a Meera Sodha recipe featured in her excellent book East, as well as on the Guardian Food site.
Makes 16 brownies
milled chia seeds 5 tbsp (you can mill your own in a nutri-bullet)
coconut oil 150g, flavourless
dark chocolate (70%) 250g, broken into small pieces (use dark chocolate suitable for vegans if vegan)
light brown muscovado sugar 350g
plain flour 120g
white miso 3 tbsp
flaky sea salt ¾ tsp