These brownies have less sugar, no refined sugar and lovely wholemeal spelt flour making it a delicious, healthy option to satisfy those chocolate cravings.

As I write this I’m smack bang in the middle of home renovations and drowning in a sea of decision making which has stifled my creativity in the kitchen. Until a craving for brownies hit that is. For a moment I contemplated making my Hot Chocolate Cake with Honeyed Cream or Double Chocolate Banana Slab Cake, but something told me only a brownie would hit the spot.

I took the shortest route possible by throwing together a Thermomix version. Truth be known, I don’t use my Thermomix that much, but I do find it handy for quick desserts like these!

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

Here are some of the ingredients you’ll need:

Cacao Powder
Whole Spelt Flour 
Rapadura Sugar
Salt

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes. It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved and take the guess work out of what delicious, healthy food to make your kids for lunch!

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Easy Thermomix Brownies

Prep Time 8 minutes

Cook Time 25 minutes

Equipment

• Thermomix

Ingredients

• 150 grams unsalted butter
• 220 grams brown, rapadura or coconut sugar
• 75 grams cacao powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3 eggs, room temperature
• 75 grams white or wholemeal spelt flour or mix of both
• pinch sea salt

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 170°C and line a 20cm square baking tin with baking paper with some overhang so you can remove easily once cooked.
• Place the butter, sugar and cocoa powder into the Thermomix bowl and heat for 3 mins/70/speed 2.
• Add vanilla essence and eggs and mix for 35 secs/speed 4. Scrape down sides.
• Add flour and salt and mix for 4 sec/speed 5. Scrape down the sides of bowl tand mix again for 3 sec/speed 5.
• Pour mixture into prepared tin. Cook for 25-30 mins. Check consistency with toothpick at 20 minutes. Remember to undercook slightly to avoid a cakey texture as the brownie will continue to cook whilst cooling and resting.
• Leave to cool completely in the tin before cutting up into squares.

If you make this recipe and share on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

Delicious and creamy. Sweet, satisfying, and quick! How healthy are these bowls really?

Smoothie bowls are fruit-based which means while it’s all-natural sugar they can contain far more servings of fruit than you’d typically eat in one sitting. In its blended form, the fructose hits the bloodstream quickly and all at once. All that fructose can spike insulin and get you riding the blood sugar roller coaster.

And because smoothie bowls are carbohydrate-based you can end up hungry again very soon after.

The trick is to make sure there is enough protein, fat, and fibre to balance out the carbs and get a slower release and stable breakdown in the body.  This is why I always recommend including things like nuts, seeds, yogurt, and protein powder to slow down that fast release.

Smoothie bowls topped with lots of fruit are popular and make the bowl look very pretty and Instagram worthy but I try to limit the fruit toppings for more fat and protein-based toppings like nuts, seeds coconut flakes or shreds and my homemade granola.

The same goes for your regular ol’ smoothies like this Choc-Banana Nut Butter Smoothie and Ginger Mint and Green Apple Smoothie. 

In the recipe below you’ll see how I make my smoothie bowls with one of our favourite combinations.

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Berry Smoothie Bowl

Prep Time 5 minutes

Servings 1

Author Brenda Janschek

Ingredients

• 1 cup your favourite frozen berries or you can replace berries for frozen mango
• 1 banana, frozen and sliced
• ¼ cup mixed raw cashews and chia seeds or macadamias and almonds work well too
• 2 tbsp natural or Greek yoghurt
• 1 scoop protein powder optional
• 1/2 cup ice
• 1/4 cup milk of choice add extra if needed

Toppings

• 2-3 tbsp homemade granola
• 1 tbsp coconut flakes or shredded coconut
• fruit sliced paw paw, banana, berries or your fruit of choice (optional)
• 1 tsp chia seeds
• 1 tbs peanut butter optional

Instructions

• Blend up nuts and seeds until smooth. Add the rest of the ingredients and blend on low until smooth
• Serve into bowls with toppings

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes. It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved and take the guess work out of what delicious, healthy food to make your kids for lunch!

If you make this recipe and share on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

Other recipes you might like are Anti-oxidant Smoothie and Super Smoothie. 

The recipe is filled with nutritious ingredients including mood-boosting cocoa powder and protein packed peanut butter. Plus, they are naturally sweetened with medjool dates instead of refined sugar. Bliss balls always make the perfect healthy treat for when those sugar cravings hit. They’re a great snack for on-the-go and the perfect pick-me-up for anyone in the family who needs a nice boost of slow burning energy.

We’ve always got a batch of bliss balls going like these 5 minute apple and cinnamon bliss balls, Cookie Dough Energy Balls, Chocolate Orange Truffles and now these Chocolate Peanut Butter Bliss Balls will be on high request because the kids have declared them their fave.

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes. It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved and take the guess work out of what delicious, healthy food to make your kids for lunch!

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Bliss Balls

Prep Time 10 minutes

Servings 12

Ingredients

• 125 grams Medjool dates, pitted
• 2 tablespoons Cacao powder
• 2 tablespoons Peanut butter
• 3/4 cup Mixed nuts and seeds I used pepitas, chia seeds, brazil nuts, almonds, hazelnuts and cashews
• 1/2 cup Desiccated coconut plus extra for rolling
• 1-2 tablespoons Brown rice syrup or maple syrup (optional) dates may provide enough sweetness

Instructions

• Pop all ingredients into a food processor and blend until all the ingredients clump together. Scoop around a tablespoon at a time and roll into a ball and roll in desiccated coconut if desired or leave plain. Should make around 12 balls. Store in the fridge.

Notes

I always double the recipe for bliss balls because they keep so well in the freezer. If you double this recipes then it becomes easy to add more variety of nuts and seeds too. 

If you make this recipe and share on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

During my son’s golf club competitions, the lovely manager’s wife , RIP, always brings snacks for the the young players, and a fave is a particular cookie she’s always got on hand.

We found out they were from a supermarket, and when we checked them out, there were one too many questionable ingredients on the list for my liking. And because cookies are so easy to whip up, I suggested we try to recreate them. Compare the ingredient list below with the one in my son’s recipe!

So while I’m totally fine with store-bought sweets like this every now and then, here are my issues with the above list.

– given the makers of Roundup (Monsanto) have just been fined 10 billion to settle cancer suits and who spray a crap tonne of Roundup on our wheat crops right before harvest, I’m not cool about the kids eating too much non-ogranic wheat flour.

– sugar appears 4 times in the list (including the white compound chocolate) which equals a lot!
– I don’t want detergent-like food additives in my kids food thanks aka, emulsifier.
– Palm Fat (oil) has an extremely harmful impact on the environment. Deforestation of some of the world’s most biodiverse forests in order to extract the oil from the fruit is destroying the habitat of already endangered species like the Orangutan, pygmy elephant and Sumatran rhino  : (
– Milk Solids –  some experts believe they contain oxidized, or damaged, forms of fat and cholesterol which are  linked to hardening of the arteries. I’d rather not risk it myself.
-Preservative 220 (sulphur dioxide) – not great for people with asthma, sinus or headaches.

Now, cookies are dead easy to whip up, so I suggested we try to recreate them and my teen son insisted he take over the role of cookie creator, then promptly researched, experimented, tweaked, and has since baked around seven batches of different varieties of cookies. All of them delicious, but my favourite being these Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies, because, well, #peanutbutter

These are sweeter than the biscuits or cookies I would make, but despite numerous requests that he uses at least a quarter cup less sugar, my son refuses to co-operate. If I were making them, I’d reduce the sugar by at least 1/4 cup, but I’m not kicking up a stink because at least they’re home-made with ingredients which the body recognises and can process, and at the end of the day, his cookies provides us with so much joy and deliciousness (plus fodder for the lunchboxes which I didn’t have to make!) and he just loves making them for us! Update: I’ve since made this recipe myself with less sugar and everyone loves them so go ahead and try that out.

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes. It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved and take the guess work out of what delicious, healthy food to make your kids for lunch!

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Chewy Peanut Butter Cookies

Course Dessert

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 10 minutes

Total Time 20 minutes

Servings 15

Author Orlando Janschek

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1 1/4 cup unbleached plain flour or your choice of preferred flour
• 1/2 cup brown sugar If you are transitioning from store bought cookies you may need to increase by another 1/4 cup
• 1/2 cup rapadura or coconut sugar or you can use raw sugar
• 1 teaspoon bicarb soda
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
• 1 egg room temperature
• 1 pinch sea salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180 degrees C
• Line 2 baking trays with parchment paper
• Combine butter, sugars, peanut butter and salt and beat with electric mixer until smooth
• Add the egg and whisk until incorporated
• Mix flour and baking soda together in small bowl, then fold into wet mixture until just combined
• Add choc chips and gently fold through the mixture
• Using an ice cream scooper drop rounded balls of mixture onto the baking trays, a few centimetres apart as they spread, and press down slightly
• Bake for 10-13 minutes or until lightly golden, turning baking trays at halfway mark
• When ready, leave to cool completely on baking trays
• Store for up to a week in airtight container

Notes

Feel free to reduce the sugar to 1/2 cup or 3/4 cup, that's what I would do if I were baking them! 

If you make this recipe and share on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

Some other delicious recipes created or inspired by my son are Chocolate Choc Chip Cookies and Rustic Banana, Blueberry and Coconut Cake and Orange and Poppyseed Bars.

This Flourless Orange Almond cake is gluten-free and refined sugar-free, it’s moist and delicious and a real crowd pleaser. It also has a carrot thrown in for some extra goodness.

It’s a perfect to eat at any time of day but we’ve been enjoying it with a dollop of cream after dinner whilst watching Stranger Things with the family. It would be perfect served with a cup of tea when having a friend drop in is no longer a thing of the past!

Many of the ingredients in this recipe can be sourced from my one-stop-favourite, organic wholefoods online store, The Wholefood Collective. They go to great lengths to ensure everything they source is amazing quality, they stock all my favorite products and I don’t even have to leave the house! Oh and the cherry on the cake is they donate profits to improve food security for vulnerable Aussies.

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes.

It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved and take the guess work out of what delicious, healthy food to make your kids for lunch!

FLOURLESS ORANGE ALMOND CAKE

Ingredients

Prep 20 mins. Cook 1 hr.

1 orange, unpeeled and coarsely chopped

1 medium carrot

125 grams unsalted butter, softened

¾ cup sugar, I used rapadura sugar (the cake isn’t overly sweet so add an extra 1/4 sugar if you think your family will prefer)

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2.5 cups almond meal

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon powder

1 tsp ground ginger

Pinch salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 175 degrees C. Grease and line the base and sides of a 22cm round spring-form cake pan.

Place orange and carrot in food processor and process until finely chopped (thermie speed 8 for 20 seconds)

Add butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla. Process until well combined. (thermie SP5/15 seconds) Add almond meal, baking powder, spices and salt. Process until well combined.(thermie SP5/15 seconds).

Pour mixture into the prepared pan. Bake for 1 hour or until skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean,  spinning half way. Cover with foil and continue cooking  f the top browns too quickly.. Cool in pan for 30 minutes then turn onto wire rack to cool completely. Slice and serve.

If you make this recipe and share on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

Some other delicious recipes containing oranges you might like are Chocolate Orange Truffles and Orange and Poppyseed Bars.

With a base made of Medjool dates mixed with nuts and buckinis and just a thin drizzle of dark chocolate on top, this healthy fudge is perfect guilt-free snack for anytime of day.

It’s easy to choose your own ‘crunch’ too. We love it with peanuts and buckinis but next time we might try rice or quinoa puffs or perhaps granola folded in. You can even skip the chocolate layer if you’re trying to avoid all refined sugar. And how about throwing in a few cranberries too. Yum!

Whatever you decide for the crunch this delicious healthy treat takes minutes to make but warning, they are highly addictive so think about making a double batch!

If you’re looking for more recipe inspiration take a look at my ebook, Easy Wholefood Lunchboxes.

It’s packed with 40 delicious nut-free, refined sugar-free sweet and savoury recipes which have all been kid-tested and approved, and take the guesswork out of what delicious, healthy food to make your kids for lunch!

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Choc-Fudge Crunch

Prep Time 15 minutes

Cook Time 5 minutes

Servings 12

Ingredients

BASE

• 2.5 cups Medjool dates approx 20 dates
• 1/4 cup cacao powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons buckinis (optional)
• 1/2 cup peanuts or roughly chopped nuts of your choice like almonds, hazelnuts, cashews, or seeds like pepitas, sunflower...
• pinch sea salt
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil, melted

CHOCOLATE TOPPING

• 80 grams dark chocolate I used 70% Lindt) which leaves about 2 squares left of the block of chocolate, what you do with those is up to you : )

Instructions

BASE

• Line a brownie pan with parchment paper
• Place the pitted dates, coconut oil, vanilla extract, and cocoa powder into a food processor. Process until sticky paste forms and all the dates are puréed, around a minute.
• Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and add the buckinis and nuts. Mix using your hands until everything is combined. Transfer the date mixture to the brownie pan and press down to desired thickness, but don’t make it too thin.
• Pop into the freezer to set a little while you melt the chocolate in the next step.

CHOCOLATE TOPPING

• Gently melt the chocolate over a double boiler. Once melted grab the date mixture from the freezer and pour the melted chocolate evenly over the date and nut mixture. Place the tray back into the freezer until set, shouldn't take too long.
• Remove from the freezer and cut into about 12 medium size squares. Store and eat directly from the freezer or fridge.
• Store and eat directly from the freezer or fridge.

If you make this recipe and share it on instagram, remember to tag me @brendajanschek.

Otherwise,  feel free to pm me your photos via Facebook.

Some other delicious healthy chocolate treats you might like are Double Chocolate Banana Slab Cake and Raw Cacao Balls