New Zealand Peanut Brownies Two Ways

Low Carb Biscuits……winner!


Nigel loves all sorts of stuff he’s not allowed to eat because he has issues with carbs and as a Kiwi apparently, peanut brownies are a staple comfort food from home.  He has been wanting me to bake his mum’s recipe for him for ages.  Well we’re in lockdown and I ran out of excuses but also decided I’d take the opportunity to work out whether they would work in a low carb version.  New Zealand peanut brownies are not like the cakey version we have here – they are very much a cookie.

This was my first attempt and I have to say they were both great.  Next time, I shall probably bake the low carb version for a minute less as they were perhaps a little too well done on some of them around the edges.  Nigel is now in love with them.  You get a real carby crunchiness once they’ve cooled down and you really wouldn’t know you were eating something so healthy!  

Erythritol is not quite so sweet as normal sugar though so you do need the extra sweetness of stevia.  As with any recipe that involves gram flour – do not be tempted to taste the uncooked batter…..I know half of you are going to anyway…….see?  I told you, don’t do it – it’s nasty!

I use homemade baking powder which means it’s also gluten free – I’m not sure whether all baking powder is gluten free or not.  It’s just a mix of cream of tartar, cornflour and baking soda in a ratio of two parts cream of tartar to one part cornflour and one part baking soda.

It’s tempting not to roast the nuts first but please do – they are so much better as a result.  Kiwis seem to use American cup measures rather than weighing for baking so I am following suit here. 

Carby Traditional Ingredients                                    Low Carb Version

½ cup red skin peanuts                                               ½ cup red skin peanuts

4oz butter                                                                   4oz butter

½ cup sugar (I used granulated)                                 ½ cup granulated erythritol

1 cup plain flour                                                          2 tablespoons stevia

1 teaspoon baking powder                                         ½ cup ground almonds

1 egg                                                                           ½ cup gram flour

2 tablespoons cocoa powder                                     1 teaspoon baking powder

                                                                                    1 egg

                                                                                    2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Method

Preheat the oven to 180C and roast the peanuts for 20 minutes on a baking tray

Leave the oven on but remove the peanuts and tip them off the baking tray onto a cold plate to cool

Line a large baking tray with baking parchment/greaseproof paper

Cream the butter and sugar or erythritol together with a hand mixer until fluffy

Sift in the remaining dry ingredients (except for the peanuts) and mix in thoroughly

Beat the egg and add to and combine with the mixture

Stir through the peanuts

Roll into 9 or 10 balls the size of a ping-pong ball and space out evenly on your baking sheet then press each one down into a flat disk with the palm of your hand

Bake at 180C for 12 to 15 minutes.  15 seemed to work for the carby original version but I think the low carb ones could have come out after 13.  Remove from the tray with a spatula and leave to cool.  Whilst it is always tempting to eat this kind of thing when it is still warm, they don’t go crisp until they are cold.

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