TThis is my second chocolate and prune baking endeavor this week – partly because the kids have been asking for a repeat and partly because I had a partly used bag of really good prunes that I knew if I didn’t use would languish somewhere and get forgotten about. So after school today I had 3 kiddie helpers with egg cracking being the most popular task.
Started by stewing the prunes until soft enough to pop the stones out, meanwhile covered some chia seeds with water (maybe half a cup). The seeds kind of solidify into a thick grey paste which it doesn’t pay to look too long at. Put the prunes, juice and chia gunk into the mini-blender (this wouldn’t be that necessary a step but my kids get a bit suspicious of lumps).
Mix about 70g melted butter with 1/2 cup soft brown sugar and then add a scoop or 2 of yogurt (this part was being managed by the kids so difficult to be too precise with the measurements). Beat in the chia / prune paste. Add just over 1/2 cup of cocoa, 1 cup ground almonds, 1/2 cup rice flour and 3 eggs and beat the whole lot quickly together.
Bake in muffin cases – took slightly longer than I was expecting – maybe 20 mins (checked a couple of times until the a knife came out clean).
Obviously an un-iced version of this would be the healthier choice but not quite as nice. Given there’s a ‘weather bomb’ (whatever that is but doesn’t sound too good) heading for Wellington later then it doesn’t seem to be a moment for health to trump icing and so we melted down some chocolate and stirred in some yogurt then beat in some sieved icing sugar.
Often our appetite is in sync with the season and the weather of the moment. But sometimes there is more in play than whether the sun is shining and how fluffy the clouds are in the sky.
