A Midweek Treat

There are a thousand different ways to say I love you. One of them is with food. The simple act of cooking a dish fulfills so many simple pleasures, even before the eating of it.

The recipe that follows resulted in the ambrosial brownies you see above. They were too luscious to eat (almost) so I thought I'd photograph them quickly in the spirit of Spring, just before they disappeared.

The recipe is from Bill Granger's new cookbook "Feed Me Now!" the only chef/restaurateur I pay attention to. He told me it would be "Killah" in his Australian accent and he was right. It is also, (gather round), much lower in fat than regular brownies. The moistness comes from the novel addition of dates. When I snapped Bill doing his thing below, one thing that struck me was how easy and fast it is. Do try this at home.

Healthy Chocolate and Date Brownies (makes 25)

140g butter

140g finely chopped dates

60g cocoa powder

90g plain flour

1tsp baking powder

95g soft brown sugar

3 medium eggs

1tsp vanilla

• Line a 20cm cake tin with baking paper. Preheat the oven to 160 degrees centigrade.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the dates, stir well, take off the heat and stand.
• Sift the cocoa powder, flour and baking powder into a large bowl, add the brown sugar and combine.
• In a new bowl, whisk the eggs and vanilla. Stir in the dates and butter. Add to the dry ingredients until just combined.
• Pour into the tin and bake for 20 minutes or until just set. Leave to cool and cut into squares. Enjoy!

Bill sees baking in this day and age as something special, like

letter-writing, I have to agree.