Now people in real life who read this blog (ie. my mum and J) know I am hopelessly addicted to Nutella. I honestly cannot be left unattended with a jar. I will ladle it onto toast and croissants so thickly my dad always likes to ask “do you want some toast on that Nutella?” Now, because of this I actually avoid having a jar in my house, otherwise every day would be Nutella toastie day. Anyway, I just fancied Nutella on toast last week and ended up buying a big jar, knowing full well how fast it would disappear I decided to attempt to make Nutella brownies and give them to my workmates.

On a whim I decided to substitute the flour in my recipe for ground almonds, which made the brownies denser and have a more nutty flavour (obviously). They also had the added bonus of meaning I made a completely gluten free cake recipe (I checked the ingredients of Nutella to verify this fact) for the first time. These taste absolutely beautiful and one of my work colleagues actually emailed me asking me to make more. Sometimes store bought gluten free cakes can taste dry and mealy but frequently I think, from buying gluten free brownies at markets and looking at some truly fantastic blogs, that in the home gluten free baking has come a long way. I’m glad, maintaining a special diet is so hard at times, particularly when you have to watch other’s enjoying things like cakes and biscuits.

To make these brownies you will need:

110g butter

Approx 3/4 on a 40og jar of Nutella (or other hazelnut spread)

2 large eggs

50g caster sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

125g ground almonds

2 handfuls chopped walnuts (or other nuts of your choice)

Preheat the oven to 180°C. Line a small baking tin with grease proof paper or silicone liners. Scatter your nuts across the baking paper.

Melt the chocolate and butter and leave to one side to cool.

Whisk the eggs and the sugar together until they have a pale yellow consistency and the mixture is very fluffy.

Add the vanilla, ground almonds and Nutella/butter mixture and beat well until everything is mixed together.

Pour into your lined tin and bake for 30 minutes until crusted on top.

Leave to cool and cut into squares. Before I took these into work, my housemate and I enjoyed these warm with a hot drink (I had tea, she had coffee). I really urge you to try this recipe, its amazing whether you can eat flour or not!