Ok, I know. The other day I admitted to you that I gave up my gluten free diet for my strawberries and cream cake at the weekend. I hadn’t planned to, honestly. And I can prove it to you; because I also baked some gluten free Lavazza Espresso Chocolate Brownies.

Gluten free living isn’t hard at all, especially when you know what you are looking to avoid. There are so many other options out there, just as delicious, believe it or not. I recently posted about Andy Murray’s gluten free diet helping his performance on court, citing that mine had also improved since giving it up.

These Lavazza espresso brownies are really delicious. My boss even declared that it could possibly be the best chocolate brownie he has ever tasted. The flour is replaced with ground almonds, which is one of my favourite baking ingredients. Almonds are also a great pairing for coffee so this combination worked really well. I took them out of the oven slightly earlier as I love a gooey brownie but if you keep them in for a couple of minutes longer, they will be slightly firmer.

I’m way over half way through my challenge now and I’m so excited at the prospect of being able to join in the round table discussion with Lavazza at Wimbledon. I’m even more excited about the prospect of actually visiting the Lavazza roastery in Turin – the largest in Europe! It would be like my birthday and Christmas had come together at once!

Don’t forget, you too could be in with a chance of winning LOADS of Lavazza goodies, including Limited Edition A Modo Mio machines, itunes vouchers and even tickets to Wimbledon. Simply head to wimbledon.lavazza.com. Good luck and let me know if you win!

If you want to purchase one of the machines – if you are a coffee drinker, it is a must – then head here and have a browse.

Chocolate Lavazza Espresso Brownies

Ingredients

225g unsalted butter, cut into cubes
225g dark chocolate (I used one with 70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped
150g granulated sugar
55g dark brown sugar
Pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/2 shot of Lavazza A Modo Mio Espresso
3 eggs, slightly beaten
190g ground almond

Directions

1. Place an oven rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 170C. Grease and line an 8-inch square baking pan with baking paper.

2. Melt chocolate and butter slowly in a bain marie, taking care not to burn the chocolate. Once they have melted together and are completely smooth, turn off the heat and transfer to a heat proof bowl.

3. Add both sugars, salt, vanilla extract and espresso and whisk until well combined.

4. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, around ten minutes, before gradually adding the beaten eggs, making sure to whisk continuously to ensure that the eggs don’t scramble. Mix in the ground almond until just combined.

5. Pour the batter into the prepared baking pan and bake just until the top looks set and feels soft to the touch, about 30 minutes.

6. Allow the brownies to cool for a few minutes in the pan, then transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool completely before cutting into squares.

Enjoy!