The Best (Vegan) Brownies Ever!

 

A couple of months ago, Culinary Friend baked me a batch of brownies to die for.  When I found out they were mostly vegan, I nearly keeled over!  Knowing how much butter & egg goes into regular brownies, I was very keen to learn how to make these.

Mostly Vegan Brownies from Culinary Friend

Uninitiated in vegan baking, I was quite mystified how ground flaxseed can replace the egg.  And why applesauce?  Culinary Friend linked us to MyCaliforniaRoots.com – what an amazing website!  Such wonderful photos & easy to follow recipes.

Trying not to over think this, Younger Daughter and I mixed up a batch of  The Ultimate Vegan Brownies.

Culinary Friend replaces the whole wheat pastry flour with cake flour, uses regular chocolate chips (because vegan chocolate chips are so difficult to find) and instead of vegan butter, replaces the amount with vegetable oil.

My Attempt #1: replaced the chocolate chips with 4 tbsp cocoa powder,  3 tbsp oil & 5 tbsp sugar; used canola oil instead of vegan butter. Did not use additional chocolate chips or walnuts.

Verdict: the wholemeal flour used is too course – brownie was gritty.  Did not have the crackly top crust – maybe too much oil, overall.

Failed 1st Attempt: no crackly top, wholemeal flour too gritty

Attempt #2: managed to find vegan chocolate chips & vegan butter in the store.  Instead of whole wheat pastry flour, I used with cake flour (as suggeste by Culinary Friend).  Apart from this one substitution, I followed the original recipe.

I realised that some of my teaspoon/tablespoon/cup measures were US quantities, and others were UK measurements.   Didn’t even realise there was a difference till I poked around the internet trying to figure out what went wrong with Attempt #1.  So, for this batch, I made sure all my measuring equipment were US based.

Verdict: Crackly top achieved!  Closer to what Culinary Friend makes.  Needs more practice, I think, but a decent outcome this time.

I am only a Mostly Vegetarian: sometimes, when I am inspired, I will eat fish, usually tuna from a can, or sweet & sour fish.  So why bother with vegan recipes?  For one thing, this Vegan Brownie is the best I’ve brownie I’ve ever eaten.  And yesterday, Older Daughter & I made a batch of  Vegan Chocolate Chip cookies:  best chocolate chip cookies we’ve ever made.

So, the better question is: why not vegan recipes?

 

I have entered this post as part of the monthly link up party Our Growing Edge.  This event aims to connect food bloggers and inspire us to try new things. The month of May 2016 is hosted by Joana at My Gut Feeling.  The theme is Allergy-Friendly Recipes.