Monday, September 5, 2011

The Perfect Vegan Brownie! It's REAL!

So for the past three weeks, I have been making a million brownies. I have been on the hunt for the PERFECT vegan brownie recipe.

I tried a million different recipes, I tried a million different methods.

I tried using bananas as an egg replacer.


I tried using Ener-G Egg Replacer


I used different flours (whole wheat pastry, all purpose, spelt, etc).


I tried using a bar of chocolate instead of cocoa powder.


There was a plethora of different colored / textured batters.


Anyways, my point is that I did all kinds of weird shit. And most of the recipes I made were just either really blah, or really disgusting, or didn't cook right.

So yesterday, I made some brownies for the 11th time. I didn't expect these to taste awesome, I didn't even expect them to taste GOOD. The recipe called for more cocoa powder than flour (what the hell?) and 1 1/4 cup of OIL. Jesus christ. The proportions seemed so off. But I figured that I've tried making brownies with black beans, I may as well just try a recipe that calls for unusual proportions.

This recipe came from You Won't Believe It's Vegan! Pg 178

Ingredients
3 tbsp egg replacer (Ener-G)
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups soy milk
1 1/4 cup oil
1 tbsp vanilla
3 cups Sucanat
2 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups chopped nuts


Now, I changed a few things (because I always freaking do).

I used vanilla soy milk, so it was a little sweeter.
I used 3/4 cup walnut oil and 3/4 cup canola oil.
I used whole-wheat pastry flour instead of all-purpose.
I simply used organic unbleached cane sugar instead of Sucanat.
I didn't use nuts. I don't love nuts.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease a 9 x 13 inch pan and line with baking parchment.

1. Whisk together the water and egg replacer...


then mix with the rext of the wet ingredients and Sucanat.



2. In a seperate bowl, stir together the cocoa, flour, baking powder, salt and nuts.


3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix together.

 
When the batter was made, I had a REALLLLLLY hard time not eating it all.


So I pulled out some celery and forced myself to eat that instead. I wasn't particularly pleased about it.

4. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack to room temperature. When cool, cut into twenty-four squares.




And, my friends, there was born a perfect vegan brownie.

:) :) :) :)


RATINGS:

Deliciousness: 5/5
Moist on the inside, a sweet, flaky top, SUPER chocolatey....this is definitely a damn good brownie. Rich and decadent, not weirdly burnt on the sides, not overly mushy on the inside. It's perfect. It's not a cakey brownie,and not a particularly fudgey one...it's a freaking moist, delicious, chocolate fest.

Ease of Preparation: 4/5
One of the easier brownie recipes I tried. I didn't have to mash up any bananas, I didn't have to melt a chocolate bar, and I didn't have to chop up any nuts (because I didn't freaking want to).

Prettiness: 5/5
LOOK AT IT!

5 comments:

  1. what a lovely mug i noticed in that one picture

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  2. Isn't it? A really good friend made it for me. <3

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  3. Okay, so I was actually looking for the black bean brownie recipe when I came across this one. Anyone who has tried 11 variations of brownie recipes in search of the perfect one must either really love brownies, enjoy washing dishes, or truly be a baking perfectionist. I'm banking on the latter, so I'm trying these tomorrow as an Easter treat for my family. By the way, your writing style and humor totally hooked me on reading this entire recipe. Just thought you should know. Oh, and the cookbook you referenced is "You Won't Believe It's Vegan" (minus the "not").

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  4. Success! These brownies were a big hit at our family Easter get-together. As someone who is not a big fan of brownies, I must say these had the best texture, darkest color, and most pleasant flavor (not too rich, but rich enough) I've ever experienced in a brownie. It might really be the perfect vegan brownie. I still can't believe how much sugar, oil, and cocoa powder this recipe uses, but it also makes a lot of brownies. They weren't oily like I feared they would be, and by using whole wheat flour, I felt somewhat justified in eating them. Thanks for sharing this online!

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  5. Aww, I'm so glad they worked out for you! My OCD qualities have SOME benefits. :) :)

    And that's for the edit, I'll fix it now!

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