Fudgy Vegan Brownies

When I became vegan several years ago, I did mourn my beloved brownies out of a box. I tried and tried to make them vegan, but they were never quite right. I like my brownies with a little bit of a crust on top, and a dense, fudgy, chewy middle.

Finally, I came across this genius recipe and have been tweaking it just a little until I finally had what I was looking for. A vegan brownie that is just as good as any brownie I have ever had....except with these vegan ones I can eat the batter with no worries about salmonella. Just sayin. It's the little things that bring joy :-)

I hope you find these as awesome as I do, because we all need a good vegan brownie recipe in our life.

Fudgy Vegan Brownies

Ingredients:

1 tbsp golden flax meal
2 tbsp water

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup cold water

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 cup natural cane sugar
1 cup natural brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla

3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 11x7 inch rectangle baking pan with cooking spray.

Stir the flax meal and the 2 tbsp of water together in a measuring cup and mix to combine well. Set aside to let thicken.

Note: you can buy flax meal and keep it in your freezer, or buy flax seeds and grind in a spice or coffee grinder as needed. I also keep the whole wheat flour in my freezer as the whole grains go rancid more quickly than the processed ones.

Combine the whole wheat flour and the all purpose flour in a large mixing bowl. Take 1/2 cup of the combined flours and put it in a small/medium sized sauce pan. Add the cup of cold water to the flour and mix with a fork to remove any clumps.

Put the saucepan with the flour and water over low heat and stir constantly while it thickens. Seriously commit yourself to the stirring here. It only takes about 5 minutes and you don't want any flour clumps ruining this perfect vegan brownie experience. When it becomes a thin paste, remove from the heat and set aside.

Add the coconut oil to the flour paste while it is still warm, so the oil will melt into the flour mixture. Then add the sugars and stir well. Finally, add the flax meal and water mixture and the vanilla to the flour-water-sugar mix and combine. Set aside while you finish prepping the dry ingredients.

To the remaining flours in the mixing bowl, add the cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Whisk well to combine and break up any clumps of cocoa. Most bakers would probably advise sifting here, but I hate sifting for some reason, and I never do it. I have a special spoon lifting technique that I use instead, where I kind of lift spoonfuls of the dry ingredients and sprinkle them back down into the bowl. It works for me...

Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until it is completely incorporated. Then fold in the chocolate chips, if using, and pour the batter into your prepared baking dish. Put it into the preheated oven and bake for 30 minutes. If you are super dedicated to the brownies, you can rotate the pan halfway through baking for a more even result.....or not, either way.

For 15 brownies. Nutritional information from caloriecount.about.com.

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 70 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 223 Calories from Fat 73

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 8.2g 13%

Saturated Fat 6.6g 33%

Trans Fat 0.0g

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 160mg 7%

Potassium 160mg 5%

Total Carbohydrates 38.1g 13%

Dietary Fiber 1.9g 7%

Sugars 22.9g

Protein 2.6g

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 0% Calcium 2% • Iron 9%

Nutrition Grade D

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet