Saturday 7 April 2012

Blissful Brownies!

Yesterday was my best friend's birthday and I wanted to make her some brownies as they have always been her favourite treat. However her family are pretty big meat eaters and although she is a pescetarian and supportive of my diet, she is not the biggest fan of veganism. Therefore I was faced with a dilemma, how do I make vegan brownies taste like normal brownies? Bring it on. 
I looked everywhere for a decent recipe and as always, the hardest thing for me is finding an English recipe that doesn't use applesauce or cup measurements as in England, those things are not in abundance as they are in America. It took a while but I found it...the holy grail of brownie recipes. Seriously. 


Recipe: 
340g self raising flour
4tbsp cocoa
A good pinch of salt
340g golden caster sugar
1tbsp golden syrup 
150ml sunflower oil
 (I did not have this and broke the rules using Olive Oil but could not notice a difference!)460ml soya milk
2 1/2 tbsp vanilla extract


Decoration: 

80g vegan chocolate (chopped into large chunks) or dairy free chocolate chips (if you can find them)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 190c and grease your brownie pan.
2. Sift the flour and cocoa together into a bowl.
3. Add the salt and sugar then stir to mix through.
4. Pour in the vanilla extract, golden syrup and half of the oil, stir slowly until thick and lumpy.
5. Add the milk and the remainder of the oil and beat to combine.
6. Pour into your brownie tin before placing pieces of the vegan chocolate into the mixture for decoration and taste.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30mins. Test with a skewer to see if they're cooked through.
8. Leave to cool for a while before slicing into squares.


I cannot take credit for this recipe, the original is on this website: http://www.athriftymrs.com/2012/02/easy-vegan-brownies.html




I use an AGA cooker and they took no longer than 25 minutes. I then left them to cool for a good 15 minutes to make sure they absolutely did not fall apart! 
The brownies turned out crunchy on the outside with a moist and rich chocolate centre and lovely nibs of chocolate chips to spice them up a bit! They were heavenly. The real tester was feeding them to my friend's meat-loving brother- he did not even realise they were vegan...score! Honestly, the recipe made about 30 brownies and within about 2 hours of being baked, they were all gone and the requests for more were pouring in! 






So why not break out the chocolate and apron and get baking. You could serve them with soya cream and strawberrries for the perfect afternoon snack or indulgent dessert! (BONUS: Calories are only around 185 per brownie using Olive Oil so they are almost guilt free as well!) 






Have a fabulous Easter weekend and let me know how the brownies go down with all of your families! 

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