The Best Vegan Brownies

Intense chocolate flavor, very rich, dense, thick, chewy...one word to sum it all up: deliciousness. This is by far the best vegan brownie recipe I've ever tried.

Gabrielle, a super cool vegan girl, introduced me to the website Vegan Baking.net and obviously, when I visited that community I went directly to the brownies section. ;-)

I added it to my favorite vegan sites, it's one you shouldn't miss since they have lots of good recipes, tips and easy instructions to succeed wether you are a rookie or a pro vegan baker.

So here's my version of the 'Ultimate Brownies' recipe by Mattie at veganbaking.net. Hope you like it!

Receta en español aquí!

 

The Best Vegan Brownies

Ingredients
3tbsp water.
2 tbsp golden flax meal.
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour.
1/4 tsp baking soda.
7 tbsp cocoa powder.
4 ounces (about 113g) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped.
1 tsp instant espresso powder.
3/4 tsp salt.
1/4 cup boiling water.
1 1/2 cups sugar.
6 tbsp (80g) non-hydrogenated margarine, melted.
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract.
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped.

Directions

In a small mixing bowl whisk together the water and flax meal.

Let it sit for about 10 minutes so the mixture gets goopy (this will work as the egg replacer).

Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).

Line a 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper allowing excess paper on opposite sides so you can pull the brownies out of the pan later.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together the all-purpose flour and baking soda. Set aside.

In another medium mixing bowl add the cooca powder, semi-sweet chocolate, espresso powder and salt. Add the boiling water and using a spoon, mix in the ingredients into a paste, making sure that all of the chocolate pieces are melted. Add the sugar, margarine, vanilla extract, flax meal mixture into the chocolate mixture and mix with an electric mixer until smooth. Stir in the walnuts if you're using them. Using a spoon mix in the flour until well combined. The mixture will become extremely thick and you may need to use your hands to mix. Refrain from mixing this dough with an electric mixer at this point; this will overwork the dough and activate too much gluten, negatively affecting the texture of the brownies.

 

 

Transfer the batter to the baking dish. You may need to use a rubber spatula to press the thick dough into place. Bake for 35 minutes on your oven's middle rack. Transfer the baking dish to a wire cooling rack and allow it to cool for about an hour.

 

 

Transfer the brownies to the wire rack by lifting them out of the baking dish by taking hold of the exposed parchment paper on each side. Allow them to cool completely before slicing into squares.

 

Tips:

- The recipe calls for golden flax meal, I didn't have at the moment of making my brownies so I grinded plain flax seeds. I'd suggest you to buy the flax meal though.

- Next time I will try to melt the chocolate and skip the boiling water step. Maybe it changes a bit the texture of the brownie.

- Do not preheat the upper element of your oven. I usually preheat only the lower element.