Hello! I’m back, much sooner than I’m sure any of us anticipated, and with equally unanticipated content. For this time I won’t be sharing scraps of anecdotes or experiences, but instead a recipe. (If I do happen to impart any of the former it will be unintentional, the mere byproduct of an occupational hazard.) And not just any recipe – but the recipe for the *best* brownies ever. Which also happen to be vegan.
Since I’ve come back home I’ve been having massive chocolate cravings, and one afternoon, tired of reaching for the almond-studded chocolate bar lying in my fridge, I decided to be proactive. That meant making brownies, of course. I originally planned to make Deliciously Ella’s tahini brownies, but upon discovering to my disappointment that the tahini I had in-pantry had expired, I modified the recipe slightly – and to incredible results.
These brownies are everything you could ever want a brownie to be; they are the epitome of those gooey box brownies, except better because they’re homemade and done so with proper ingredients. They are chewy and fudgey: the perfect combination of rich and chocolatey, without being too overwhelmingly sweet; their edges have texture without being cakey, while their semi-molten middles are simply to die for. One of these will definitely indulge that mid-morning or afternoon chocolate craving. Or it might actually have the opposite effect and leave you hankering for more, because they are so good.
I’m really not very adept at writing about food yet, so bear with me. But I hope I’ve managed to convey how much I love these. And while they are brownies, and can’t be strictly called nutritional, their choice of ingredients renders them slightly less bad for you than others of their kind – or so I like to think, and use as my excuse for having at least three a day. Instead of being loaded with butter, as the majority of brownie recipes are, these call coconut oil to their aid; you won’t have to use commercial chocolate either, since cacao powder is used instead. I think it’s the smooth almond butter, combined perhaps with the oat milk, that creates their signature texture without compromising the singularly chocolatey flavour.
Really, photos do not do these brownies justice. You have to make them for yourself to get the full experience. Even the batter tastes delicious – and it’s completely safe to eat too, since there are no eggs – only beware that you don’t eat it all before it goes in the oven, as is the temptation! I haven’t put down how many brownies this serves as I basically ate the whole tray myself over a few days; but having based it off another recipe, I’d say that it yields around 12 brownies, or perhaps 16. To be helpful: it all depends on how big you cut the squares 🙂 If you want to make these a little fancier, serve with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream and a handful of fresh raspberries, or simply enjoy with a cup of coffee.
Based on Deliciously Ella’s Tahini Brownies
Ingredients
- 300g coconut sugar (if you don’t have this, I’m sure cane sugar would work just as well)
- 200g plain flour
- 5 & 1/2 tbsp cacao powder
- 7 tbsp coconut oil
- 4 heaped tbsp smooth almond butter
- 200ml oat milk (you could use other plant milks too)
- pinch of salt
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180C, fan setting.
- Mix the coconut sugar, flour, salt and cacao powder together in a large bowl, ensuring there are no lumps.
- Melt the coconut oil either over low heat or in the microwave and add to the dry mixture along with the almond butter and oat milk.
- Mix well and pour into a baking tin.
- Bake at 180C for 30-35 minutes; depending on your oven you may have to keep an eye on the brownies to make sure their tops don’t burn. (I covered mine around 15-20 minutes in.)
- Harnessing all your powers of self-control, let the brownies cool, first in the baking tin and then on a rack or cutting board
- Reward yourself for your efforts by indulging in one of these bad boys (or two, or three).
