Vegan Chewy Chocolate Brownies

My friend over at A Season to Taste has been asking for this recipe. It's taken a while to post it though! I first got it from a cooking workshop we put together at Le Frigo Vert over ten years ago, and the brownies are truly amazing! They are soft, rich and chewy. And very easy!

Vegan Chewy Chocolate Brownies

1/2 cup flour
1 1/4 cup water
2 2/3 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup cocoa
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups flour*
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup chopped nuts

Stir together the 1/2 cup flour and water in a saucepan over low heat until very thick. I use a whisk initially to stop it going lumpy. Then cool the mixture to room temperature. (This is important!)

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9 x 13 pan. (I've used two 8 x 8 pans with success as well.)

In a large bowl combine the sugar, salt, vanilla, and cocoa. Add the cooled flour/water mixture. Stir together. Add the oil and mix well until smooth and the oil doesn't separate out of the batter. (This can take a while.)

Add the remaining flour, baking powder and chopped nuts. (*For a chewier brownie replace up to 1/2 cup of flour with ground almonds. Highly recommended!) Mix well until all ingredients are blended. The batter will be fairly thick.

Transfer batter to pan(s). Bake 25-35 minutes until firm and a knife inserted into the centre comes out 'clean.'

Enjoy!

Just Peachy

Growing up in a diabetic household, we rarely ate desert. And when we did have an after dinner sweet, it was often fruit or recipes that Mum had adapted to have less, or no, sugar. Unlike these days where supermarket shelves seem to be full of sweet-tasting sugar-free products, in the 1970s and 1980s these products were hard to find--if they existed at all! Consequently, I find many deserts too sweet for my not-so-sweet tooth, even those made from scratch following traditional recipes. The sweetness often seems to overpower any other flavours.

This recipe is a delicious low sugar recipe from a favourite Mennonite cookbook of mine: More-with-Less Cookbook. It is sort of like a cross between peach pie and a light cheesecake, and relies on the sweetness of the peaches to tempt the tooth. When peaches are in season, it's heavenly. Even with canned or preserved peaches, it's divine. I usually make it with yogourt instead of sour cream. Sliced peaches work just as well if you don't have halves.

Peach Kuchen
Serves 6

1 ½ cup unbleached flour
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp sugar
½ cup butter or margarine
8-12 peach halves, canned or fresh
¼ cup sugar (or honey or maple syrup)
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 egg beaten
1 cup sour cream or yogurt

Combine flour, baking powder, salt and 2 tbsp sugar. Cut in butter. Pat mixture into the bottom of a 9” pie dish or flan pan. Place peach halves on top of pastry base, open side down. Mix the ¼ cup sugar with the cinnamon, and then sprinkle this mixture over the peaches. Bake for 15 minutes at 400 F.

Mix together the egg and sour cream or yogurt. Pour over baked peaches and bake for another 30 minutes.

Valentine Vegan Sweet

If you're still looking for a quick and decadent-tasting vegan desert to share with a special person this evening, here is one of my favorites: Vegan Chocoloate Pudding. It uses silken tofu (like Mori-Nu brand, available at most grocery stores) as its base, although you'd never know it. (And indeed, it has fooled many.) It's also very easy to adjust how sweet or chocolatey the pudding turns out by increasing or decreasing the cocoa or maple syrup quantities.

Quick Vegan Chocolate Pudding
Serves 4

1 pkge (10 oz) firm or extra-firm silken tofu
1/2 to 1 c. maple syrup (to taste; can substitute honey)
3/4 c. cocoa powder (ad more for extra rich chocolate taste)
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and blend until smooth.
Pour into serving bowl(s).
Chill and serve.

Serve plain, with fresh fruit or with a fruit compote.