Vegan Chocolate Brownies

I seriously freaked when I couldn't find a simple brownie recipe here at my own blog!  Sure, yes, there are thousands of recipes I have yet to post - or even to invent!  But...  Brownies?  NO BROWNIES on MY blog?????  Heaven's to Betsy!

So then.  I am making brownies as I write this.  For now, I'll post what I'm putting in them and my instructions.  If I have to alter anything, I'll do that next time.  But really, it's just a simple brownie recipe.  Other than the baking time, I don't really see what could go all that wrong.  I put in 1 cup of water instead of 1 1/4 C, thus making them fudge brownies instead of regular brownies.  I'm just a big fan of fudge brownies.  Regular brownies make me think of chocolate corn bread or something.  It's just...  Not...  Right.

And yes, next time, I'll make some Almolate bits to put in - I just didn't feel like it this time, and I'm still messing with that recipe anyway.  It's fairly good but it could be better.  I need edible (not chemical-filled candle) bee's wax.

Dry Ingredients

1. Mix together in a medium sized bowl:

1 C White Flour
1/2 C Organic Fair Trade Sugar
1/4 C Soy Protein Isolate
1/4 C Almond Meal
1/4 C Dagoba Fair Trade Cocoa (not the drinking chocolate: it's not vegan)
1/4 C Tapioca Starch (or corn starch)
1 1/2 T Baking Powder
1/4 tsp. Iodized Sea Salt

Wet Ingredients

2.  Mix together in a 2 C measuring cup:

1 C Water
1/4 C Canola or Almond Oil (if they ever make a cocoa oil, use that.  Cocoa butter would be cool.)
4 drops Fair Trade Vanilla

Instructions

3.  Spray down or grease a clean 9x9 brownie pan.  I like to use my Misto oil sprayer for this (thanks, Laura!).  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

4.  Add 1 or 2 tablespoons of the dry mixture to the wet, then stir thoroughly.  This acts as a catalyst to mix and distribute the oil and water (and vanilla) evenly.  Add any other wet flavorings (almond, mint, cherry, raspberry, strawberry, orange, lemon...) at this time to the wet mixture.

5.  Add any chocolate bits/chips or nuts you're going to use to the dry mixture.

6.  While stirring the dry mixture, add the wet mixture into the dry mixture, then stir the forming batter just until all the dry mixture is moist.  It should, in the end, be thicker than cake batter but thinner than cookie dough.  About half way between the two in consistency.

7.  Pour the batter into the prepared brownie pan, and use the bottom of a large spoon, cup, or ladle to push the batter out to the corners and sides, making sure that the center is at least even in depth with, if not a bit lower than the depth of the batter at the edges.  A nice back and forth motion, from top to bottom and back, while moving your arm from the left side of the pan to it's right side helps to create a nice surface on top as a finishing touch.

8.  Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

I originally set the timer for 40 minutes.  In the time it took to write this (about 25 minutes), the brownies smelled done.  I tested them out, they were nearly finished (and incredibly fluffy), but I figured they needed another 10 minutes, so I tried that...  They were ok enough, but really did need another 10 minutes.  They were still too moist without that last extra 10 minutes.  Thankfully, no eggs means I can taste test them at any point in the baking process worry free.  In any case, 45 minutes was the winner :)