Hello, I am a professional dumbass.
Why? Well, I wanted to make two different recipes of vegan brownies in one day. But obviously, two whole pans of brownies are too much, so I halved the recipes in my head.
And then I forgot halfway through.
So basically, these brownies were sorta halved. They’ve both got too much egg replacement and sugar in them. I tried to fix them, but there’s only so much you can do when you have your batter already made, and like I said, you really don’t want two whole trays of brownies.
In any case, they both ended up being pretty tasty, and they gave me a good starting point to know where I should improve.
The Original Recipes
Going into this, I thought back to what my “perfect brownie” was.
I figured that because my childhood dream brownie (like a Barbie dream house, but tastier) was from a Ghirardelli box mix, their recipes should get me somewhere in the vicinity of what I wanted.
To my delight, the Ghirardelli website had a number of (non-vegan) brownie recipes to give me a good start. I chose the “Fudgy Chocolate Brownies” and the “Classic Chocolate Brownies,” as they seemed like similar recipes with a few key differences (namely, the second recipe added in butter and baking powder, plus brown sugar instead of regular sugar).
Of course, I added chocolate chips and nuts to them, since that’s a requirement of mine. I also veganized them (obviously).
But let’s see how they stacked up.
Recipe 1
![Square piece of brownie on a place](https://thebrowniequest.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/brownie2-1.jpeg)
Recipe 1 was based off of the “Fudgy Chocolate Brownies” recipe.
I was pleasantly surprised at how simple the recipe was, just six ingredients (eight, when I added the chocolate chips). I made another recipe earlier this month that had twelve ingredients, so it was nice to make something a lot simpler.
My test subjects (by that, I mean my parents) liked Recipe 1 better. They thought it was closer to the “perfect” brownie. I agree; it was a denser, fudgier texture, especially after the brownies had been sitting around for a few days.
Surprisingly, despite the fact it had twice as much sugar as it was supposed to, I didn’t find it too sweet. I would be interested in seeing what effect sugar has on the texture of brownies, so this is something to play around with in the future.
Why wasn’t it perfect?
One issue I had with it was that it seemed a bit oily, especially on the bottom. I did grease the tin with coconut oil (as I do with all of my baked goods), but I don’t think I overdid it.
It also didn’t have a flaky top. Boo.
Rating of Brownie Recipe 1: 8.5/10
The Brownie Quest Brownies: Attempt I
Ingredients
- 8 oz baking chocolate bar
- 1.5 cup granulated sugar
- 6 tbsp vegan butter
- 2 tbsp ground flax seeds (prepackaged vegan egg replacement powder will also work)
- 6 tbsp water
- 2/3 cup flour
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F.
- Grease an 8" square baking pan and line it with parchment paper.
- Make egg replacement: Put 2 tbsp of ground flax seeds and 6 tbsp of water into a small bowl. Mix, and let sit. (You can also use packaged egg replacer if you prefer.)
- Melt the baking chocolate bar and butter a heatproof bowl over simmering water, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove from the heat.
- Using a large spoon, beat the sugar and salt into the chocolate mixture.
- Beat in the flax egg.
- Add the flour and mix until combined.
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Remove from oven and cool for at least 10 minutes. Let cool completely before cutting or removing brownies from pan.
Recipe 2
![Pan of brownies](https://thebrowniequest.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/brownie1.jpeg)
Recipe 2 was based off of the “Classic Chocolate Brownies” recipe. This had a few more ingredients, like baking powder and vanilla, so I figured it would turn out more cakey.
Recipe 2 was still good! As a person who prefers the corner piece, I actually preferred the crust on this one better – Recipe 1 didn’t have much of a crunchy crust.
This recipe was sweeter, although again, this was my fault. You could also detect the sugar particles as you were eating the brownies. This recipe was made with brown sugar rather than white sugar, so maybe working to dissolve the sugar more would solve this issue.
As mentioned before, Recipe 1 was better over time.
I didn’t notice all that much of a difference between the two on the first day, but Recipe 2 felt drier and slightly cakier as the days went on. I think an important part of baked goods, especially when you have a small family like mine, is how well they save on your counter.
Rating of Brownie Recipe 2: 7/10
The Brownie Quest Brownies: Attempt II
Ingredients
- 4 oz baking chocolate bar
- 1/2 cup vegan butter
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 2 tbsp ground flax seeds (prepackaged vegan egg replacement powder will also work)
- 6 tbsp water
- 1 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1 pinch salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Grease an 8-inch square baking pan and line with parchment paper.
- Make egg replacement: Put 2 tbsp of ground flax seeds and 6 tbsp of water into a small bowl. Mix, and let sit. (You can also use packaged egg replacer if you prefer.)
- In a heatproof bowl over simmering water, melt the chopped baking chocolate and butter together, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove the bowl from the heat and let cool to room temperature.
- Mix the brown sugar and vanilla into the chocolate mixture.
- Add the flax eggs and mix well.
- In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture until combined.
- Mix in the chocolate chips and nuts. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
- Remove from the oven and cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting.
So what am I going to try next time?
- Actually read the frickin’ recipe correctly.
- Research how to make the top of brownies flaky.
- Try recipe 1 as it was originally written to see what the original sugar content was like
If you are interested in trying my experiments for yourself, I have included the recipes (complete with my own errors) within the text above. I have, however, re-sized them to be full recipes, so you don’t have to make them in tiny tins like I did!
Stay tuned for more Brownie Quest adventures.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.