Hi! My name’s Fallon. I’ve been vegetarian since I was three, and mostly vegan since 2015.
I’m also a life-long baker.
I have many happy memories of making cinnamon rolls and Christmas cookies with my mom.
Now that I’m grown, baking has turned into a passion for me, and I love to share it with people. There’s nothing better than giving a gift of freshly baked goods to your family, friends, and neighbors.
Learning to bake vegan has been an adventure. When I went into it, I knew the basics of regular baking, like creaming butter and sugar together when you’re starting to make cookies.
But with vegan baking, there’s a lot of substituting. You need to know what the function of an animal-based ingredient is within a recipe before substituting a vegan ingredient. And certain recipes just don’t work the same.
It’s confusing and sometimes frustrating. But if you like learning new things, and if you get satisfaction out of a freshly baked loaf of bread or a cake that turned out just right, then I think you’ll like this blog.
That’s why I wanted to make it, for people like me who wanted to learn and get better at baking vegan. I wanted to create a resource that was informative, yet readable and personable, to help teach other aspiring vegan bakers everything there is to know. And I’m along for the journey too!
Why “The Brownie Quest”?
Cookies are super easy to make vegan. I’ve even made some excellent croissants.
But for some reason, the perfect brownie has eluded me. I’ve tried a ton of recipes, but none of them are perfect. So what is perfect?
When I was a kid, my parents used to get Ghirardelli triple-chocolate boxed brownie mix. Maybe it’s just my childhood memories of delicious processed food, but to me, that was basically the most perfect brownie to ever exist.
I don’t necessarily want to recreate it to a tee. I’m sure if I ate one now, it would be too sweet. Also, I know it didn’t have nuts, which is a tragedy. But it does give me some goals to work towards.
- Fudgy, not cakey – if you want a cake-like texture, why not just eat a chocolate cake? A brownie to me is dense and fudgy.
- Crackly, flaky top – this has eluded me the most. Even when I baked with eggs, I still couldn’t get this from homemade brownies.
- Chocolate chips – for extra chocolatey goodness. Who doesn’t like bonus chocolate? It also breaks up the texture.
- Nuts – Fight me on this, but walnuts make brownies ten times better. This requirement doesn’t come from my childhood memories, because I was a picky eater as a kid and preferred my brownies without nuts. Child me was wrong. Nuts break up the brownie and give it some extra flavor.
- Not too sweet – now that I’m vegan and not eating a lot of processed foods, things often seem overly sweet to me. It’s probably ironic that I’m starting a baking blog even though I don’t have a massive sweet tooth, but oh well. I like just a touch of sweetness with a dark chocolate flavor.
- Good fresh out of the oven, or a few days old – I’m from a family of three, so baked goods tend to last a few days in our house. Therefore, it’s important that my perfect brownie recipe tastes just as good a few days after it’s been baked.
I jokingly called my multiple attempts at creating the perfect brownie my “brownie quest,” and that ended up sticking and becoming the name of this website.
Of course, I’ll be baking more than brownies along the way! Join me on my quest to learn the science behind baking, and master breads, cakes, pastry, and whatever else I decide to bake.
Got a baking science question you’d like answered? Or want to know something about me? I’d love to talk to you and answer any questions you might have.
Contact me here!