Recipes for Vegan Brownies were harder to come by when I first posted this recipe. These days there are lot more to choose from! Still, this one has a place in my heart so I can’t seem to get rid of it. Plus I wonder if some of the more modern ones were actually derived from this vegan brownie recipe. I found it on an old vegan baking board and thought it was interesting, as it calls for the odd step of mixing the flour and boiling water to make a paste. The paste acts as a binder in lieu of the missing eggs.
I’m leaving the old flour paste recipe here (unformatted and below the new one) for people to look at, use, or get ideas from, but I’ve modified it a lot. I added unsweetened chocolate (which helps bind), switched to an 8 inch pan (though a 9 inch could still work) and have played around with the oil. For instance, instead of regular oil I used regular oil mixed with macadamia nut oil. Honestly, it wasn’t very good. Stick with a neutral oil.
Back in the day I always made brownies in a metal tin and didn’t trust my glass dish. I still use metal tins, but I find the glass dish aesthetically pleasing. Sometimes it even helps the crust. So I have made these in both metal and glass using 350 degrees F.
Please enjoy these old horrible photos.
Here’s the flour paste mentioned above. Yum!
Updated Vegan Brownies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 6 tablespoons Dutch process unsweetened cocoa powder (45 grams)
- 1 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (42 grams)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar ( 50 grams)
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil or use 3 T. regular oil and 1 T. macadamia nut oil
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup all purpose flour (130 grams)
- 1/2 cup vegan approved chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup nuts optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch pan with coconut oil (or any other vegan fat you like) and line with parchment paper. If desired, grease the parchment with a little more coconut oil and sprinkle some sea salt across the bottom. This gives an extra bite of salt in each bite of brownie.
- In a mixing bowl, mix the boiling water, unsweetened chocolate and cocoa powder and stir until smooth. Let cool slightly.
- Add both sugars, oil and vanilla and stir until smooth.
- Mix together the flour, baking powder and salt, then stir into the batter. Make sure the batter is not so hot that it will melt the chips, then stir in the chocolate chips. Give the batter 40 or so good strokes with a heavy duty scraper.
- Spread mixture in the pan. If desired, spread nuts over the top. and bake on center rack for 25-30 minutes or until brownies appear set (the middle should puff up slightly and will lose its glossiness). Let cool completely and chill. Lift from pan and cut into squares.
Old Recipe with Flour Paste
Vegan Brownies
2 cups all purpose flour (255 grams)
1 cup water
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup nuts (optional)
1/2 cup vegan approved chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 inch square pan with non-stick foil (Release) or parchment paper
Measure out 1/2 cup of the flour and place it in a saucepan with the water (1 cup). Whisk flour and water together over medium heat until mixture becomes thick and gluey. Set it aside to cool.
In a mixing bowl, thoroughly stir together both sugars, salt, cocoa powder and baking powder. Add oil and vanilla and stir until well mixed. Add gluey flour mixture and stir until incorporated, then stir in remaining 1 ½ cups of flour. If using, add nuts and chocolate chips.
Spread mixture in the pan and bake for 25 to 35 minutes or until brownies appear set. Let cool completely and chill. Lift from pan and cut into squares.
Anna
Thanks for the review!!
DR
Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe!! My vegan friend was so excited, she hadn’t had brownies in years due to allergies! Totally satisfied that craving! Ths
Anna
Sorry it didn’t work for you. Wish I could figure out the variables that gave you such bad results — there are always crazy variables.
This is one of my older recipes and having made it several times, I think I’ll add a note that says to refrigerate. It’s not critical, but it really helps develop the texture.
DH
I tried this- exactly following the recipe, I cooked for 30 minutes as it was not done at 25 minutes, although it turns out it wasn’t done at 30 minutes either! I tried the cooked corner of the brownie, but it was so bad, I had to rinse out my mouth!!! I thought that paste might be a great egg replacer, but I am staying well clear from now on!
On a completely separate note, I love the best ever yellow cupcake recipe featured on your blog- it really is the best!
Joy
Do you think this recipe would work in a 9 x 13 pan? I don’t have a 9-in. square pan, but am interested in trying this recipe. 🙂
Ashley
i just made half of this recipe as an experiment and half of it was gone within 10 mins outta the oven!! i added chopped dark chocolate and underbaked it ever so slightly, the result was Heaven.ly. it was warm and so rich and gooey, with melted chocolate in every bite. i threw some of it in the freezer, took a bite after 1 hour, and i was in chocolate heaven again. thank you so much for this awesome awesome recipe. you made a recently-turned vegan with a huge sweet tooth very very happy today.
Anna
Marie, that would be my guess. I think it just helps give the brownies extra bulk.
Marie
Purely out of curiosity – what’s the purpose of the paste? To fully hydrate the flour with the water? It’s very intriguing.
Laurel
Do you know if I used whole wheat flour, how much I would use?
Anna
Hi Bethany! Thanks for the review. Did you make any changes or substitutions? Mine are never that incredibly rich. Their brownie-like and satisfying, but not gooey. Sounds like something went wrong. Feel free to email me if you want to troubleshoot :).
bethany
these are ridiculously rich! i had to bake them for a lot longer than 25 minutes, and they were still all gooey in the center.
Anna
Yes, natural is the non-Dutched. However, I think Dutch chocolate will work just as well in terms of leavening because the recipe uses baking powder and brown sugar, which both add enough acid to the recipe to counteract the non-acidity of the Dutch process cocoa. Let me know how it goes with Dutched. If it works, I’ll take out the “natural” in Italics.
LisaE
Anna, these are right up my alley. Does natural cocoa refer to non-Dutched process cocoa? (Normally I only keep the Dutched kind around.)