Your wish, dear reader, is my command. Catherine asked for a vegan brownie recipe yesterday so today I whipped up a batch to share with you. As it’s mother’s day tomorrow they will come in handy when Ma Yogini comes to tea (if you’re reading this Ma, there’s something else as well so the surprise isn’t completely ruined!). This recipe is one I’ve been playing around with and is based on the Brownie recipe in Vegan with a Vengeance.
But first a word on egg substitutes. If you think baking without eggs is impossible, think again! The two main egg substitutes that I use are bananas or soy yoghurt. It is possible to get powdered egg replacer, which you mix with water. This is fine for things like pancakes or cookies where it being a little crispy doesn’t matter, but I never think it quite works when it comes to cakes.
So as a general rule of thumb one small blended or mashed banana = 1 egg. Banana is awesome in breads, muffins and cakes and to be honest I don’t think it makes everything tasty banana-ry either.
I suppose there are times when you don’t want to risk banana flavour seeping through, or maybe you don’t like bananas (who doesn’t like bananas?). And this is where soy yoghurt comes in. You can get soy yoghurt in most supermarkets these days and certainly in most health food stores. Make sure it’s plain, I know that seems obvious, but even vanilla flavoured can ruin a recipe.
4 tablespoons (60ml) of soy yoghurt = 1 egg.
This brownie recipe utilises the banana option. You can make it with 8 tablespoons (120ml) of soy yoghurt instead, but honestly try the banana. I promise you won’t be able to taste it.
So without further ado let’s get on to the recipe!
Ingredients
115g/4oz plain chocolate, broken up.
2 small bananas (blended or mashed until very smooth)
75ml/3fl.oz vegetable oil (I use sunflower, but rapeseed works well too as does a sweeter oil like almond)
75g/3oz caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
90g/3.5oz plain flour
25g/1oz coco powder
half teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
Method
Pre-heat the oven at 180 degrees C/Gas Mark 4.
Grease and line a baking tray with baking parchment.
Melt the chocolate. You can melt it in a glass bowl over a pan of boiling water if you like, but I just stick it in the microwave for 60 seconds. There is probably some deep and fundamental reason why I’m not supposed to do this, but nobody has told me so yet.
Sieve the flour, coco powder, baking powder and salt together in a bowl.
In a jug mix the oil and sugar and add the mashed banana. Stir with a fork until everything is mixed together, then add the melted chocolate and vanilla extract and stir again.
Add the contents of the jug to the dry goods in the bowl. Mix (preferably with an electric mixer or electric whisk) until the batter becomes quite thick and sticky.
Spread the batter out on the baking tray to desired thickness.
Bake for 30 minutes. Then put the brownie tray straight in the fridge to cool.
Once cool cut into squares and enjoy!
