19. Brownies, Slighty Imperfect

The quickest way to get on my bad side is to complain about the texture of my brownies. I never even knew there was a fudgy/cakey debate until I shared a batch of vegan brownies with a non-vegan friend. She took a bite and then said, ""Oh these are more cakey." Something about her tone really grated on my nerves.

Since then, I've bitterly searched for proof that there is a vegan brownie that can satisfy even the whiniest of our critics.

Now, I'm pretty satisfied these days using the Cafe au Soja Lait (blurrily pictured) or the Cookies ‘n Fudge Brownies from Hannah Kaminsky's Blondies and Brownies eBook. I also really love the Cheesecake and Pumpkin Brownies found in Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar, but I still don't have a favorite unadorned brownie recipe - especially one that yields crinkly-top brownies.

So when I stumbled upon this post at Not A Rabbit, I was intrigued. I didn't have the required ingredients for the Not A Rabbit version, but I had everything for her source, Wing-It Vegan's Eureka Brownies!

They turned out to be pretty good. They do have more of a shine or crinkle than other brownies I've made, but I wouldn't say it's comparable to the boxed kind. They taste good, but they don't taste junky enough. The whole wheat pastry flour is detectable, but the coconut milk really adds an extra something. Also, they sort of fell apart when I took them out of the pan. I think I may have cooked them a little too long - I went to the upper end of the range on the baking time. And I should have doubled the recipe, as suggested by Wing-It.

However, after a night of refrigeration, the brownies became fudgier. I think that had I been patient, and let them cool completely, and maybe even refrigerated them, they would have been beautiful.

So there we go, next time, I'll double the batch, I'll use half all purpose flour, I'll bake for a minute less, then I'll cool completely and refrigerate before cutting.

All in all, this is a recipe worth trying out. Grinding down the sugar was new to me, but I could see the difference it made. I used a coffee bean grinder.

So give it a try! I still plan on trying out Not A Rabbit's version. Let me know what adjustments you make, if any.