We set ourselves a difficult goal, to try and make a vegan brownie better than the the original, more gooey and more chocolatey.
After several recipe attempts, we decided on replacing egg with the ground flax seed as when you add warm water it becomes the consistency of eggs if not more glutinous without the gluten. When you make brownies you're not looking for a rise just an agent to bind as the aim is for them to be really fudgy. We found that ground flax seed had this affect, in addition it also a buttery flavour which would obviously be lacking in a vegan brownie.
What's the best ingredient to replace the butter? We tried olive oil, rapeseed oil, coconut oil and also sunflower oil, but settled on sunflower as it is light. Everything else is really as per the normal recipe, we've increased chocolate if that was possible? And also replaced the regular wheat flour for a gluten free flour. The aim was for the vegan brownies to be gluten free also, and are considering using this flour in all of our recipes?
He's the recipe (it's not exactly the same as that needs to remain a secret but this will produce a 20 x 20 cm of brownies that are pretty close)
200g 70% Dark Chocolate
225g Golden Caster Sugar
180g Gluten Free Flour
150 ml Sunflower Oil
50g Cocoa Powder
3 dsp ground flax seed
9 dsp of warm water
1/4 tsp vanilla seeds
Baking Parchment
Method
1. Add the warm water to flax seed and whisk until well mixed, leave to stand and thicken. Put the oven onto 170 degrees C
2. Melt the chocolate & sugar with the sunflower oil over a bain marie or in the microwave.
3. In a mixing bowl add the flour, vanilla seeds, and cocoa.
4. When the flax has thickened mix it into the meted chocolate and then add the whole mix to the dry mix. Beat the mixture together, it will go like a thick batter mix.
5. Line the baking tray with parchment and spray with oil, place the mixture into the tray and bake for 15-20 minutes.
When ready, the brownies should still leave a little brownie mix on skewer when poked. Remove from the tin on a rack and allow to cool for at least 40 minutes, vegan brownies may benefit from chilling in the fridge to help them set a bit more.
