Inspired by Freya Cox and a beautiful (not sarcastic) rainy day, we took to the kitchen to make a delicious dairy free treat: chocolate brownies!
I am not a vegan but often bake this way as my child and I are cow dairy intolerant. Eggs however are fine with us, and we love them, and so we buy happy chicken eggs, or duck of course, when we can, but not for baking; they're to be treasured with vegan butter toasty dippies!
This recipe is my own meandering experience with brownies plus inspo from the lovely Ms Cox. It is a bit of a minor faff, in separating eggs and making meringue, but oh, so worth it!
The chew comes from the meringue - whether you're using Freya's aquafaba vegan version or this egg from mine. Combined with the rich and chocolatey center, it really is the perfect brownie.
Thank you, Freya!
Ingredients
2 eggs - separated
100g (dairy free) butter (you need 20% more butter than oil so 80ml if you want to use a bland oil, such as corn)
250g dairy free dark chocolate
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
150g cane sugar
120g all purpose flour
40g cocoa powder - if you have a drinking chocolate in lieu of cocoa, that works well too, especially if you don't like too dark a chocolate flavour
3/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 tbsp of vanilla extract
Method
break up 150g of chocolate and together with butter microwave in 30 second increments until melted whilst you whisk your egg whites
in stand mixer, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks
continue to whisk whilst adding in 1 tbsp caster sugar at a time until thoroughly combined
empty whisked whites into a bowl
put egg yolks into stand mixer and whisk until thick and creamy
add in melted chocolate and butter mix and now use the paddle to thoroughly combine
at this point - set your oven to heat to 350 F / 180 C
sift in your flours and powders, or just bung 'em all in at once, to be honest; it works just as well here, since this is a brownie and not a towering sandwich cake
fold in the remaining 100g of chocolate - broken or chopped into morsel sized pieces, or just buy morsels/chips and bung those instead. There are great vegan/dairy free chocolates available.
line an 8" square brownie tin
fill tin with batter and smooth out top with a spatch
when oven has reached temp, slide in the tin and check at 20 mins. IF you like your brownies basically raw with a crust, it'll be done at 20. Personally, I like a medium rare steak (I did say I wasn't a vegan) so 25 minutes for me when it's still a tad raw-ish on the inside with a great crust on top. IF you like it still squidgy in the middle but not full on cake-like, turn off oven at 25 minutes and let brownies rest in cooling oven for a further 5 minutes, 30 minutes total. If you want a chocolate cake with a damp bite, cook it for 30 minutes.
When it comes out, it'll be hot. Some like it hot...with ice cream or cream. Yes, please. When cold, it's a great big soft and chewy, scrumptious chocolate bar. Warm it in the microwave and serve it with cream to re-live that post cook transcendence we all sometimes crave, especially with a cup of tea.
You're so welcome :)
Comments