Tuesday, May 8, 2012

The Kind Diet- Recipe No.1- Coffee Fudge Brownies

Hello everyone!  I have a confession to make..........I already started cooking my way through The Kind Diet cookbook a couple of weeks ago- so these first few recipes were made in the last couple of weeks.  This brownie recipe was the first vegan recipe I made.  I figured if vegan brownies aren't good, then how could I be vegan?  I went into this with an open mind though- knowing that I couldn't possibly compare vegan brownies with regular ones.  These were actually a snap to make, simply combining the dry ingredients in one bowl (whole wheat pastry flour, brown rice flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) and the wet in another (soy/rice milk blend, brewed decaf coffee, canola oil).  Then, simply combine the wet with the dry and add some chopped walnuts.  This bakes in an 8x8 pan for about 30 minutes in a 325 degree oven.  So far, so good- this is easy!  The hardest part is that you have to wait after they bake and let them cool completely and then you make a glaze for them.  The glaze is just grain-sweetened, nondairy chocolate chips and earth balance butter.  These get melted together in a double boiler and then poured all over the top of the brownies.  Now comes MORE waiting- in the fridge they go for at least 1 hour.  The hardest thing about this recipe is all the waiting you have to do before you can eat them!  When you finally get to dig in they are suprisingly good!  I accidentally used carob chips when I made these and it gave the glaze a slightly bitter and almost woody taste, but it was strangely delicious.  Next time I'll use vegan chocolate and see how they turn out.  The brownie part was delicious- it was not a chewy brownie by any means though (my favorite kind), it was actually a bit crumbly in texture, which was a bit annoying because it was hard to get it to stay together when serving them.  The only other complaint I had was that they tasted a bit salty to me, so I think I'll reduce the 1 teaspoon sea salt down to 1/2 teaspoon next time.  Overall, this recipe was a great way to kick off my new lifestyle- definitely good enough to ease a chocolate craving whenever it may hit!  My husband, who is not making the switch to a vegan lifestyle, and both my kids liked them too.  I consider them a hit- no one would ever know they were vegan if you didn't tell them- these are a great recipe to bring to a dinner party or get together.  You will know that there is a dessert you can eat and no one else will even realize they are vegan- PERFECT!

My rating- 7.5 (I rate on a scale of 1-10, with 1 being the lowest and 10 the highest.)
I simply couldn't give a higher rating because of the crumbly texture- I'm still holding out hope for a chewy vegan brownie!  :)

2 comments:

  1. I had difficulty with this recipe!!!! The brownies kept collapsing!!!
    http://veganamericanprincess.com

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  2. Hmmmm.........not sure why that happened? Mine did not collapse- though there was a slight indentation in the center- make sure that when they bake you don't peek, sometimes that can cause them to collapse. Hope they turn out better for you next time!

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