Food Friday: Almost Vegan Gluten Free Brownies That Taste Good

Always trying new things that might possibly, potentially, maybe, by a very large stretch of the imagination, be healthier.  Well, really, brownies are not healthy, but they certainly are enjoyable every so once in a while...

This batch of brownies is a far cry from some vegan brownies I tried once.  Way better.

Almost Vegan Gluten Free Brownies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix all together in a nice big bowl:

3/4 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/3 cup melted coconut oil
2 eggs (remember:  ALMOST vegan)--you can use flax eggs if you want to make them vegan.  They (flax eggs) do work.  I used some mixed flax meal, chia seeds, and coconut flakes that I got at Costco to make the flax eggs the first time.  Yes, they worked, too. The texture was okay but the coconut (I think it was the coconut) left some flakes on the tongue in the aftermath of eating.  Not so pleasant.  I mean if you are going to eat an unhealthy fun food, it really ought to be just about perfect, in my view.
1/2 cup mixed nut flour  (no, I am not affiliated so I do not get a kickback, but there was only about enough of this flour for the brownies and I wanted to use it up instead of opening some almond flour.  Almond flour might be better, but this mixed flour worked.)
2 caps-full of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Put into an 8 x 8 inch pan. Smooth with a spatula so the top is sort of flat.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.  As I am writing this several days later, I think I checked the oven at 25 minutes.  Was not done.  The center still looked wet. Checked again at 30 minutes.  Still not quite done.  Pulled them out at 35 minutes.  They were done.

Because this was a total experiment I cut them into 16 2-inch by 2-inch brownies then immediately ate one to test it, even though the idea was to give the whole pan to a sweet friend at Church.  Dear One had one, too.  They were good.

This was one of the better experiments I have tried.  The recipe I started with, and more or less (mostly less) followed the first time was on the Beaming Baker blog.  For me, I found those brownies had way too much cocoa in them and I couldn't be bothered to pull everything out of the bottom shelf  to get to the back of the refrigerator to get the maple syrup out so I only used the brown sugar she called for.  Plus I NEVER use almond flavoring. Ever. I have had such bad luck with it....I have purchased almond extract at King Arthur Flour but have obviously gotten the wrong stuff because putting the amount called for in the recipe renders the food inedible.  Very annoying.  Especially when  you have high expectations for the food...

Anyway, these brownies went to our friend at Church.  When I saw her at the end of church after Sunday School class, she said she had already eaten two of them and they were very good.  Makes me happy!