Vegan Chocolate Brownies
Hands down, Woolworths has the best gluten-free box brownies I’ve ever tasted. They ran a special earlier this month and two boxes were selling for less than R100. One box sells for R48,99.
I tried it because I absolutely love tea time and now that my mum is visiting, a late afternoon treat has become our daily love language. Some days I leave her to gorge on a packet of Tennis biscuits but I mostly adore making her baked sweets that are a teensy bit healthy compared to the average store bought cookie.
However, after having a look at the nutritional values on the Woolies box, I realised that the brownies are incredibly high in fat and carbs. If you’re in the mood to binge for four days straight, then this box mix will work for you, but if you’re wanting to lose a bit of belly fat, like I am, then this recipe is one for the food bank. It’s incredibly easy and so worth the effort.
Did you know: Eggs is mainly used in baking as a leavening, moisture and binding agent. Flaxseed is a great egg substitute but so is apple sauce, banana’s and yogurt. Below is my tried and tested egg substitutions in cakes/muffins/cupcakes/bread and scones specifically:
1 tbsp ground Flaxseed mixed in 3 tbsp water
1/4 cup Applesauce
1/4 cup plain yogurt (I use Gourmet Greet/Gero)
1 mashed small banana
Ingredients
2 slabs of Lindt Dark Chocolate/Canderel Chocolate
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1 flax egg (mix 1 tbsp ground Flaxseed powder with 3 tbsp of water)
3/4 cup of Xylitol/coconut sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder/cacoa
3 tsp baking powder
1 cup lactose free milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 1/2 cups almond flour/gluten-free flour (I use Health Connection brand)
Method
Preheat oven to 180 degrees. And either prepare a small loaf tin or a small square dish by spraying it with Spray-And-Cook.
Whisk oil, flax egg, milk and vanilla in a large bowl for 1 minute.
Add sugar, flour, cocoa and baking powder to the wet ingredients and mix with a wooden spoon until it’s combined.
Add 3/4 of your chocolate pieces to your mix last, and gently fold it into your mixture.
Spread the mixture in your loaf pan/square dish with the back of a spoon. Make sure it goes into all the corners.
Bake for 45 minutes or until it’s cooked through. I have a tendency of pulling this brownie out early because I like it to be gooey and soft.
Use a fork and make tiny holes in your brownie cake.
Melt the rest of the chocolate in a mug for 1 minute with 1 tbsp of lactose free milk. Mix it well and drizzle it on top of the brownie. Let some of the mixture seep through the pores of the cake.
