I have made this sacrifice for us all. I have made some vegan brownies. Vegan peanut butter marshmallow brownies, to be precise.
I did not create this recipe. I initially found it on the Chicago Vegan Foods blog when I was looking for vegan marshmallows; but I understand that the original recipe came from the Suburban Vegan blog.
Although I received several tweets and a recipe from my mama telling me how to make my own vegan marshmallows, I decided that I needed to take this one slowly. So I bought some Dandies Vegan Marshmallows. And then I think I died a little bit inside. Remember that thing I said about sharing vegan recipes and things with each other? Seriously, these vegan marshmallows taste more delicious, more light, more heavenly than any non-vegan marshmallows I have ever eaten. In fact, even if I never become vegan, I will still use these marshmallows exclusively. Divine. Ok, now for the recipe:
The Recipe:
Ingredients:
– 1 stick Earth Balance vegan butter/margerine
– 2/3 + 1/4 cup sugar
– 2 tsp. vanilla
– 1 Tbsp. egg replacer
– 3 Tbsp. water
– 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
– 1 cup flour
– 1/4 cup cocoa powder
– 2 tsp. baking powder
– 1 tsp. baking soda
– 1/4 tsp. salt
– 1 cup Dandies marshmallows
– 1/3 cup peanut butter
– 4-6 Tbsp. almond milk
Preheat oven to 350 F. In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Remove from heat, stir in 2/3 cup of sugar and vanilla. Whisk egg replacer in measuring cup with water, then add to butter mixture. Mix in applesauce.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir in 1 cup of Dandies and pour into a parchment-covered 8×8 baking pan. In the same saucepan, melt peanut butter and 1/4 cup of sugar, adding 1 Tbsp. of almond milk at a time until smooth. Scoop the peanut butter mixture on top of the brownies and swirl it around.
Bake for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean. (Just don’t poke a marshmallow because you won’t get an accurate read on “clean.”) Remove from oven and place on rack to cool.
The Assessment: The flavor is amazing. These brownies are moist, and gooey, and make me feel like I am doing something extremely naughty. These are all qualities I search for in a brownie. However, I wonder if I could have done without the peanut butter. It didn’t disturb me flavor-wise, but I think they made the brownies fall and flatten more than I would like. So when I cut the first piece out, it didn’t come out in a cute little brownie square; just several cute little brownie fork-fulls. I think that means I need to cut a second piece out. Standby…
Yes the second piece. Also delicious. I’ve decided that yes, I will remake these brownies another day without the peanut butter. I also think that this version of the brownie would be amazing crumbled up on top of a bowl of ice cream. Mmmmmm mmmm!
All in all, a victory for the vegans. One point, guys.
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