Add to: Recipe Box | Grocery List | Meal PlannerRecipe submitted by Katherine Johannes
Vegan BrowniesIngredients (use vegan versions): 1 1/4 cups applesauce
1 cup cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
1 mashed banana
1 1/3 cups flour
2 cups vegan choc. chips
Directions:Preheat oven to 350.F
Mix all ingredients into large bowl.
Pour mixture into 8x8 in. pan.
Bake for about 35 min.
* comes out a little thick, but tastes great! *
Serves: approx. 25
Preparation time: 15 min.
Can I use carob powder and carob chips for this recipe?
Archived comment by: olga
Is the objection people have to chocolate due to its caffeine content or is there something more sinister in chocolate (e.g. exploitative politics)?
Archived comment by: math!as
I've been told by many vegans chocolate is bad, but I can't remember what they said when I asked them why. But I like carob better so it doesn't matter to me! And, yes, I think that carob would work in this recipe.
Archived comment by: emma
My issue with chocolate, which I think is the issue most health-conscious people have, that it is high in fat and calories, low in protein and other nutrients, and contains stimulants that can aggrivate the normal functioning of your body (i.e. caffiene-like chemicals). Carob on the other hand is high in protein and nutrients, low in fat and calories, and naturally cleansing for you system. (Look up carob in a good natural health foods guide and it should give you the run-down.)
Archived comment by: alexis
My daughter is allergic to dairy produucts and one of the things that her allergist suggested we stay away from is chocolate due to the processing of some chocolate, they may contain dairy products. I have looked for vegan carob chips and found that on the back of the ones I have looked at, they have a disclaimer that there may be dairy due to processing. Could someone suggest a brand of carob that I may use that doesn't have, or may not have been processed with dairy products?
Archived comment by: ilima
Cocoa has 10 times as much protein as carob and a trivial amount of fat. The caffiene is what makes it undesirable. Ilima - Sunspire offers a vegan chocolate chip as well as a vegan carob chip, I believe. It helps to be able to recognize dairy derivatives such as casien or casienate, which was probably in those carob chips that were processed with dairy. If it doesn't have a dairy derivative listed in the ingredients, it doesn't have dairy.
Archived comment by: william
Has anyone actually made these brownies? It seems as if there is a lot of moisture in this recipe. I would love to make them for my daughuter but I am not sure of the texture. Any feedback would be appreciated.Thanks, Mary
Archived comment by: mary
I've made these brownies and they were wonderful,my husband even ate them(and he tries to stay away from anything healthy)They are very rich,they are moist but firm up after they cool,but they are a rich sticky brownie. Great warm with some vanilla rice dream
Archived comment by: joanne
I made these brownies just a little while ago, and wound up having to cook them much longer (maybe 10-15 min.) than what the recipe said. And they're still kind of liquidy. Any ideas on what might have gone wrong? I used regular chocolate chips, not vegan ones-- could that be the problem? I did discover one advantage to this recipe-- you can lick the batter off the spoon and not worry about salmonella.
Archived comment by: amber
How much water needs to be added, with the above ingredients its still not liquidy enough to pour.
Archived comment by: rene
Hi, I had no problem with the moisture content in this recipe, and i followed all the directions, it turned out great. maybe you just need to stir it more. i used tropical source dairy free chocolate chips. and why should everything be healthy? just let go once in awhile.
Archived comment by: liz
these were fantastic! ive just become vegan and was pretty unsure about it but now im convinced! i did have to bake them for more than 35 minutes though!? thank you very much!
Archived comment by: kate
These are the best brownies I have ever had, vegan and regular included! I used carob chips, instead of chocolate, and had to cook them for 20 minutes longer, but they were great!
Archived comment by: amyBerk2
I've made these brownies twice and both times they come out HEAVY. I had my brother take them out of the oven the second time I made them and he said it felt like a brick. I have to say, you do get a major chocolate fix from them.
Archived comment by: chella
These brownies are amazing. I made these brownies for a potluck picnic; I couldnt find vegan choco chips, so I broke up two 100g Lindt 70% Dark Chocolate bars with a fork (tedious, but worth it). I did accidentally leave it in the oven for 45 minutes instead of 35, but this turned out to be a good thing. The brownies in the middle of the pan were extremely dense & gooey, but the ones around those were perfect. Note to the person wondering about how much water to put in since its so thick after mixing: Dont put any in; use a spatula or a spoon to scrape out whatever doesn't come out of the bowl. Perhaps someone could experiment putting these into two small pans instead of one large one?
Archived comment by: guest
besides the caffeine concern (for those straight-edge people out there), there are political reasons to avoid chocolate. some cocoa exporters, particularly the ivory coast, use exploitative practices. children are sometimes abducted and sold into slavery and put to work in cocoa fields. similar problems exist with coffee, but there are no labels on chocolate products indicating the country of origin or fair trade status.
Archived comment by: frusk
I baked them in a 9x13 pan instead of 8x8 pan. That may help with the baking time and make them less mushy. When I make them again, I will leave out the banana and use some oil instead. I also added 1/2 tsp. baking soda.
Archived comment by: teresa
I have cooked these brownies in a 24 mini muffin pan (using about 1 tbs of mix per muffin cup) and it worked very well, those people who are having trouble with the middle being soggy could try this. Have only had positive comments about these brownies, thanks!
Archived comment by: veganmaid
these were best warm and with a cup of cold soymilk but hard to eat without something to wash it down, i thought they were okay...my boyfriend hated them, i let them cook about 20 minutes longer and i left out the carob chips and used carob powder instead of the cocoa
Archived comment by: alternagirl25
how well do you think it would work to add the appropriate amount of sweet and low, instead of the sugar?
Archived comment by: peptoXabysmal
Are these cake-like brownies or fudgey brownies?
Archived comment by: webly
For those of you who are in and near California, and are interested in purchasing fair trade chocolate, I know that Trader Joes carries such a brand. I'm not sure if there are Trader Joes outside of CA, but if they have it then I am sure you can find f.t. chocolate elsewhere. As for the brownies, I can't wait to try them, even though I will be using carob products anyway.
Archived comment by: kittymonster
In response to Williams comment, at the top of the page, it is almost impossible to cut out ALL animal by-products. Casein is just protein which just happens to come from milk. I'm a vegan and I have found it expensive and time-consuming to just look for non-casein ingredients.
Archived comment by: collegecarrie26
in response to collegecarrie26: being vegan means choosing to eliminate animal products from your diet (and other aspects of your life). if you know that casein is an animal product and continue to buy food with casein in the ingredients then you are NOT vegan. there is nothing time consuming about reading the labels on food containers, and if you've replaced the meat/dairy in your diet with veggies then you're saving a considerable amount of money on food, so you should be able to fork out a few extra cents for some specialty vegan products once in a while.
Archived comment by: marykatherine
In response to political concerns on eating and using chocolate it is possible to get fair trade versions of coffee, chocolate, and tea. this means that the farmers who grew the products were paid a sustainable wage and are not using exploititive practices. You should look for the Trans Fair America sign...I know equalexchange has good chocolate as does green and blackif you are interested...you can usually find then at any whole food or coop...these are often a bit more expensive but the assurance of fair treatment is worth it...
Archived comment by: smile
Ilima, Natural Source brand sells chocolate that is processed on dairy-free equipment. I've used thier chocolate ships and they are very tasty.
http://www.nspiredfoods.com/tropicalsrc.html Whole Foods carries them, if you have one near you.
Archived comment by: leftyMom
Do you think these brownies would turn out ok if I substituted whole wheat flour?
Archived comment by: gwmccull
I used whole wheat pastry flour, carob powder instead of cocoa, and I didn't have chips, so I used walnuts. I also excluded 1/4 cup of sugar. I baked them in two 4 x 7 pans and one mini muffin tin for 30 min. The texture came out fine. Howe'ver, next time I would not substitute cocoa for carob. If I did, I would keep the sugar the same, add some vanilla, and replace the banana with something else because aparently I don't like the taste of carob and banana.
Archived comment by: wajumau
I guess I have to take back what I said about not using carob in this recipe. The mini muffins were the first ones I tried, and I think that they cooked too long so the carob was bitter and the texture wasn't good. Howe'ver, the brownies in the pans were much better, especially after they cooled. I would still add vanilla and more sugar, though. And be sure to greese your pans so you can get your brownies out
Archived comment by: wajumau
Ok, these were some of the best brownies ever--I was he'sitant, so I halved the recipe--good thing I didn't make more, because then we would have eaten more. I sprinkled a little coconut on top, but they didn't even need it. Happy Mothers Day to all of the vegan Moms out there--
Archived comment by: ridgechic
i thought these were ok, but amazingly not chocolatey enough. my husband (dairy lover) thought they tasted like banana (well.. they do but bananas are tasty with chocolate!). I would next time add more cocoa pwder and maybe some nuts.
Archived comment by: okterok
Regarding Casein, it is the protein in milk that makes diabetics worse and causes alergic reactions. It is the bad guy in the milk. Regarding cacao, they leave it out on the ground to ferment for a while after cutting it off the tree. Meanwhile, the bugs and animals get to it and contaminate it. People allergic to chocolate may actually be allergic to the contaminants, such as cockroaches. Cocoa & chocolate also have oxalic acid, which can contribute to kidney stones and which prevents the body from using calcium and zinc. It is naturally bitter and requires more sugar to get a sweet taste than with carob which starts out sweet (but carob can get bitter if dark roasted). I have not tried this recipe yet, but in the past I have always added a few drops of toasted sesame oil and about a tablespoon of molasses and 1 T. of nutritional yeast to brownie recipes. I wouldn't use banana but would try some peanut butter and some pero or caffix (substitute for coffee) powder and some (1 t) vanilla. There is a big difference in flavor between raw carob powder, toasted carob powder, and darkly toasted carob powder too, so you don't want too much dark stuff or it will taste too bitter. Also, liquid lecithin works something like shortning to make it fluffy
and cakelike. Dont forget that at higher altitudes water boils at a lower temperature so you need either less water or more flour. It is best to avoid anything hydrogenated so check the ingredients on your carob chips. Fractionation is a physical process that basically skims off the thicker oil like skimming cream off of milk, so that is better than the chemical alteration of hydrogenation which creates a food which is an excitotoxin.
Archived comment by: prov297
I know carob is sweet, but does it taste like chocolate?
Archived comment by: fetching
no, it doesn't taste a lot like chocolate.
Archived comment by: citizenhelene
