Don’t Tell Me What To Do…

“You needn’t tell me that a man who doesn’t love oysters and asparagus and good wines has got a soul, or a stomach either. He’s simply got the instinct for being unhappy highly developed.”

-Saki,  The Chronicles of Clovis

Vegan Brownies

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_ _ If you’re anything like me, cleaning out your wallet is like taking a time travel back through the last 7 years or so. If you’re like my sister, you’ll only be traveling about a week, because she loses her wallet and/or cellphone on an infuriatingly regular basis… But I digress, this blog is about ME, after all… me, me, me!

_ _ As I rummaged through all the superfluous pockets and dark corners of my very old wallet, I found about 20 yellow Post-Its that I had scribbled all over, mostly while in a blind rage during one ridiculous job or another. Some of them were incoherent to me at this point, but some of them I greatly enjoyed: “life is a joke… existential. My life is a joke… fact.” I must have been having a good day. But most of these little notes were rants about my various supervisors, my feelings of their incompetence, and the way that they walked around as if they were better than me.

_ _ This frustrating attitude of superiority is something that I have encountered in many of my vegan friends, which, if they knew me at all, is exactly what makes me resist trying vegan food… But I finally caved when I found this recipe, and you would never guess they weren’t made with eggs or butter. Amazing.

Servings: About 12

*Note: To give credit where credit is due, I adapted this very slightly from this recipe on the site lovefoodeat.com

Ingredients:

2 1/4 cups All-Purpose Unbleached, or Whole Wheat Flour

2 cups Brown Sugar

2 tsp Baking Soda

1/2 tsp Salt

1 cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder

1/2 cup Chocolate Chips (technically the chips I used did have “milk product” in them so they weren’t perrrrfectly vegan, but you can be more strict about it than I was)

1 1/2 tsp Instant Coffee Granules (OPTIONAL: I added them the second time I made these and I think it made the chocolatey-ness more intense and helped cover the banana taste, but if you don’t have any it’s not necessary)

1/2 cup Vegetable Oil

1 1/2 cups Water

3 tsp Apple Cider Vinegar

1/2 cup Ripe Banana, pureed

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Preheat the oven to 350°F

1. Sift all the dry ingredients (including coffee if using), except the brown sugar, together into a large mixing bowl. Stir in the brown sugar and chocolate chips.

2. Mix together all of the wet ingredients in a smaller bowl, including the banana. You can mash the banana with a fork or puree it to ensure you don’t have any lumps in the batter. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients either by hand, or with a hand mixer, if you’re lazy like me.

3. Pour the batter into a pan that has been greased and floured (or take the lazy route again, and use the cooking spray that has flour in it). I used a 9″x13″ pan but I would actually recommend using a larger one if you have it. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the top of the brownies look done, and a toothpick comes out just slightly sticky. If you want a more cake-like consistency, let them bake until the toothpick comes out totally clean.