Vegan Brownies

So, this recipe isn't necessarily the fanciest or best executed thing I've ever baked but it feels significant in context. Tuesday was incredible. I am still walking around in complete awe of what happens when I surrender to that tiny piece of truth that lives in the center of my heart. Which is my sappy way of saying that I got a 1200 on the GRE AND got a new job doing meaningful work all in the same day! And what that means is that I may actually get to start grad school next semester. After so much hemming and hawing and sacrificing my dreams to things that don't matter, it's nice to feel things flowing along. But, anyway. This is a FOOD blog so I will talk about food now.

All day, mixed in with the nervous adrenaline high, I had this inspiration to make some vegan brownies with all kinds of crap in them. Initially I was thinking of chocolate and dried cherries plus some coconut and almonds. In the end, I decided to forgo the cherries because they're expensive and what if it doesn't turn out and I just spent a crap-load of money on cherries and made them into something that doesn't even taste good? And honestly, I didn't follow any particular recipe for this. I just substituted vegan stuff for the non-vegan parts of the Joy of Cooking brownie recipe and then added my own flavors and fixin's. In the future, it may be worthwhile to actually follow a vegan brownie recipe since I don't really know what I'm doing. And I think I'd use the pre-mixed egg replacer instead of just arrowroot powder. But, whatever. They came out gooey (as brownies ought to be) and I got to eat them with my vegan friend while we watched the NBA season opener - Cavs vs Celtics woo hoo! Also, and this may be obvious, the mix-ins are variable and optional. I really like to put nuts in my brownies because of the texture. I also really like the way that coconut works with gooey chocolate. But you can put whatever you want in there.

Gooey Vegan Brownies with Almonds and Coconut

Preheat your oven to 350.

Ingredients:
1 C all purpose flour
2 C Sugar
3/4 C Cocoa Powder
1/2 C vegetable or canola oil
1/2 C Water
2 T Arrowroot Powder
1 t cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
1/2 t salt
1 C Chocolate Chunks or chips
1 C coconut flakes
1 C toasted almond slivers

Method:
1. Whisk together the oil and cocoa powder until smoothe.
2. Add the arrowroot powder and sugar and whisk again until fully incorporated.
3. Add flour, cinnamon, and ginger and mix just until incorporated.
4. Add water and mix. The amount of water may be adjusted to make the batter the way you like it. A more viscous mixture=gooier brownies and a more watery mixture will turn out a more cakey brownie.
5. Now, add all of the chocolate chunks, almonds, and coconut and fold them in. Try not to mix it too much but make sure they're evenly distributed.
6. Bake on 350 for about 25-30 minutes. Just until the top is set and kind of crusted over. Let cool about 10 minutes before cutting and serving. They're actually even better the next day when they've cooled completely.

Enjoy!