Vegan Brownies from a Box Mix



Nothing better to compliment your Sunday morning coffee than a few spoonfuls of brownie crumbs from Saturday night's dessert!

I'm not good at baking, and that's definitely not something I'll be experimenting with. But seriously, anyone can make brownies from a box mix. And it's really easy to make them vegan, since there's no need for eggs in baking. You don't even need any fancy egg-replacement products, just a little apple sauce.

So maybe they will be a little more crumbly than the egg bound version. But they will still taste delicious, and are great topped with a little ice cream (try vegan Coconut Bliss).

*Update 5/19/12:
Here is the mix I used that did not have dairy products - it's easy to find in grocery stores:
Duncan Hines CHEWY FUDGE BROWNIE mix.  DOUBLE FUDGE and DARK CHOCOLATE should be ok too. Other varieties, such as "milk chocolate" may have dairy products included, so please check the ingredients.

Vegan Brownies from a Box Mix
1 box of brownie mix
1/3 C water
1/3 C oil
1/4 C applesauce
1 T arrowroot powder or cornstarch (optional, to add binding power)

In a large bowl, combine brownie mix contents, water, oil, applesauce and arrowroot. Mix about 50 strokes until well combined. Pour into a pan and follow baking directions on the box for your pan size.

You may need to bake them about 10 minutes longer than the box advises. They're done when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Comments

Carrie said…
So cool that you can use a box mix! I have some great vegan brownie recipes, but sometimes I'm lazy and you just need a brownie ASAP! Nice to have this option. :)
Anonymous said…
Would you recommend including the cornstarch/arrowroot or not really? Thanks!
Deena Mehta said…
You can omit it. The brownies may be slightly more crumbly, but no big deal!
Crystena said…
I tried this with the Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies but without the cornstarch and I added 1 TBS of Flaxseed meal to 3 TBS of water for each egg called for (in this case 2). They came out very soft and cake like, very much like cake, but they were yummy and edible not like the ushuall oily mess I got from trying to veganinze boxed brownie mix.

Next time I'll try this recipe as is without the flaxseed meal or I'll try it with the flaxseed meal but without the applesauce.
Deena Mehta said…
Thanks Crystena! There are a few ways to achieve box mix vegan brownies.

I've been experimenting with cake mix lately, as well. Have not had so much luck with that. I ended up finding a great recipe from scratch that is super easy - they key to light, moist eggless cake is vinegar! I tried several flavor variations on this recipe, and all were fantastic. I used it both for cupcakes and a small 6" cake.

http://www.chow.com/recipes/10794-basic-vegan-chocolate-cupcake
Unknown said…
I personally cannot use vinegar, but i use ghirardelli double chocolate brownie mix and when i made them with my bff, it was amazing!!! We used apple sauce but it became ROCK HARD after cooling. I have no understanding on why this happened she also put soy milk, instead of water, but still mine came out Rock hard. And ideas why?? And what i can do differently
Deena Mehta said…
Heidi,
I've never had the problem of the brownies getting hard. Hmmm. Possibly baked too long or in too big of a pan? It's also possible that the particular mix needs a different amount of liquids than I posted, also. I would pretty much follow the liquid and oil amounts required on the box and replace each egg called for with 1/4 C apple sauce. As I'm looking now at the duncan hines site, even their liquid amounts in the recipe have changed and all the commenters are complaining. I have made these in the last 6 months with luck, and never been hard - more moist and crumble-aparty. I should find a good from-scratch method and share it, because you just can't count on these box mixes to be consistent over the years. Sorry it didn't work out in the end!

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