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
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.
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
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!