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Wait! Don’t run away. These aren’t going to bite you. More than likely, you’re going to bite them. Devour them.
I’m not Vegan (really? you ask sarcastically). I honestly don’t think I could be, even for just a few days. Cheese is a food group, am I right?
I used to be scared of the word “vegan” as applied to baking. Nothing without butter and milk can ever taste good! Boy, was I wrong. Averie and Sally have both shown me you can make vegan versions of your favorite desserts, so when the opportunity presented itself, I wanted to give it a go.
At Christmas, I am in charge of assembling cookie boxes for all the teachers at school. Members of my committee deliver dozens and dozens of cookies to my house and I sort them into pretty boxes. One of the teachers at school is vegan…which makes me not want to deliver her a box of Christmas cookies laden with butter, eggs, and milk chocolate. While she has told me in the past she’ll break her rule once in awhile for a cookie here and there, a whole big box of something you don’t usually eat isn’t very Christmassy.
So I decided to go vegan, if only for one recipe.
I, of course, went to Pinterest and found a few promising recipes. More often than not, the recipe called for some sort of flour or ingredient I had either never heard of or didn’t want to buy for just one pan of brownies. Then I came across my Zucchini Brownie recipe. And I remembered…it doesn’t have eggs. The brownies themselves don’t have butter.
Now, I could have just made those brownies and called it a day, but that’s not how I roll. Instead, I changed them up a little. I took out the zucchini and added applesauce instead. You can’t taste the applesauce, and it gives the brownies good texture. The original recipe calls for cocoa powder, but I wanted to amp up the chocolate flavor, since I was skipping the (butter-ladden) frosting. I added melted unsweetened chocolate and some semi-sweet chocolate chips to the batter. (Ghiradelli brand semi-sweet chocolate chips are vegan. I checked!)
The result? A fudgy, chewy, chocolatey delicious brownie. You’d never know they were vegan, and you’d never know they had applesauce in them. Now, they still have oil and sugar…so they aren’t totally guilt-free…but oil is better than butter, right?
{Please don’t answer that.}
So the moral of the story is…try something new…you might like it.
{I meant in baking. Y’all know I’m not trying new food. I don’t roll that way. 
}
Adapted from these brownies.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
- 4 ounces (about 1/2 cup) unsweetened applesauce
- 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (Ghiradelli brand)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x9” pan with foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Stir together oil and sugar. Stir in vanilla, cocoa, and applesauce. Add melted chocolate and salt, stir until smooth. Slowly stir in flour. Add chocolate chips.
- Pour into prepared pan and bake 25-28 minutes. Cool before cutting.
- Top with a sprinkling of powdered sugar for a pretty presentation!
Brownies are my #2 to pie. Check out my Brownie Pinboard or these other fab brownie recipes:
S’more Brownies
Lightened Up Peanut Butter Chocolate Brownies by Kitchen Meets Girl
Turtle Brownies by Sugar & Spice
Browned Butter Brownies by Something Swanky
This post may be linked to: Chef in Training, Trick or Treat Tuesday, Lil’ Luna, Buns In My Oven, Chic-and-Crafty, I’m Lovin’ it Fridays, Strut your Stuff Saturday, Weekend Wrap Up Party, Sundae Scoop Link Party, and all of these too!
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Hi there! I’m Dorothy, the crazy gal behind the blog. If you didn’t already know, I’m crazy for crust…and cookies…and brownies…and pretty much
anything with sugar.
Haha…I just tried my hand at some vegan brownies as well… they aren’t so scary.
Meg @ Sweet Twist recently posted..10 Days of Cookies – Day 10 – Jumbo Brown Butter Rolo Cookies
Not at all! Now onto other baked goods!
I have never tried vegan brownies, but this recipe looks delicious! Thanks =)
Kristi @ My San Francisco Kitchen recently posted..Italian Canederli
Thanks Kristi!
Sounds good to me! I’m pinnin’ ‘em.
Mindy recently posted..Dining Room Progress Report
Thanks Mindy!
They look super fudge-y and chocolate-y to me…that’s all that matters in my book. I try to take the egg out of things every so often to see what happens too
Jocelyn @BruCrew Life recently posted..Banana Toffee Scones
I want to try it more now!
veggies in my brownies just sounds terrible to me – I am so glad you subbed applesauce for the zucchini! These look amazing Dorothy and I bet you are very rpoud of these – so many of your own adaptions to make a fudgy brownie. That’s vegan, too! Vegan baking is so interesting to me. Not to mention… delicious.
sally @ sallys baking addiction recently posted..healthy oatmeal raisinet cookies.
I know! And honestly, the zucchini ones tasted almost the same…you really can’t taste the veggie!
These honestly look too good to be true. Applesauce just went onto my shopping list!
Kristin recently posted..WTF Wednesday
I know, right? Next I’m using avocado…
Alright these look YUMMY! I will be making these! Thanks for the recipe!
Pamela recently posted..Guest Post – Jamie from Love Bakes Good Cakes – Peanut Butter Balls
Thanks Pamela!!
un being vegan makes them totally calorie free I think too, good thing too they look yummy!
Sue @ Cakeballs, cookies and more recently posted..Biscoff And Chocolate Jelly Roll, Or Yule Log
I wish!! Although I think it helps without egg, right?
Haaaaa I love you Dorothy. I think it was so sweet and considerate of you to make these brownies for the vegan teacher, and they look completely fudgy and wonderful!
Kayle (The Cooking Actress) recently posted..Creamy Hot Chocolate
Thanks Kayle!
I seriousy will be craving these all day now! I need these in my life soon!
Jennifer @ Mother Thyme recently posted..Penne with Swiss Chard and Ricotta
Ha, I wish I had kept a few!
My husband and I just watched a doucumentary on why people go vegan. I can’t go with out cheese in my life, but this is vegan I could do. And I actually have all the stuff to make them.
I agree; this is totally something I can get on board with! Thanks Brenna!
Mmmmmm– I had forgotten about your Oreo Truffle Brownies! Man, brownie overload over here!! Looks good!
Ashton recently posted..Skinny Strawberry Cheesecake Smoothie
I have been dyyyyying for gooey, fudgy brownies for awhile now. I’ve come to the (very late) conclusion that boxed mixes stink and therefore, I cannot use them anymore for my brownie fixing. I need something more chocolate substantial and these seem like they’d fit the bill juuuuust fine. Did I mention I love you? And we’re neighbors?
Hayley @ The Domestic Rebel recently posted..Cinnamon Roll-Stuffed Blondies [Guest Post]
LOL, I’m in the process of fine tuning my favorite brownie recipe. I’ll have lots of “testers” to share…
These look so good! Pinning them to my Meatless Monday board, because I’m totally okay with brownies for dinner. And the applesauce counts as a fruit, right?
Lisa recently posted..NFL Logo Etched Glasses
Um, totally. There is applesauce in them. Totally dinner food!
This is an awesome option. No crazy ingredients or 15 types of different flours! And I’m totally with you– Cheese is most definitely a food group. 1 portion per meal, minimum. That’s in the food pyramid…isn’t it? MMMmm…. cheese.
Bobbi recently posted..Semi-Homemade Ceviche!
TOTALLY.
I love these and I love that they’re vegan! They look really fudgy – just the way I like them!
Back For Seconds recently posted..Skinny Fudge Brownies with Butterscotch Drizzle
Thanks Stephanie!
You did an amazing job with these! And vegan baking can be tricky…it’s usually the eggs that are the most challenging but in brownies were they really dont need to be puffy and rise like a cake would, it’s a good recipe to go vegan on. Thanks for the shoutout too!
Averie @ Averie Cooks recently posted..Loaded Baked Tater Tot Dip
Thanks Averie! All your posts inspired me!
One of my goals this year is to try out more vegan baking recipes… you just made that very easy! They look so dense and chocolatey – I’ve got to try these.
Dorothy, your brownies turned out perfect! I’ve been a little afraid to do any vegan baking, but after seeing these, I think I’m going to have to give it a try. Thanks so much for linking my brownies, too!
Ashley @ Kitchen Meets Girl recently posted..What’s In Your Kitchen Wednesday
You’re welcome! They looked SO good. I want to try vegan cookies next.
I just made these and they’re amazing!! Definitely don’t miss the butter or the eggs.. Thanks for the recipe!
I’m so glad you liked them!
These look so delicious and i’m making them for a party this weekend.
But i can’t help but ask, doesn’t the chocolate have milk in it? Its so hard to find milk free chocolate at supermarkets.
And i’m sure ghiradelli put milk products in theirs….
Thanks Blanca! I googled a few things and ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate is supposedly vegan. There is no dairy listed in the ingredients. But, if you’re worried about it, I know that some grocery stores carry a vegan chocolate chip in the healthy food/natural aisle. Or, you can leave them out!
thanks so much. i know ghiradelli is a little hard to come by over here in aus. and they sell small amounts of dairy free choc for ridiculous prices in the health aisle. a few of the people are lactose intolerant so i want to make them something that they don’t have to miss out on. i’ll just keep my hunt on for chocolate!
I’m not sure about semi-sweet chocolate (honestly just never looked it up), but most dark chocolate is actually vegan. I know this because I’m lactose intolerant, and for the past four years it is the only chocolate I have been able to eat.
Good to know!! I figured as much, but I knew for a fact that that one was.
Thanks so much!
Hi I just looke at your sight for the first time the other day. I’m making a vegan brownie for a restaurant I work for and I tried your recipe to get ideas of what a good vegan brownie is like. Something went wrong though and I was wondering when you make them what is the consistency of the batter supposed to look like?
It’s a very thick batter – you have to spread it with your hands instead of pouring. It’ll be dense!
Ok thanks. In the oven now ill let you know.
These are in the oven now. I made them gluten free though. Can’t wait to try them
Enjoy! Let me know how they are gluten free!
Firstly, I just want to point out that these are not truly vegan brownies, because of the sugar. Animal bones are used in the process of making normal sugar that the average family uses. However, I was making these because there are several dairy allergies in my home, and I really wanted to make something chocolatey and delicious for the kids. These were PERFECT. I’ve made them twice, once with the normal amount of sugar and once with only one cup. I definitely prefer it with a bit less sugar, but only because then I can eat so many more! I also added in a little bit more applesauce. The centre is so chewy and soft, without feeling like dough. It’s perfect. My family couldn’t even tell they were “vegan” (sans the sugar)!
I had no idea that sugar wasn’t vegan!! Thanks for letting me know. I’m totally craving these brownies!