I have a thing for cakes and cookies you can eat for breakfast without feeling like you just chugged a milkshake (an activity I prefer to initiate after lunch).
So when I came across Ella Mills' recipe for vegan, gluten-free brownies sweetened with coconut sugar, I needed very little persuading to make and eat a batch before 9 a.m.
In Mills' cookbook Deliciously Ella: The Plant-Based Cookbook, the brownies are touted as her "all-time favorite" and "probably the most popular sweet recipe we've ever had at the deli!" (She owns and runs a cafe in London's Mayfair.) They come together from ingredients that might otherwise be hiding in a yogurt bowl—looking at you, chia seeds and walnuts—or a hearty, gluten-free loaf (buckwheat flour, almond milk, coconut oil).
But together, and coupled with cacao powder and coconut sugar, they make for an improbably fudgy, chocolatey sheet of brownies, deserving of Mills' exclamation point.
“Serve these warm with coconut ice cream. It’s heaven,” she says.
While Mills doesn’t recommend making substitutions off the cuff when baking, she notes that with this recipe, the coconut sugar can be swapped for brown sugar, and the buckwheat flour could be traded for all-purpose (gluten-free or otherwise).
“It’s honestly the most delicious brownie,” she says. “And no one will think it’s vegan, either.”
Ingredients
1 |
tablespoon chia seeds
|
250 |
grams buckwheat flour (can be swapped 1:1 with all purpose flour, or gluten free all purpose flour)
|
1 |
teaspoon baking soda
|
1 |
pinch of sea salt
|
60 |
grams cacao powder
|
330 |
grams coconut sugar
|
100 |
milliliters almond milk
|
130 |
grams coconut oil, melted
|
1 |
handful of walnuts, chopped
|
1 |
tablespoon chia seeds
|
250 |
grams buckwheat flour (can be swapped 1:1 with all purpose flour, or gluten free all purpose flour)
|
1 |
teaspoon baking soda
|
1 |
pinch of sea salt
|
60 |
grams cacao powder
|
330 |
grams coconut sugar
|
100 |
milliliters almond milk
|
130 |
grams coconut oil, melted
|
1 |
handful of walnuts, chopped
|
Have a favorite vegan brownie recipe? Let us know in the comments!
Ella Quittner is a contributing writer and the
Absolute Best Tests columnist at Food52. She covers food, travel, wellness, lifestyle, home, novelty snacks, and internet-famous sandwiches. You can follow her on Instagram @equittner, or Twitter at @ellaquittner. She also develops recipes for Food52, and has a soft spot for all pasta, anything spicy, and salty chocolate things.
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