Vegan brownies (uses flax eggs)

 Saw this on Insta, tried it out because I had some leftover vegan butter. 

From A Big Man’s World:

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoon ground flaxseed
• 6 tablespoon brewed coffee can use for water
• 1 cup chocolate chips of choice
• 1 cup coconut sugar * See notes
• 6 tablespoon vegan butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour can use gluten-free all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1-2 cups chocolate chips of choiceoptional

Instructions

• Prepare your flax egg by combining your ground flaxseed with your brewed (chilled) coffee. Let it sit for 10 minutes, to form a gel.
• Preheat the oven to 180C/350F. Line a square pan with parchment paper and set aside.
• In a microwave-safe bowl or stovetop, melt your chocolate chips of choice. Set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, add your vegan butter and coconut sugar, and whisk well. Add in your prepared flax eggs, melted chocolate, vanilla, and almond extract, and mix well, until glossy.
• Sift through your flour, baking powder, salt, and cocoa powder and mix until just combined. Do not overmix. If using chocolate chips, fold them through. 
• Transfer your brownie batter into the lined pan. Bake your brownies for 30-35 minutes. 
• Remove brownies from the oven and let cool completely, before slicing into 12 pieces.

My notes:

1. Not balanced, not chocolate -y enough, but good texture, and uses half of the normal amount of butter so would consider a retry. I also sort of messed this up the first time in that I accidentally used 6 oz of butter not 6 TBSPs, so I had to double the recipe and I didn’t double the amount of coffee, just added more water… I used imitation vanilla too

2. I modified the directions a bit— 1 cup chips = 6oz chocolate, so I just melted 12 oz of bars and also melted the vegan butter into it too because I didn’t understand how else to do it. I obviously only used vanillin and not the almond extract. I also used white sugar and not coconut sugar. 

3. Would consider making again only because the texture was pretty fantastic, considering it has half the the usual amount of butter. 

Lemon Pistachio Loaf (Vegan, like an olive oil cake)

 This recipe was from Ochre, in Chicago I thought although now apparently in Detroit 

Ingredients

Makes one 9x5" loaf

⅓

cup vegetable oil, plus more for pan

¾

cup (100 g) raw pistachios

Zest of 2 lemons

1¾

cups (220 g) all-purpose flour

1

cup (200 g) granulated sugar

2

tsp. baking powder

¾

tsp. kosher salt

5

Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

7

Tbsp. fresh lemon juice, divided

2

cups powdered sugar

Preparation

Step 1

Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 325°. Grease a 9x5" loaf pan with vegetable oil, then line with parchment paper, leaving overhang on long sides. Oil parchment paper (for insurance and an easy release).

Step 2

Pulse pistachios in a food processor until finely ground (it’s okay if some of the pieces are a bit larger). Set aside a heaping tablespoonful.

Step 3

Whisk lemon zest, flour, granulated sugar, baking powder, salt, and remaining pistachios in a large bowl. Whisk olive oil, 2 Tbsp. lemon juice, remaining ⅓ cup vegetable oil, and ½ cup water in a small bowl to combine. Pour oil mixture into dry ingredients and fold with a rubber spatula to combine. Be very careful not to overmix: This batter contains a high ratio of liquid, which means it can get gummy if overworked. Transfer to prepared pan and use a spatula to distribute batter; batter should come halfway up the sides.

Step 4

Bake cake until golden brown all over, it springs back when gently pressed, and a tester inserted into the center comes out clean, 50–60 minutes. It's okay if your cake has dipped a little in the center. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cake cool completely in pan, at least 2 hours. Using parchment overhang, lift cake out of pan and place on rack. Peel away parchment.

Step 5

Whisk powdered sugar and 3 Tbsp. lemon juice in a medium bowl, drizzling in remaining 2 Tbsp. lemon juice as needed until you have a thick but pourable glaze. Pour glaze over cake, letting it drip down the sides (if your cake has dipped, you can always glaze the flat underside instead of the top). Immediately top cake with reserved pistachios, then let sit until glaze is set, at least 30 minutes.

Step 6

Do Ahead: Cake can be made 3 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

My notes: 

1. Delicious, would make again. Pistachios really sing with the subtle lemon zest. Tastes like it’s spiced somehow even though it’s not. Crumb is like that of an olive oil cake. 

2. I would try to pulse the pistachios until quite well ground. Mine sunk in the middle a bit, and I wonder if the variable size of the nuts was a factor. I used APP and followed the recipe exactly, except I only made half of the glaze, which was plenty plenty. Next time, would consider using a little water/milk instead of all lemon juice in the glaze, as I found it on the sour side. 

3. Took about 52 minutes in the oven. 

Lime Pudding Cups (no egg, no cornstarch)

 Recipe comes together brilliantly fast. Great flavor, and sets really smoothly. 

Would consider using as the filling if I had a graham cracker crust ready, would be just like a thick key lime, or could do squares, would be like lemon bars

Salted Pistachio Crumbles

Delicious! The grittiness of the cornmeal is nice here, and I added some cardamom into the crumbles, which I would absolutely do again. Nice on top of ice cream, fruit, etc.