Thursday 1 March 2012

Eggless (Vegan) Brownies - a step too far!

I really wanted to like these brownies! I saw them on Cake, Crumbs and Cooking last month, and C is someone who's taste and opinions I really respect; if she says something is good, then I expect it to be so. She found the recipe here, on the vegan blog, Maple Spice, and made one alteration - to use light olive oil instead of vegetable oil. I went back to sunflower oil and used a slightly bigger tin than C - an 8" (20cm) square tin.

I followed the recipe precisely, and took the brownies out of the oven after 25 minutes - they were still quite wet at the suggested 20 minutes. Although they did have the lovely papery, flaky top so desirable on a good brownie, this was the only positive point, in my opinion!

I  guess it's all down to personal taste - I found them dry and heavy (almost biscuity) and too sweet. I used a good quality chocolate but still didn't think the taste came through in the recipe - the over-riding taste was sugar, and an aftertaste of soy, which I didn't like at all. They were also far too shallow, which might be why they seemed dry, although I'm sure I didn't overcook them; C used a 7" tin and Debbie at Maple Spice actually used a 6" tin

If I were a vegan, and hadn't found a better recipe, I'd be tempted to add a little raising agent to the recipe. As it was, I couldn't help thinking that an egg or two would probably improve things considerably! Removing eggs from this sort of bake just seems a step too far, if it isn't necessary for ethical or dietary reasons.

Not one to be repeated, I'm afraid, especially as I already have a couple of better recipes with low saturated fat levels.

Note - 24 hours after first tasting! In fairness to the recipe, I have to add that the brownies seem to have 'relaxed' or mellowed somehow, and aren't quite so dry and heavy now. A much more pleasant texture, but I'm still not keen on the flavour, although Hubs and CT liked them more than I did.

5 comments:

Caroline said...

I'm really sorry you didn't like them, I don't make and eat brownies all that often, so perhaps my judgement wasn't accurate. But as you say, tastes differ and I guess we can't have similar tastes in everything.

Sorry that you wasted ingredients but thank you for trying them.

Suelle said...

Nothing to apologise for, C! CT and Hubs liked them more than I did, so they won't be wasted!

And, strangely, they've mellowed a bit over the last 24hrs and don't seem quite so dry now.

celia said...

It's good to have a vegan recipe up your sleeve...

Suelle said...

That's true, Celia - there's always something positive to be gained from a recipe!

azélia said...

hi Sue I've bookedmarked this, can re-work it but it appeals for allergy kid with no eggs and not having to use something like tofu or nut pastes replacements as I've seen in egg-free baking.

Here's something I've discovered playing around with different brownie recipes last year and that is I don't like recipe that have cocoa powder added to the brownie as it makes them a tad dry on texture front but it could also be I haven't found a recipe containing both that I like.