Picnic Part 2 - Vegan Brownies

Hello!  Welcome to Part 2 of our delicious picnic.  Today I was going to post our "super chopped detox salad" recipe but then I realized that I forgot to take any photos of it - and what's a recipe post without inspiring pictures of what you're making?  So I'm going to make it again this afternoon, complete with photo shoot, and until then I will tide you over with something so amazing you'll probably forget about salad all together (just kidding - eat your greens!).  The delicious, moist & rich VEGAN BROWNIE!  I'm not personally vegan but my friend Amanda is so I made this as a surprise dessert to bring on our picnic.  I also really love cooking & baking with vegan recipes because they're generally very health-forward and make a lot of great substitutions for things like oils and sugars and stuff that we should be consuming in moderation.  These brownies do just that, without sacrificing any of the taste.

I have also noticed that many vegan recipes contain uncommon ingredients that a regular joe might not always have sitting in his/her cupboard.  So in the interest of not making you drive to some specialty store to buy 'kelp granules', whenever possible I am going to post recipes that contain fairly straightforward ingredients.  I'll also provide you with substitution options in case you want to make something with whatever supplies you already have.  This is also a great way to learn about ingredients that are interchangeable in the kitchen.  For instance, did you know that you can use applesauce instead of oil when baking?  Yup!  And that's what you're about to do.

Ingredients:


2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (I used whole wheat flour)
2 cups sugar (I like to swap half for maple syrup - see * below)
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 cup brewed coffee (or water, soy milk, almond or regular milk)
1/4 cup vegetable/canola oil (or coconut oil)
1 cup apple sauce (this used to be all oil but I swapped it out for apple sauce!)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. almond extract (you don't have to use this, but I like it)
1 cup chopped walnuts

Other things you can add: chopped up dark chocolate, coconut flakes, dried cranberries, nuts...

* Whenever a recipe calls for sugar you can swap it for out a healthier alternative; maple syrup.  1 cup sugar = 3/4 maple syrup.  Just remember that maple syrup contains more liquid than sugar so when you do this, slightly decrease your most prominent liquid by a few tablespoons.  (In this case, that would be the coffee/water).  Click here for more inclusive directions.

Directions:


1.  Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
2.  In a large bowl, mix together flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder & salt.
3.  Pour in your cup of coffee, oil, applesauce, vanilla & almond extract and mix until well                blended.
4.  Stir in chopped nuts/chocolate, etc.
5.  Spread evenly in a 9x9 baking pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.  Then let cool & serve!