- Hi, guys, welcome back to my channel.
Today, I am gonna show you how to make
the most delicious vegan gluten-free brownies
that doesn't use any refined sugar.
It was a bit of a challenge
that was posed to me on social media.
Somebody wanted to know how to make some healthy treats
and I love a good challenge especially in the kitchen.
These brownies are fudgy and chocolaty
and so moist and delicious.
They even had my kids saying,
mom, these are better than the real brownies
and they don't go easy for a health food.
Okay, so the first thing you wanna do
is add three quarters cup of unsweetened cocoa powder
into a bowl
and then to that, we're gonna add one cup of hot water.
So you wanna use the hot water
because that is going to allow our cocoa powder to bloom
or bring out its best flavor
and you can leave that here for about five minutes.
Meanwhile, we can get our pan prepped.
So I really love this individual brownie pan.
So you can see they're just little individual squares
and that way you don't have to actually cut the brownie.
Everybody gets their own little portion.
The individual portions also allow us
to put different toppings on the brownie.
So if you like nuts, cranberries, cherries
or my personal favorite, a little dusting of cocoa powder,
you can do that.
I'll leave you a link in the description.
It's in my Amazon shop if you wanna know where to get one.
Okay, so I have sprayed my pan
with some nonstick baking spray
and then just go ahead with a pastry brush
and make sure that it's all well distributed.
Okay and then you can set this aside
and we'll go back to our batter.
So I'm gonna replace the white refined sugar
that I would normally use in brownies
with an unrefined golden coconut sugar.
So coconut sugar is made from the sap of coconut trees.
It's then left to dry out
so all of the moisture comes out of it
and then it turns into sugar.
Why a lot of people like it
is because it absorbs slower into the body
so it has a lower glycemic index.
So now we can just whisk up our cocoa powder
and that'll just dissolve into our warm water just like that
and then we also wanna add the coconut sugar.
So this might look like a ton of coconut sugar
but I find the coconut sugar also isn't as sweet
as regular sugar and we just put three quarters cup
of unsweetened cocoa powder in here which is pretty bitter
so it does need a certain amount of sweetness
in order to kinda taste like a brownie.
So in it goes.
I'm doing a cup and one third
and I like to mix up the sugar first
just so that it dissolves.
So you can see it dissolves so beautifully
just like real sugar.
There.
Then to replace our egg,
I'm gonna be using a half a cup of unsweetened applesauce.
Typically, these little containers are half a cup
so it makes it real easy.
In it goes.
Now, you could also use a banana
if you wanted to go that route
but then you're gonna have the flavor of the banana
and sometimes people don't like that.
Although I think that would probably be pretty good
with the chocolate to be honest but I like the applesauce
because it doesn't have any flavor
and then you just get that pure chocolate flavor.
Okay and I feel like it tastes
most like a traditional brownie with the applesauce
then to replace the butter that I would normally use
in a brownie recipe,
I'm gonna be using half a cup of coconut oil.
Now, this is refined coconut oil and I do that
so that it doesn't have any kind of coconut flavor.
If you like the flavor of the coconut
then I would use unrefined.
You'll see, it's marked on the label which one it is.
Okay and then you just melt it in the microwave
or over the stove top for 30 to 40 seconds
and it will liquefy
and then you also wanna add two and a half teaspoons
of pure vanilla extract.
Here we go.
So that's basically the wet ingredients.
We're gonna set this aside
and then whisk up the dry ingredients.
All right, let's talk about the flour.
So I really believe for these brownies
to get the best texture it's best to use an all-purpose
or baking gluten-free flour
because these flours are typically blends
so they'll have a little bit of brown rice flour,
a little bit of tapioca flour
and that's gonna give us the really nice fudgy texture,
a little bit of potato starch.
So it's really balanced for baking
and I'll leave you links in the description
of my two favorite brands that I think work the best.
So I have a cup of the gluten-free flour in this bowl
and then to that,
I'm also gonna add a half a teaspoon of baking soda
and three quarters teaspoon of salt
and then you can whisk that up until combined
then you can add the flour a little bit at a time
to your wet ingredients.
Now, gluten-free flour is a lot denser flour.
So while in the beginning
it might feel like a very thin batter,
once you add this gluten-free flour,
it's gonna start to really absorb into the batter
and become a very thick batter but that's what we want
because it has a very similar texture
to regular brownie batter
and that means we're on the right track.
Okay then you wanna use an ice cream scoop to fill each well
and you don't wanna go all the way to the top.
So one of the things
about using these individual brownie tins
is that if you fill it too full,
they actually get kind of concaved in the center.
I used to think
that that was because they weren't baking long enough
but even with increased baking time, I still got that
but I didn't get it when I didn't fill it up too full.
So that's a tip.
Then once you fill the tins,
you can add whatever toppings you like.
I like to do a mix of walnuts, cranberries,
dried cherries would also be really good
and then you're gonna bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit
for just 14 minutes.
I think that is the perfect amount of time
and then once they come out, allow them to cool
because they'll be easier to release that way.
You want them to set up a little bit.
Well, I hope you guys enjoy these brownies.
Let me know in the comments if you try it.
I wanna know what you think.
Traditional brownies or vegan brownies?
What's your new favorite?
I know what mine is.
This one.