Pecan and Chocolate Chip Brownies

 

Sorry for the hiatus but Easter or “Zombie Day” :D and my mother’s birthday kept me pretty busy this past week. But I’m back and making some delicious vegan brownies. I started today really wanting to make a healthy brownie (if their can ever be such a thing), but ran into some problems. My first try I used apple sauce instead of oil and agave nectar for half the sugar and was hoping for the best. The result was edible but a little chewy and just not what I want in a brownie! So the second try and this recipe I used oil only cutting a little out and a full thing of regular sugar. You can add any nut you’d like but I would recommend either pecans or walnuts. The coffee adds a great flavor to the brownies and really intensifies the chocolaty taste. These taste great all on their own but if you want to make them look really great cut into equal size squares, sprinkle with organic powdered sugar and place in paper cupcake tins.  If you have any questions, tips, or suggestions just make a comment and I’ll answer it for you. Enjoy the recipe!

Pecan and Chocolate Chip Brownies

Ingredients

·      1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

·      1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

·      2 cups sugar (I used an organic sugar)

·      ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

·      1 teaspoon baking powder

·      1 teaspoon salt

·      1 cup strong extra bold coffee

·      ¼ cup applesauce (I used unsweetened)

·      ¾ cup vegetable oil 

·      1 teaspoon vanilla extract

·      ½ cup dark chocolate chips (I used a extra dark chocolate 70% cocoa)

·      ½ pecan pieces

Procedure

1.     Preheat the oven to 350° F.

2.     In a large bowl, stir together all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, white organic sugar, cocoa powder, and salt.

3.     Pour in vegetable oil, applesauce, vanilla extract, and bold strong coffee. Fold in pecans and chocolate.

4.     Spread evenly into 9X13 pan and bake for 30-35 minutes.

 

 

If you don’t have whole-wheat pastry flour just use another cup of all-purpose flour. If you don’t have organic sugar that’s fine to, you can just use regular sugar but it might not be vegetarian then. For the 1-cup coffee you can use just 1 cup of water but it just wont be as flavorful. I used 1/4 cup of applesauce to lower the fat content just a little so If you don’t have applesauce just add ¼ cup of oil.