Vegan Carob Brownies Tonight!

Okay... So you try finding a Vegan Carob Brownie recipe that I can eat... Yeah... Not happening.

Vegan Chocolate Brownie? Sure. Vegan Carob with Deadly Whole Grains? Sure. Vegan Carob with Deadly Nuts? Vegan Carob with Applesauce? Yup. None of these work for me.

I found this recipe, but it, of course, called for chocolate. I've spent some time in the kitchen and think I know how to make substitutions that make Carob things better and I'm going to test that out tonight. Here's my proposed recipe:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients:
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup carob powder
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt

Mix wet ingredients
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/2 cold coffee
1/2 cup vegetable shortening, melted
1/2 cup mashed banana
1 1/2 tsp vanilla

Mix up the dry ingredients and the wet ingredients together. If I have any vegan carob chips left over, I'll throw those into the mix, too.

Grease a 9x13 baking pan with Earth Balance and dust with Carob Powder.

Install Vegan Carob Brownie mix into baking pan and bake for 23 minutes.

Okay, I'm totally guessing on the time. I think somewhere between 20 and 35 minutes will do perfectly, but I have no idea. I'll have to wait and see... Just like you!)

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edits:

As I am wont to do, I even read my instructions wrong! Goodness... No worries, though. Secret Vegan Carob Brownies now have 1/2 the sugar!

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar

Also, my banana wasn't a 1/2 cups worth! So, I added some coconut milk solids to make 1/2 cup.

Additionally, I couldn't find the vegan shortening, but I did find an extra tub of Earth Balance hidden in the back of the fridge, so I used that and melting it seemed kind of ridiculous, at the time. I don't know why... Perhaps because I would have had to measure it in the copper measuring cup-thing and then put it in glass and then put it in the microwave and then push buttons... Or, I could just put it in with the liquids. I chose the second option! :-)

Moreover, I couldn't be bothered to find the 1/2 teaspoon measuring spoon, so the vanilla was nearly a full 2 teaspoons...

Gosh! Secret Vegan!!!! If you can't follow a recipe, do you really expect others to?

In the oven baking now! How exciting!!!

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update:

Yummy and cake-y. :-) Needs more sugar. More brown sugar. Coconut milk works. No banana next time. Also, needs chopped up Vegan Carob Chips mixed into the batter. Additionally, needs Carob Powder to be mixed with something hot and melted, before adding to mixture. Then, should be made of Awesome.

Vegan, Nut-free, Chocolate-Free "Nutella" aka NOTella(!)

What? Is this some kind of joke? No. No, it's not... It just sounds silly. Like egg-less egg salad or pleather.

I'm allergic to chocolate and, usually, about once a month, this is the most terrible thing that has ever happened to me! Today was especially bad, because:

1. it's my "moon time"
2. I feel like a bloated bloaty bloat bag
3. I had to go shopping
4. for a bridesmaid dress
5. I needed to bring my mom to help me
6. who made me try on caftans and house tents and everything else she could find that would make me feel unattractive
   
7. and who demanded See's candy as a reward
8. I had to go into said See's candy, which has nothing in it that I could even pretend that I might be able to eat and
9. someone mentioned Nutella, which not only has dairy, but also has nuts and chocolate, each of which would create an allergic reaction in me alone and
   
10. had me obsessing for hours about how I could possibly eat it without hurting myself
    

Now, I'm pretty comfortable with switching out ingredients, but most of the recipes I found online started with nuts or seemed far more difficult than I, in my shaky weakened feminine state, could even contemplate...

But my google-fu was strong and I found an easy recipe!

The Goodbaker says

Ingredients:
- Smooth nut butter of choice *
- good-quality dark chocolate chips

Preparation:
1) In a double-boiler or microwave-safe bowl, combine 2 parts chocolate chips and 3 parts nut butter.
2) Heat gently and stir until smooth. That’s it!

However, I can't eat nuts or chocolate *and* I read the recipe wrong!

So, I mixed 2 parts Sunbutter with 3 parts Vegan Carob Chips, which is the absolute opposite of what the Goodbaker said to do, but that's what happens when you read a recipe once and feel like you've got it down pat, because it's only two ingredients and how could you mess that up???

I heated the combo up in the microwave for 20 seconds, stirred it a bit, but it was still a little chunky, so I heated it up for another 15 seconds and that allowed me to stir it until it was smooth and...

Voila! Vegan, Nut-free, Chocolate-Free "Nutella"! aka one of the most ridiculous things that I have ever made.

I toasted up a vegan sourdough english muffin and I spread that NOTella(!) over the toasty tops and it was tasty.

I'm not thinking it would fool someone who's had nuts or chocolate any time recently, but it worked for me. Plus, it was super-easy!

Yum!