Vegan hazelnut brownies
These brownies have a crispy exterior, very gooey interior, a satisfying crunch from roasted hazelnuts and a subtle taste of hazelnut liqueur. If you don’t have any handy, you can simply swap it for a different kind. It will work as long as the alcohol content is roughly the same (20%) and you use matching nuts on top.
Ingredients
2 and ½ tbsp* flax meal mixed with 4 tbsp / 60 ml water
280 g white plain cake (as opposed to bread) flour
1/3 tsp baking soda
7 ½ tbsp cocoa powder (I used raw)
140 g dark chocolate (I used 70% cocoa)
1/3 tsp salt
2 tbsp /30 ml hot espresso (or ½ tsp instant coffee and 2 tbsp water) + 50 ml boiling water (80 ml liquid)
1 and ½ cup brown sugar (I used monkfruit)
110 ml / 7 and ½ tbsp mild olive oil
50 ml hazelnut liqueur (I used Frangelico)
50 g roasted hazelnuts, chopped
Method
1. Prepare flax eggs by mixing flax meal with water (it uses less water than traditionally prepared flax egg). Put into the fridge to chill while you get on with the other stuff.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 180° C / 350° F. Line 20 cm x 20 cm / 8 inch x 8 inch baking tin with baking parchment. Make the baking parchment stick out of the tin so that you’re able to remove the brownies from the tin as soon as they are out of the oven to stop them from cooking any further.
3. Weigh your flour, add baking soda and whisk the two together with a hand egg whisk. Set aside.
4. Chop your chocolate very finely. Put it into a big mixing bowl, with cocoa powder and salt. Stir well.
5. Brew an espresso. In a small pot boil 50 ml water + add 2 tbsp of hot espresso. Bring both to boil.
6. Pour boiling water & espresso into the chocolate, cocoa powder and salt mixture. Stir with a spoon so that chocolate melts in hot liquid. Don’t add any more water.
7. Add in sugar, flax egg (by this time it should turn all sticky) and olive oil. Using a hand mixer, blend the mixture until it’s smooth. Add hazelnut liqueur and blend it into the mixture.
8. It’s time to add flour and the baking soda mixture. Add little at a time and stir it into the chocolate mixture with a spoon. Do not be tempted to use an electric mixer as it will overwork the batter. Be careful not to overwork the batter or else gluten will develop in the flour and it will affect the texture of the brownies negatively. Stir just enough until there are no flour pockets anymore, but no more than that.
9. Spoon the batter (it will be rather thick) into a baking tray. Smooth it with a spatula and sprinkle chopped hazelnuts on top. Bake on the middle shelf for about 23-25 minutes (I baked mine for 23 minutes) depending how set you like your brownies. The top should be nice and crispy, but the inside gooey. Notes * I’m assuming that a tbsp holds 15 ml here. Mine only holds 10 ml, for example, so it’s worth checking yours as accuracy is crucial when it comes to baking, especially of the vegan kind.
