mint chocolate chip brownies

Forgive me father, for I have sinned.

I put non-vegan mint chips into a vegan brownie.

But you can TJ’s Mint UFO’s instead, those are 100% vegan.

Vegan-ish Mint Chocolate Chip Brownies (makes 12 squares)

adapted from these

3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I used Nestle’s dark chocolate and mint mix)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease an 8 inch square baking dish (I used a 6×8” Pyrex pan).
2. Mix sugar, oil, soymilk, and vanilla. Stir and set aside to let sugar dissolve. (The original recipe called for grinding the sugar to help it dissolve easier. I didn’t bother and it turned out fine.)
3. Stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, and chocolate chips.
4. Pour the sugar mixture on top of the flour mix and gently stir until just until combined.
5. Spoon the batter into the prepared baking dish and spread it evenly.
6. Bake for 14 to 16 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs attached but not gooey. (I had to bake it for about 25 min. because of the different pan size.)
7. Cool completely before cutting and serving. They are complete goo when warm (they will firm up after chilling), but also delicious, so if you don’t mind a mess…

Notes:

I have been trying to find a good vegan brownie recipe for a long time and these were definitely a bit of an “Eureka!” like the recipe promised. They were almost exactly like non-vegan fudge brownies, even the ones choc-full of butter and eggs. After cooling, they have a great texture and hold together. Even though they are 100% whole wheat, they definitely don’t taste like it and are super-super decadent. I got rave reviews from my classmates and omnivorous friends.

The only caveat for me is that these are very sweet—not any more so than box mix brownies, but I am going to try to use ½ cup sugar next time to see what happens.

UPDATE: two days later I went to a friend’s house and ate brownies from a box mix, so I can assure you that yeah, these are the real thing.