Super Fudgy Dairy Free Brownies


Ya'll, I went dairy free about a week ago and let me tell you, it is not as easy as I thought it was going to be. At one point, my brother made himself a frozen pizza and I thought it seemed smart to attempt to eat a slice with the cheese taken off. It wasn't smart. It wasn't smart at all. Afterwards I read the ingredients and the crust and the sauce both had milk products in them and my stomach suffered greatly for my inability to resist pizza.

Still, outside of the one mishap I've been completely dairy free and I have to say it feels pretty good. My stomach isn't upset all the time, I've actually got more energy, and I like to think I'm doing a little less damage to animals that way.

Unfortunately, despite the fact that the dairy free thing was feeling good and I've been eating healthier in general, my time of the month struck and I ended up with some pretty serious baked good cravings. It was the sort of cravings where I was laying in bed at 9o'clock at night craving a brownie so desperately I decided to drag my butt out of my comfortable bed and do something about it.

Enter the question of "am I capable of making a dairy free, fudgy, delicious brownie without any dairy in it?" The answer? Yes, yes I am. It took some digging through my cabinets, and some improvisation because I didn't have certain things (i.e. baking chocolate) and living about 20 minutes from stores meant there was no way I was leaving to pick those things up, but in the end I ended up with delicious, fudgy, crazy moist brownies that are also dairy free. Which is a total win.

To give credit where credit is do, the original recipe is from Life Made Simple and then totally tweaked to fit my wants and dairy free needs. I absolutely recommend you go check out their blog, because there's a lot of recipes that look delicious there.


Start with chopping your chocolate. I recommend doing it before you start anything, because I didn't, because I don't always have a ton of forethought, so I ended up taking about a million breaks between chopping to do other things in the recipe. Don't be like me. Chop your chocolate first and save yourself a lot of trouble. 


I used a 4.4 oz bar of 85% chocolate that was just a little bit too bitter for my tastes for me to eat it as is. Once chopped it measured out to be about 1 cup. Once I had the chocolate chopped and measured, I set it aside.


In a microwave safe bowl, I added my non dairy butter and sugar and microwaved for about 1 minute. I stirred and then popped it back in the microwave for another 15 seconds before stirring again. It was still grainy, but the butter and sugar were more or less combined and looking nice and glossy and well, like butter and sugar that's been melted together. I then set the butter/sugar mixture aside for about 5 minutes to let it cool a bit.


While the butter/sugar mixture was cooling down I measured out my flour... Don't measure it like this though, always scoop your flour into your measuring cup using a spoon and then level it using the back of a butter knife.



Much better! I'm a stickler for the spooning the flour and leveling off method. I've been baking since I was a tiny tot at my mother's feet, and outside of weighing which I'm frankly just too lazy to do most times, it's the best way to get an accurate measurement.



I added in the cornstarch, baking soda, and salt, gave it a good whisk to get everything combined and set the flour mixture aside.



To the butter/sugar mixture I added the cocoa powder and vanilla and gave it a good stir. It seemed like the oils of my fake butter were trying to separate a tad bit, but I kept mixing and it came together into a beautiful, grainy looking chocolatey mixture just fine.


I poured the cocoa/butter/sugar mixture into a large bowl and added my eggs one by one. I gave a good mix after adding each egg, and then mixed for about 30 seconds after to make sure that there was no separation of the oils in my non dairy butter again. This could have been done with a good ol' wooden spoon, a stand mixer, or an electric hand mixer. I opted for my electric hand mixer because it was late and I didn't feel like cleaning the bowl of my stand mixer.



I mixed in the flour mixture until no visible flour bits remained and then folded in the chopped chocolate. Mmmmh, chocolate. I then poured it into a greased pan and waited. Note, that it will puff up and look like the brownies are going to turn out cakey. Don't worry, because once you pull the brownies out of the oven they have to set and that's when the real magic happens. The brownies sort of settle and you end up with these dense, fudgy brownies that are ooey gooey, delicious, and not very cakelike at all.

If you're a strictly cakelike brownie fan, then these might not be the brownies for you but in a family of fudgy brownie lovers these have been a hit. There is currently only one brownie left a mere 24 hours later, which is a sign of job well done to me.


I reheated one in the microwave for about 20 seconds today and topped it with some "nice cream, and lemme tell you, it was amazing. 

Now, without further ado, onto the actual recipe!

Super Fudgy Dairy Free Brownies 
1/2 cup flour
1 tbs cornstarch 
1/8 tsp baking soda 
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/4 cup sugar 
1/2 cup + 3 tbs dairy free butter (I used Smart Balance) 
3/4 cup cocoa powder 
1 tsp vanilla 
3 eggs 
1 bar of dark chocolate (I used a 4.4 oz bar of 85% dark chocolate, that when chopped ended up being about 1 cup)

Preheat oven to 325 Fahrenheit

Chop dark chocolate finely. It should measure out to about 1 cup once it's chopped. Set aside.

In a microwave safe bowl, add dairy free butter and sugar and microwave for 1 minute. Stir, then microwave for 15 more seconds and stir once again. Set aside for five minutes.

While your butter/sugar mixture is sitting, combine flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and whisk together.

To your butter sugar mixture add the cocoa powder and vanilla and mix vigorously.

Pour mixture into a large bowl and add your eggs, one at a time, mixing after each egg. Mix until thoroughly combined before adding your flour mixture and mixing until no visible flour remains.

Fold chopped chocolate into batter and pour into a well greased 8x8 pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the brownies are puffed up almost like a cake, and the middle is set.

Let brownies set for at least 30 minutes before eating.


I hope you enjoyed this recipe and if you try it, feel free to leave a comment letting me know what you think! Thank you for reading!



Comments

  1. Lizzy... You never cease to amaze me.... You are such a talented and inspiring young woman!!!!

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    1. Somehow I missed this when you commented it! Thank you so much so much. I can't tell you how much it means to me that you read this blog and like it <3

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