h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

My mum makes the most amazing chocolate brownies, but thet are most definatly not dairy free!

Someone posted a brownie recipie earlier in "lil's Atelier"

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 stick butter
3 eggs
1.5 c sugar (I use 1 cup white, .5 c brown)
1 T vanilla
1 c flour

Any ideas?

mini

I'd substitute butter with either regular vegetable oil or a vegetable oil spread like Earth Balance. Or margarine, if you don't mind trans fat.

As for the eggs, there are lots of egg substitutes on the market, but I find that some of them taste a bit chalky. Chocolate would most likely cover that up. But since the texture of brownies is a bit dense anyway, you can easily replace the three eggs with around 1/2 to 3/4 cups plain silken tofu. If you're also using a liquid vegetable oil, I'd suggest trying 1/2 cup of tofu first. Tofu adds no flavor at all the the mix, but when substituting for the first time you will want to use care that you don't make the mix too "wet".

Another personal favorite substitute- and you can use this in any baked items that have a reasonably rich or nutty flavor, so chocolate would work- is to mix a tablespoon of ground flax seeds with a tablespoon of hot water for each egg the recipe calls for. Whisk together for a couple of minutes- it takes on the consistency of egg white. And flax seeds are loaded with wonderful omega-6 fatty acids.

My chocolate brownie recipe contains flour, cocoa powder, a bit of unsweetened chocolate, vanilla extract, brown rice syrup (I don't use processed sugars), and in place of oil/egg, I use a single serving tub of vanilla flavor soy yogurt (or plain yogurt and a little extra vanilla extract).

I used to use soya spreads from any supermarket (the Co-Op's one was the best ) but isn't olive oil spread vegan too?

By the way, how much is a stick of butter?

Olive oil spread is usually vegan, too, yes. And Earth Balance make their vegetable oil in sticks as well as spread. They have a canola (rapeseed) formula and a soy one.

A stick of butter has 8 tablespoons.

I was kinda hoping you'd tell me what a stick of butter is in ounces or something

Aaah! That would be four ounces (1/4 lb).

the Co-op do soya spread? Hmm, never seen any there, my main problem is that i am not a fan of dark chocolate, do you know if the mad plaintil stuff would work? Or would i be better with the sweet william (tangerine flavour) stuff? The eggs are not a problem for me, i did wonder if soya margerine would work though * tablespoons, i might have that much left of mine.

mini

I think it was the Co-Op I used to get mine from. Was a long time ago

I'm not a huge dark chocolate fan either but I do like Green & Black's. Anything they do is a win in my view