Brownies are notorious for being difficult to get just right. Since going vegan, brownies are the one dessert that I have had the least success with. There’s something about not having the egg in there that just makes it difficult to get the perfect texture. I’ve tried a few vegan brownie recipes on the blog so far and while they’ve all tasted great, I haven’t found the one that makes me say “this is it”.
This might be it. It’s pretty damn close to my perfect brownie.
I love my brownies dense and rich with a crispy crust. I’m not a fan of cake-like brownies. If I want cake, I’ll make a cake! Mind you…I’ll pretty much eat any brownie that’s put in front of me without a single complaint. Duh.
Now, throw gluten-free and vegan into the mix and it’s almost doomed for failure.
But it can’t hurt to try.
Apparently it can. It can hurt real bad.
Despite the mess above, I have two successful brownie recipes to share with you:
- a gluten-free and vegan version
- a regular vegan version (not GF)
The very first brownie I made was our least favourite and biggest shocker. I used a mix of all-purpose and whole wheat pastry flour. The result was a cake-like texture and the flavour didn’t wow me like I hoped. I will not be sharing this recipe with you today as it needs more work.
After that, I decided to switch up my flours to get the dense brownie I was looking for.
[the GF brownie is a bit thicker because it was baked in an 8 inch pan while the vegan brownie was baked in a 9 inch pan.]
In the vegan version (on left) I used a mix of all-purpose flour and almond meal/flour. The texture and taste was so much better than the first version! For the gluten-free version, I used a mix of brown rice flour, almond meal/flour, and arrowroot powder. I was really surprised at how close I could get the gluten-free version’s texture to the regular vegan version. Both were winners, but I’ll tell you which one we liked best at the end of the post. Oh, suspense.
Vegan Brownies
Dense, nutty, with a crisp crust and flakey top. Come to mama.
Inspired by Vegan Baking.
Ingredients:
- 1.5 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water, whisked
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup whole almonds, ground into a flour/meal & sifted (OR sub 1.5 cups almond flour)
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp Earth Balance or other non-dairy butter substitute
- 1/2 cup + 1/4 cup non-dairy chocolate, divided
- 1 cup + 1/4 cup organic cane sugar (note: a reduction in sugar will lead to a more cake-like brownie)
- 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp almond milk
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
1. Preheat oven to 350F. Line a 9 inch square pan with parchment and grease all sides. In a small bowl, whisk together the ground flax and water and set aside.
2. In a blender or processor, process almonds into a meal/flour. Sift out large pieces. Or use store bought almond meal/flour. In a large bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flours, cocoa, salt, soda).
3. In a large microwave safe bowl, add chocolate and Earth Balance and melt in microwave for about 30-45 seconds until melted. Stir well and add in flax egg, sugar, vanilla, and milk. Whisk.
4. Pour wet mixture over dry mixture and stir well. The mixture will be VERY dry, but not to worry keep mixing! Now fold in the walnuts and remaining 1/4 cup chocolate chips.
5. Scoop batter into prepared pan and place a piece of parchment on top. Spread with hands or a pastry roller until smooth and even.
6. Bake for 32-34 minutes at 350F and allow brownies to cool in pan for about 1.5 hours. DO NOT REMOVE BROWNIES (uh oh I’m yelling!) until completely cool or they will crack apart. After an hour or so, gently separate edge of brownie from pan with a butter knife and place on a cooling rack. Cool completely and slice carefully. Some cracking when slicing is normal and I say it gives the brownies character, right? Store in air-tight container for up to 3-4 days.
I love a crisp edge on a brownie!
The key for brownie success is a very thick batter. It’s so thick, you think you did something wrong.
You did not.
Unless of course you forgot the flax egg (see brownie disaster above).
Crazy good batter!
Scoop the thick dough onto the pan and spread it out. I placed a piece of parchment paper on top and rolled a pastry roller over it to smooth out. It’s a bit annoying to work with, but the effort is worth it!
Next up, the GF and vegan brownies:
Ridiculously good. Dense, nutty, with a crispy crust. Our favourite vegan brownie to date and gluten-free too. No one will ever guess these are vegan and gluten-free! 
Oh She Glows Vegan and Gluten-Free Brownies
Yield
9 large browniesPrep time
Cook time
Chill time
1.5 hoursTotal time
Ingredients
Directions
Two excellent vegan brownie recipes.
But which one was the best?
I put on my Mad Scientist coat and did a Blind taste test on Eric. He preferred the gluten-free and vegan brownie to the vegan brownie made with all-purpose flour. I also preferred the GF brownie. I never thought either of us would have concluded that, so it was quite interesting to say the least! Whichever you make, you really can’t go wrong though.
Served with creamy almond milk?
Now you’re playing with my heart strings.
Hi Angela, this recipe looks great. Could I use all purpose flour or whole wheat flour in place of the almond flour/ almond meal? Thanks!
Just put them in the oven! I didn’t have parchment paper- I’m hoping they still bake fine!
These were so fantastic! I made them for Mother’s Day at my aunts house and nobody could believe they were vegan. They ate them all up! ( I might have eaten 3…)
I bake egg-free, per my son’s food allergies. I can replace eggs with flaxseed with success, except for brownie recipes. I use AP flour and butter for brownies, and the butter separates from the batter, as it bakes, leaving the brownie swimming n liquid butter. Do you have any idea why? I wonder if I can take this recipe and use AP flour (He’s allergic to tree nuts.) and butter, with success.
Hi… great recipe thank you! Do you think I can substitute sugar for healthier sweetener? Like organic maple syrup or date syrup? Will it change the consistency too much if a liquid sweetener is used? Thank you
Hi!! Can you make these with cacao nibs instead of using the non-dairy chocolate? Or would the brownies turn out to be more bitter? Thank you!!
I just made these now and they have a yummy flavour but very very crumby and fell apart, taste a bit too dry to me .I followed the recipe exactly so Im not sure what was wrong, I will try them again with more liquid next time
The GF brownies came out great!! I love the texture, its so dence and chewy I could cry a happy tear! I let them cool uncovered overnight, and will be sharing with family after dinner today. Next time I would like to try oat flour in place of rice flour to see if they are equally successful. Thanks Angela, I can always trust your recipes.
I made these tonight and my whole family of non-vegans went absolutely crazy for them! While I was preparing them, they all were complaining, asking why couldn’t I just make “normal” brownies, and once they tried them each of them actually apologized saying they were delicious! Thank you so much for this recipe :)
Great recipe. I love your work!!
any suggestion for replacing almond meal/ flour?
I know it is all the rage, but I am allergic to almonds.
I bought all the ingredients to make these tonight, as my first foray into vegan cooking, but what is “flax egg”? Thank you very much.
Made these today.. and they are awesome. Did not make the GF.
THE.BEST.BROWNIE.EVER! This is by far the best brownie I ever tasted and/or baked. Thanks for sharing
Hi Angela,
My daughter has a new found allergy to cane sugar. I have been substituting coconut sugar 1:1 for cane sugar in most recipes and it has worked out so far. Will coconut sugar at this ratio work for this recipe? Do I need to change the ratio? I am thinking I need to up the amount? Also, your book says to bake these in a 9″ square pan but it looks like you baked them in an 8″ square pan here – which do you recommend? Lastly, do you think any other non dairy milk would work or should I stick with the almond milk? Thank you for your response in advance – I have had great success with every recipe of yours that I have tried until this one. The changes I made are the coconut sugar for cane sugar, rice milk instead of almond, and I used an 11″ x 8″ pan. The brownies turned out dry and quite crumbly. OK, I admit it, I forgot the extra 2 tablespoons of butter but do you think that was the difference. PLEASE HELP!!!
Hi there, I’m sorry to hear your brownies didn’t turn out! Coconut sugar is drier than cane sugar, and it can often result in poor outcomes if swapped into a baked good recipe (depending on the recipe of course!), so my guess is that this had a big influence on the outcome (as well as potentially leaving out the butter). Usually swapping one plant milk for another is totally fine, so I don’t suspect that is what caused it. I hope if you make them again, you have great success! Also, keep your eyes peeled for my new brownie recipe in the next cookbook (it’s gluten- free and grain-free!).
Thanks for your response, Angela! What do you think about adding maple syrup, agave, brown rice syrup, or something similar in addition to the coconut sugar? Would that help moisten up the recipe for me? If so, any recommendations for how much to add? Thanks in advance for your help!
I made the recipe from the cookbook (which is quite similar) with coconut sugar and it was very crumbly, similar to your results. It could have been the fact that I use raw cacao powder, so I’m not really sure. It’s your call. Usually, you can substitute a liquid sweetener for another liquid (such as milk or water) in a recipe. If you simply add a liquid sweetener, you off-set the balance of wet and dry ingredients and the flour may not be able to “drink up” the extra liquid, resulting in a gooey or gummy texture. Hope this helps!
Thanks, Annalise, i haven’t tried anything yet but the next time I experiment with this recipe I will post my findings.
hi,do you think it’ll work if i swap almond milk with soy milk?
In her comment above, Angela says,”Usually swapping one plant milk for another is totally fine.”
Hi,
I love your recipes and about to try your Vegan and Gluten free Brownie. I have a cup for measuring which says 1 cup is 8oz, but this can’t be right for dry ingredients. Do you have a conversion of your recipes into grams? The problem with cups is that is differs for dry, milled or whole ingredients. Thanks Marilyn
Hi Marilyn, I don’t have a conversion done – sorry! But there are definitely a few great (and free!) conversion calculators online that should be able to help you out. An ingredients-based one like GourmetSLeuth’s is your best bet for accuracy, since it will let you take into account those differences between ingredients. Hope this helps!
These brownies are fantastic! I’ve been making the recipe from your cookbook for a long time with amazing results. However the last time I made it, I didn’t have any brown rice flour so I made some substitutions that made the brownies even better than before! I swapped the 3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons brown rice flour for 1/4 cup buckwheat (ground into flour) and enough oat flour to top it off (about a heaping 1/2 cup). The result was a much moister, gooey and soft brownie that held together better than the brown rice flour version. Sometimes the brown rice flour yields a denser texture and can become hard and crumbly, or even gritty. Additionally, I used a scant 1 cup almond flour instead of a full cup so that may have contributed to the less dense texture. Well, I just wanted to let you know the success I had with these substitutions and perhaps anyone reading this who has the OSG cookbook may want to try these substitutions. Happy baking! :)
Thank you so much for sharing, Annalise! :)
INCREDIBLE!!!
Hello,
Living in Asia meant it has taken me a while to gather all the ingredients for the vegan and gluten free brownies. But to my horror, the link to the vegan and gluten free brownies does not load for me anymore :(((. Could anybody help?
Thanks,
Kelly