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Thursday, August 25, 2011

Decadent Rocky Road Brownies

For once, I'm actually delivering a recipe to you in the same week that I promised it! Of course, I'm older and wiser now and I know that when you promise a bunch of vegans rocky road brownies you had better see it through! Though, to tell you the truth, the reason I made these so fast was because I had almost munched my way through the entire bag over the last week and a half. It was obvious to me that they were some tasty sweet snackin', but the real marshmallow test involves baking them in something to see if you get that delicious vanilla goo... Or lighting them on fire, but I didn't have any sticks... Or fire...

These brownies are something I just HAD to try. When I bought my Dandies I browsed tons of recipes that included marshmallows and after weeding everything out, I was finally down to two recipes: Mississippi Mud Cake and Rocky Road Brownies. It was a tough decision, but I already have a go-to brownie recipe so I thought I'd start there. I'll make some Mississippi Mud Cake the next time I pick up a bag of marshies. You know... eventually.

I basically just adapted CCK's Fudge Daddies recipe with the ingredients I had on hand. These brownies are decadent and contain everything you love about that rocky road trio: nuts, chocolate, and marshmallows. I used almonds, but you could also use pecans or walnuts. This makes a nice, small batch, which is great if you're only making brownies for one or two people. They were everything I wanted them to be: fudgy, rich, gooey, nutty, and all around liked by everyone who tried them!

And, by dandy, these marshmallows blew up and melted just like a champ. No-one would know a difference! I will DEFINITELY be baking with these during the holidays! I am so stoked to have such an awesome vegan marshmallow available to me. Thank goodness for Chicago Soy Dairy!

Top Side: Melty!

In this recipe, I use silken tofu, the real smooth kind found in aseptic containers (they may or may not be refrigerated). I also bake them for 20 minutes, turn off the oven, and then let them sit in the oven for an additional five minutes. That way they're completely done, but not overbaked. Overbaking them causes them to lose that fudgy texture. I also refrigerate them once they've completely cooled and for some reason that also makes them really fudgy. I highly recommend chilling them OR eating them warm with some vanilla almond dream! Either way, you can't lose!

Rocky Road Brownies:
1/2 c. flour
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 pkg. silken tofu
1/4 c. liquid sweetener
1/4 c. raw sugar
1/4 c. no-sugar-added applesauce
1/2 a vanilla bean (or 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract)
2 Tb. unsweetened almond milk
2 Tb. canola oil
2 Tb. chopped almonds, toasted
2 Tb. vegan chocolate chips
9 Dandies marshmallows, halved

Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 4" x 6" pan with nonstick spray and set aside.

1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt until well-combined. Drop in the marshmallow halves and stir to coat them with flour (this separates them and keeps them from clumping together).

2. In a food processor or blender, puree the tofu with the liquid sweetener, raw sugar, applesauce, vanilla bean (or extract), almond milk, and canola oil until completely smooth and well blended.

3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and stir well. Add in the chopped almonds and chocolate chips and stir to mix.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake at 350F for about 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Let cool slightly before cutting.

I thought about making a sort of quick frosting out of melted chocolate chips and coconut butter, but they're pretty rich as it is. Instead, I just eat them with a little CB melted on top. You should make these. For serious.

Side side: Also melty!

Also, you could probably double this recipe and make it in the standard 8" x 8" brownie pan, but I haven't tried it yet so I can't vouch for those results. If you do decide to do that I would only use about 1 1/2 times the amount of marshmallows. Things might get a little crazy if you double those!

Oh, and you wanna know something really crazy? An eighth of the pan only nets you about 175 calories, nuts, chocolate chips, marshies and all! That's still less than regular, plain boxed brownies with a slightly less serving size! 

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