Chocolate Makes Any Crisis Better.

So I HAD to make brownies today. Oooey-gooey with decadent chocolate frosting.
Doesn't chocolate always make ya feel better? (Even if the picture's crappy?)

See, the engine on my very old van finally bit the dust in a horrible, oil-dripping, green-smoke belching death-gasp.

And it's not even remotely worth fixing. And we are not in a position to do the car-free thing. I needed a LOT of chocolate! And a reliable vehicle.

Nothing to do but suck it up, and go car shopping. Which I hate. And cannot afford. Really. Mucho tears and hand wringing.

Somehow, the Higher Powers were smiling on me, because not only did we find truly an unbelieveable deal (with only slightly painful payments) - but it actually fits my long-legged family and our soccer/camping/T-ball/picnic/dog-show/more camping/car-pooling/Costco-shopping/home-improvement/bulky garden project lifestyle.















Behold, our new (OK, used!!) Mitsubishi Outlander Crossover SUV. (Whatever all that means).

Yes, I fantasize about a cute, little hybrid; but size, reality and budget tend to get in the way there... still, someday...
It actually qualifies as a Partial Zero Emissions vehicle (which is a good compromise at this point) and gets respectable mileage (we've gotten 29+ hywy so far) - far better than the guzzler-van. I can't complain a whole lot. I miss my funky "Vegetarian" bumper stickers and crappy DVD player. But this car?van?SUV?thing is sorta growing on me too. And has a mind-boggling stereo. So, there ya go. I'm feeling better, the chocolate's kicked in.

Here's my daughter's top-secret brownie recipe should you be in similar crisis or just need a choco-fix, which is a crisis in itself:

Olivia's Super-Chocolate Brownies

1/2 cup melted coconut oil (you can use canola oil but the texture will be different)
1/4 cup honey (*gasp*) or agave nectar (or, since it's expensive and I'm not crazy for it anyway, we usually use maple syrup)
1/4 cup soymilk
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup unbleached white flour
1/2 cup Hershey's Extra Dark cocoa powder
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup semi/sweet chocolate chips (We use Guittard)

Preheat oven to 350.
Lightly oil an 8 inch square GLASS pan.
Put the oil, maple syrup , soy milk and vanilla in a medium bowl and whisk to combine. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder and salt.

Fold the dry ingredients into the wet mixture with a rubber spatula. Don’t overmix. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Put the batter in the pan and spread it out evenly. Bake for 35 minutes.
Don't overbake. When STILL WARM but not hot, cover with frosting. Cool until frosting sets before cutting.

Frosting: (easier than it sounds)
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons corn starch
4 tablespoons Hershey's Dark cocoa
1 cup water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 teaspoon REAL vanilla extract (the fake ones just taste bad here)

Mix sugar, cornstarch, salt, and cocoa in a medium sauce pan.
Whisk in the water, this is hard to do unless you sift the cocoa and sugar first. Heat over medium until it gets thick and starts to boil - which does NOT take very long.

Watch it really careful and just boil a minute or less. Remove from heat and stir in the coconut oil, chocolate chips and vanilla. Cool a bit and spread/pour over brownies.

Today we were all in the mood for something very chocolate-y, and since it's the first week of Winter Break, the perfect time to bake some decadence and chocolate. So, I rummaged through some recipes and found this one for Christmas CandyCane Brownies. I'd been in search of a decent vegan brownie recipe for a long time, and no matter what, they all kept coming out soggy or greasy. Gack!
But I'd been playing with this recipe for quite a while, and finally managed to perfect (well, "perfect" being a relative term of course) it last summer (without the candy-cane topping because candy-canes are hard to find in mid-July ) so decided to let the Sprouts try their hand at baking them. The end result was great of course!!

Christmas Candy Cane Brownies

1 1/4 cup white flour

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour

1 Tb. egg replacer powder powder

1 cup water

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup unsweetened baking cocoa powder

1/2 cup oil

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Mix dry ingredients (flour, sugar, salt, cocoa, baking powder, egg replacer powder) You can sift if you want but not necessary.

Then mix the wet ingredients (water, oil, vanilla).

Mix wet into dry together, 50 strokes, or until well blended.

Fold in chocolate chips.

Spread mixture into a greased 13x9" pan.

Bake at 350 for 25- 30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean.

When cool, we frosted with the white frosting from 'Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World' (to which we added some Peppermint Extract) then topped the brownies liberally with crushed candy canes. As you can see, SOMEONE (not mentioning any names here*cough*starts-with-an-O*cough*) couldn't wait to try them, even before I'd gotten a picture!