Today’s recipe is a tray of vegan tahini brownies cos baking season is now officially open and these brownies are perfect to start the proceedings with. These vegan tahini brownies rely on only a few staple ingredients and are really straightforward to make.
These tahini brownies are deliciously fudgy, deeply chocolatey and topped with a nutty and slightly savoury tahini drizzle. They are beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. They only take minutes to put together and they keep well – although I don’t think that’s an issue you are likely to have. Well, I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as me, my husband and my neighbours did.
MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS
GROUND FLAX: Instead of eggs, I used finely ground golden flax in this recipe, which becomes gelatinous and thick when whisked with plant milk and sugar. I have not tested with chia seeds, but they should work just as well in theory.
PLANT MILK: I used soy milk to activate flax seeds and to add moisture to the batter. I like using soy milk in baking as it’s high in protein, but I any plant milk will work just as well.
DARK CHOCOLATE: A good tray of brownies relies on good chocolate. I used 70% cacao dark chocolate and that’s what I recommend for an intensely chocolatey flavour.
VEGAN BUTTER: Fat is essential to brownies fudgy interior. I use vegan butter (Violife and Flora), but you could also make these with coconut oil. I recommend the odour-less version unless you want the coconut aroma in the final product.
SUGAR: I used a mixture of caster sugar and light muscovado sugar. Caster sugar gives brownies their thin crispy shell and muscovado is high in moisture and so it helps to crank up brownies’ fudgy interior. If you are missing any other these, you can also use either or – the brownies will still be delicious.
ALL PURPOSE FLOUR: Plain flour is used in these brownies and that’s important – we don’t want to use self-rising flour as it would make these brownies cakey. If you want to make the brownies gluten-free, use a good GF flour mix, one which contains a high proportion of starches for binding.
CORNSTARCH: A bit of cornstarch helps with fudginess, but if you cannot have it, use another tablespoon of plain flour instead.
COCOA POWDER: natural (not Dutch processed) cocoa powder gives the brownie layer even more chocolate richness than what you would get if you were to use melted chocolate alone.
SALT: A bit of salt is great in desserts and especially in chocolate desserts as it makes the chocolate taste better. I only used a small amount as my vegan butter contains salt already, but if yours doesn’t, feel free to double the amount.
BAKING SODA: A very small amount of baking soda helps these brownies cook, but it’s not enough to make them cakey.
CARDAMOM: I added a touch of cardamom to these as it’s a spice that works really well with chocolate and tahini, but if you are not a fan – it’s quite a divisive flavour – you can safely skip it.
TAHINI: I used good tahini to create a nice tahini whip that I swirled into these tahini brownies at the end. You can sweeten it with a tablespoon of maple syrup if you wish, but I personally love the contrast between sweet and fudgy brownies and bitter tahini.
HOW TO MAKE IT?
1) ACTIVATE FLAX
Combine ground flax and plant milk in a large mixing bowl and let them sit together for 20 minutes. While you are waiting, place broken up chocolate and vegan butter in a bowl suspended over a pot and start melting it on a very low heat.
2) ADD SUGAR AND WHIP
Add sugars to the activated flax and whip for a couple of minutes, until thick and bubbly.
3) MIX IN MELTED CHOCOLATE AND BUTTER
Next, add in melted chocolate mixture and gently incorporate it into dry ingredients.
4) FOLD IN DRY INGREDIENTS
Incorporate dry ingredients into the wet ones in two batches until you get a uniform batter.
3) TRANSFER TO A TIN & SWIRL IN TAHINI MIXTURE
Transfer the batter into a prepared baking tin and dot tahini mixture on top. Use a chopstick to swirl tahini mixture into the brownies and bake until barely set.
- 8 g / 4 tsp ground flax
- 120 ml / ½ cup plant milk (I used soya, but any works)
- 150 g / ¾ cup caster (superfine) sugar
- 100 g / ½ dark muscovado sugar
- 150 g / 5¼ oz vegan 70% cocoa dark chocolate
- 100 g / 3.5 oz (scant ½ cup) vegan butter
- 125 g / 1 cup plain flour* (or a GF flour mix)
- 8 g / 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 40 g / scant ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- heaped ¼ tsp salt
- ¼ tsp baking soda (GF certified if needed)
- ¼ tsp cardamom (optional)
TAHINI WHIP
- 85 g / 1/3 cup tahini
- water
- sesame seeds, to decorate (optional)
METHOD
TAHINI BROWNIES
- Preheat the oven to 180° C / 355° F. Line a square 20 cm / 8 inch tin with baking paper.
- Place ground flax in a large mixing bowl with 120 ml / ½ cup of plant milk and set aside for 10 minutes.
- Prepare tahini whip and melt the chocolate (see next step) while waiting. Pop tahini into a medium bowl and gradually add in water while whisking vigorously – add only as much as needed (my tahini was quite stiff so I needed 4 tbsp) – you want a thick, smooth mixture that barely falls off the spoon.
- Melt broken up chocolate and vegan butter in a bowl suspended over a pot of barely simmering water. Allow them to melt slowly, switch the heat off when most of the chocolate has melted. Stir gently to combine at the end.
- Add both sugars to the activated flax and whisk with an electric whisk for 2 minutes – until the mixture becomes bubbly and thick – see photo above.
- Gently fold warm (not cooled) chocolate mixture into the flax-sugar mixture.
- Place a sieve over the bowl and sift in dry ingredients in two batches whilst gently folding with a spatula. Keep on folding until there is no dry pockets left but no more than that.
- Transfer the batter into the baking tin, spread to the edges with a spatula.
- Dot the top with tahini mixture and, using a chopstick, create decorative swirls. Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using.
- Bake for 22 minutes – the brownies should have a bit of a wobble when being taken out of the oven.
- Cool completely and then place in the fridge for a few hours for the brownies to firm up and become fudgy.
NUTRITIONAL INFO
*per 1 out of 16 servings
