Valentine’s Day is right around the corner so naturally I Love Vegan needed an impressive, ultra decadent, super rich dessert for the occasion. Classic fudgy walnut brownies fit the bill, don’t you think?
These veganized brownies are the perfect blend of fudgy and cakey – a little cakey around the edges and irresistibly fudgy in the center. Rich, chocolatey, and studded with walnuts and chocolate chips.
Let’s talk about the recipe details. Apparently, the secret to better brownies is in the eggs, or more importantly the air whipped into the eggs. How do we do that and keep these brownies vegan? We use aquafaba! If you’re unfamiliar with the term, aquafaba is “bean water” (the liquid from a can of no salt added chickpeas.) Aquafaba whips up easily and holds a ton of air. It works just like eggs in things like vegan meringues (cookies and pies), cakes, and of course, brownies!
This aquafaba trick plus melted dark chocolate and a touch of cocoa makes for some seriously dreamy vegan brownies.
Top left to bottom right: Aquafaba (liquid drained from a can of no salt added chickpeas) and brown sugar whipped on high until light and fluffy.
Clockwise, left to right: dry ingredients (cocoa, flour, baking soda, and salt), espresso, chocolate chips, melted dark chocolate + coconut oil, and chopped walnuts.
Top left and right: Adding melted dark chocolate + coconut oil and espresso to whipped aquafaba and brown sugar mixture.
Bottom left: Brownie batter (aquafaba + brown sugar, dark chocolate + coconut oil, espresso, and dry ingredients) with walnuts and chocolate chips.
If you’ve got fancy dinner plans for V-day, save yourself some work and make these brownies a couple of days ahead of time. They might be even better after a day (or a few days!) On the day of, just warm them slightly and top ’em with a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream and some chocolate “magic shell” sauce for classic brownies all dressed up, super fancy, and totally Valentine’s Day worthy. These brownies freeze perfectly too, so be sure to keep a tray of these and a pint of non-dairy ice cream on hand for serious chocolate emergencies.
For vegan ice cream, we’ve got plenty of choices. I like cashewmilk or coconut-based non-dairy ice cream. For something simple, classic, and perfect for a saucy chocolate drizzle, I like Coconut Bliss’s Naked Coconut flavour. If you wanna go with something really insane, use So Delicious Cashewmilk Frozen Dessert – the Salted Caramel Cluster flavour is crazy good. For chocolate options, I love So Delicious Cashewmik Frozen Dessert in Dark Chocolatey Truffle and Coconut Bliss’s Chocolate Hazelnut Fudge. Ah! They’re all SO good!
Impress yourself or someone you love with some serious chocolatey decadence and make these brownies ASAP!
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Irresistibly rich and fudgy vegan brownies.
Ingredients
Brownies
- 2/3 cup coconut oil
- 180g chopped vegan dark chocolate
- 1/2 cup aquafaba (the juice from a can of “no salt added” chickpeas)
- 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp golden brown sugar
- 1 3/4 cup + 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 2 tbsp espresso or strong black coffee
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Magic Shell
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- 50g dark chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325F. Line a 8″x 8″pan with parchment paper.
- In a stand mixer, beat the aquafaba and brown sugar on high until it becomes thick, shiny, and voluminous.
- In a double boiler over medium heat, combine the chocolate and coconut oil. Stir until completely melted and set aside to cool. (For quicker cooling, place the bowl in an ice bath and stir constantly until the chocolate is no longer warm.)
- Sift together the flour, cocoa, sea salt and baking soda.
- Gently mix the cooled, melted chocolate into whipped aquafaba/sugar mixture, followed by the espresso, and then the dry ingredients. Add the walnuts and chocolate chips. Stir slowly until the batter is thick and well combined.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 22 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Optional: Top with extra chopped walnuts.
- Magic Shell: Melt coconut oil and dark chocolate in a double boiler or microwave.
Notes
Choose refined (or the cheapest) coconut oil if you don’t want your brownies to taste like coconut. High quality, organic coconut oils taste stronger.
Hi & Greetings from the UK. Thanks for the fab recipe. Do you think I could sub the coconut oil for another oi? In the main recipe and magic shell I have to avoid coconut- thanks
Thanks for commenting Nina! I’ve only tested this recipe with coconut oil so I can’t vouch for any other fats. I’m thinking vegan butter or canola oil might work in the brownies. I’ll circle back and update you if I give it a try. As for the magic shell, the coconut oil is key there so I’d just go for melted dark chocolate or store-bought chocolate syrup.
Brittany, this is making my tummy grumble! I’m over here trying to brainstorm all the ways I can fit peanut butter into these brownies to satisfy my undying need for pb and chocolate. Plus your ice cream talk just reminded me that I recently found a new vegan ice cream (I think it’s called Nada Moo?) that makes a butter pecan flavor, and thinking about it with these brownies is just wayyyyyy too good. Thank you for the valentines day inspiration! ♥
Thank you so much Kassy! I was thinking of marbling peanut butter into the batter (once it’s in the pan) – I think it would be DELICIOUS! I’ve heard of Nada Moo but never seen/tried it before. Anything vegan and butter pecan sounds absolutely amazing. I’ll keep my eye out for it. Thanks for commenting 😀
Wow –I love this brownie recpie using aquafaba (ingenious),and topping with vegan ice cream and melted chocolate. I have not been very successful at creating a smooth flowing melted chocolate. Do you have any helpful advice? The photos are fantastic.
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Thanks Cheryl! For smooth melted chocolate add a touch of coconut oil along with the chocolate when you melt it. 😀
This sounds deeelish! Do you think it would work with a gluten free flour?
Hi Jodi! I haven’t tried making them with a GF flour so I can’t say for sure. If you give it a go I’d recommend trying it with a 1:1 gluten free flour blend. Thanks for commenting!
Made these with salted chickpea water (couldn’t find any salt-free in my part of Australia) and omitted the salt from the recipe. Turned out nice! Taking a brownie to my mother’s dinner meetup tomorrow instead of one of her Betty Crocker ones (since I’ve just gone vegan). Thanks for the recipes!
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Thanks for commenting Nikolai! I’m glad this worked with salted chickpeas too!
Wow! These photos don’t lie! Just whipped up a batch of these and they are delicious! Wonderful, chewy texture with the crinkly tops I love. I’ve wondered if you can achieve crinkly tops with vegan brownies (since the egg whites contribute to the meringue-like tops) and aquafaba was the answer! I may use nondairy butter next time just because I’m not a huge fan of a really coconut-y brownie. Otherwise it was great!
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HI! Can I replace the coffee? Or just don’t add it? Is the same (dry and wet ingredients…)? Thank you !!!
Yes you can! Just add 2 tbsp non-dairy milk or water 🙂
FANTASTIC BROWNIES!!! LOVE THEM! THANK YOU
YAY! Thanks so much!!!
This has been my go-to brownie recipe for ages now, but I nver thought to comment before. Bit remiss of me to be enjoying your awesome recipe wothout showing my appreciation – so thanks v much 🙂 I’ve got a batch on now which I shall be taking to a NYE party later. Everyone in my social group loves ‘my’ brownies, and it’s all down to you! Have a great New Year and a fabulous 2018! 🙂
Aww, thank you so so much. This is so wonderful to hear, I’m so happy you love these brownies so much 😀
Just made those and they are awsome! My roomate who is not vegan at all said that it was the best brownies she ever had. Just discovered your blog and I love it. Hello from Quebec 🙂
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So, these brownies are AMAZING. I have just found aquafaba and am trying to make all the recipes with this in it. Yours are the first aquafaba brownies I have tried making — and they will be the last (and I’m picky about my brownies so that means a lot 😉 ). Because they are PERFECT. Crackly on top (!!), moist and chewy on the inside, dense and thick and fudgy… seriously, everything I miss from a good brownie in my pre-vegan years. Thank you so much for writing & posting this recipe!
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I just made these brownies, and they were amazing! Invited some non-vegan friends over and they loved them as well. However, whey were a bit crumbly and fell apart easily. Did I do something wrong?
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Thank you! I made these brownies earlier and they were amazing! Invited some non-vegan friends over and they absolutely loved them. However, they were a little bit crumbly and fell apart easily, did I do something’s my wrong?
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Hi Evelina! Thanks for commenting. I’m glad you enjoyed them! I’m not sure why they would end up crumbly. Did you make any substitutions to the recipe? I haven;t had any comments about them being crumbly so I’m a little confused! How did you store them? Did you allow plenty of time for them to cool?
I don’t have a stand mixer, is it achievable to make this in the blender?
I’m not sure! You’d want to set the blender to low for sure. I’d probably transfer it from the blender before adding the dry ingredients and mix by hand at that point. Do you have a hand mixer to use instead?
Hi, Just stumbled across your website and I have some dry aquafaba powder I would like to use but I don’t know how much water to add to it to make it reconstituted aquafaba, there were no instructions with the jar or online ,so I would like your input. Thanks
Hi I want to know how much dry aquafaba to use in this recipe,I bought a jar of powdered aquafaba and there is no instructions with it to say how much water to mix with it to reconstatute it. thanks
Hi Kim! Sorry, I’ve never used dried aquafaba before, I didn’t even know it existed (thanks for introducing me!) From what I’ve found, it looks you need to use 1 tbsp of aquafaba for every 1 cup of water. So for this recipe, I’d try 1/2 tbsp of dry aquafaba and 1/2 cup of water. I hope that helps! Thanks for your patience 🙂
Absolutely heavenly! I have tried SO many vegan brownie recipes before and they always turn out cakey and not deliciously fudgy like a brownie should be. These brownies are definitely fudgy and the crackle on top is so reminiscent of my post-vegan days. If you have come to the comments to decide if you should make these, then the answer is YES. In all honesty, I am awful at baking. Even if I follow a recipe exactly, it always flops. But not this recipe. Comes out perfect every single time. My entire non vegan family absolutely adores them. My cousin who doesn’t care for chocolate ate two of them! These are just divine.
In the past I’ve whipped aquafaba to no avail. The liquid simply would never reach those dreamy stiff peaks. That is until I found another recipe that suggested aquafaba be reduced before whipping it. For this recipe, I simmered 1 cup of aquafaba until it reduced to half of its volume (1/2 cup). Then, I place in the fridge to cool (or freezer if I am short on time). After it cools, it becomes the consistency of an egg white and whips beautifully. I have done this several times with great results. So if you’re like me and can’t get your aquafaba to whip, I suggest trying this tip!
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Super simple vegan brownie. My 12 year old egg allergic son loved them as his first ‘real’ brownie!!!
I left out the coffee and the icing – despite this it was great!
cant wait to make again – now need some creative uses for all the chickpeas 😉
absolutely irresistible! and I’m not even vegan! I have friends with an egg allergy and these are sure to delight.
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When I went vegan, my kids literally said, “Oh no – do we have to eat vegan, too??!” But they don’t complain AT ALL when I make these!! They are absolutely delicious, and what a find “aquafaba” is. Have made them three times already, and they come out perfectly (and are instantly devoured) every time. Thank you!
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That’s wonderful to hear Lauren! I love this recipe, so I’m really glad you and your family love it too!