Peanut Butter Brownies ( Vegan)

Peanut butter, as well as brownies, are one of those foods that incites utter joy in many a person. Unless of course you suffer from the dreaded peanut allergy, in which case peanuts become a source of deadly torment while you watch others enjoy it's creamy, nutty goodness. These two amazing treats were destined to meet in many an incantation, and I decided to make a peanut butter brownie recently, vegan style.  The results were completely and utterly incredible, and I thought it was my duty as a baker and humanitarian to share this recipe with the world.

Peanut Butter Brownies (Vegan)

-2 cups all purpose flour ( I used Bob's Red Mill All-purpose Whole Wheat)

- 1 1/2 cups sugar

-1 cup filtered water

-1 cup canola oil

- 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips

-1 cup creamy peanut butter

-3/4 cup cocoa powder

-1 t. salt

-2 t. baking powder

-1 t. vanilla 

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Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 cake pan with non-stick spray. Combine flour, salt and baking powder and whisk to combine. In another bowl, combine sugar, cocoa, peanut butter, water, canola oil, and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add wet to dry and whisk gently  to combine ( whisking is used in this recipe to combine all the ingredients and get out the lumps. whisk only until the lumps are out then fold. Fold in  chocolate chips, pour batter into pan and bake 20-25 minutes, until toothpick inserted in comes out clean.

Frosting: 1 cup dark chocolate chips, 1/2 cup peanut butter, 1 t. vanilla. Melt chocolate  and peanut butter in saute pan over low heat until combined. Stir in vanilla and frost brownies. Cool until frosting is set then serve at room temperature.

 Its a perfect combination of dense and chewy, the ideal texture for a brownie in my humble opinion. 

 I went back and forth on frosting this with a ganache or just PB and chocolate, and it turns out the latter was the best choice . As it turns out, when you melt two delicious things together, you can't go wrong. 

 One of my favorite games to play is " Don't tell them it's vegan". Most people expect vegan foods to taste like algae and raw bean curd, but it's clearly not the case. When they rave about your delicious  treats then you tell them it's vegan, and they act strangely deceived, like they can never trust you to feed them again, pawing and sniffing at the remnants on their plate before giving in and admitting  that vegan food isn't that scary after all.