{"id":7197,"date":"2021-11-04T11:11:00","date_gmt":"2021-11-04T16:11:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/?p=7197"},"modified":"2025-10-02T21:08:10","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T02:08:10","slug":"brownies-approaching-moms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2021\/11\/brownies-approaching-moms\/","title":{"rendered":"Brownies Approaching Mom&#8217;s"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Brownies have been the first treat I hunt for at any party&#8217;s food table. I&#8217;ll eat the chips and hors d&#8217;oeuvres first but will grab a brownie or two early to make sure I get mine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Butterscotch blondies are a fine alternate, and I can take or leave the nuts add-in, but my mom&#8217;s chocolate brownies are what I am seeking. She was a conventional home cook. While I have <a href=\"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2014\/11\/falling-down-cake\/\">her old cookbooks<\/a> and index card box, and made their recipes that looked like they&#8217;d work, I&#8217;ve not found the right one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Here at last, from just this summer, is the best approximation so far of my tongue and mouthfeel childhood memory. I&#8217;ve made slight changes to make them a bit more cakey than fudgy, but the base recipe is a clear chocolate, not overly sweet. The ingredients list and prep steps appear long, but all goes together fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is vegan and with its <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forksoverknives.com\/what-to-eat\/\">oil and sugar<\/a> an occasional treat. Adapted from &#8220;Fudgy as F*ck Brownies&#8221; from the cookbook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.badmanners.com\/book\/party-grub\">Party Grub<\/a> by Bad Manners (Michelle Davis and Matt Holloway).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>1 1\/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips OR chocolate baking chips<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3 Tablespoons refined coconut oil (solid)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 Tablespoon vegetable oil<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3\/4 cup plant milk<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/2 teaspoon lemon or lime juice<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>2 Tablespoons egg replacer powder OR ground flaxseed<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/2 cup water<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 cup flour, any kind (whole wheat preferred)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/2 cup baking cocoa powder (Dutch-processed is fine)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/2 teaspoon baking soda<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/2 teaspoon baking powder<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/2 teaspoon salt<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>3\/4 cup white sugar<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1 Tablespoon vanilla extract<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Powdered sugar (optional)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using an 8-inch or 9-inch square baking pan, cut and fold a piece of parchment paper to fit. Making the parchment width match the inside of the pan but leaving the length a few inches longer allows you to make a hammock or sling to lift out the brownies once baked. Lightly oil the two sides of the pan not covered by the parchment.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Place in a 32-ounce microwave-safe measuring cup or bowl the chocolate chips and both oils. Heat in the microwave 30 seconds, stir, and repeat 30-second heat-stir cycle 1 to 3 more times until all is melted or nearly so. Let stand to cool some.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In a 16-ounce measuring cup or bowl, stir together the plant milk and citrus juice. In an 8-oz. measuring cup, thoroughly dissolve the egg replacer (or ground flaxseed) into the water. Let both stand at least 10 minutes, then stir the egg replacer emulsion into the soured milk.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>In a medium mixing bowl, mix well together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder and salt.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Stir the sugar and vanilla into the oil-chocolate mixture and stir. Add the thickened and soured plant milk mixture into the oil-chocolate-sugar-vanilla mixture and stir very well.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Pour the liquid mix into the bowl of dry ingredients, using a rubber spatula to move all the liquid over. Mix only until nearly all the dry ingredients are moistened. Do not overmix. This makes a very thick batter. Scoop into the prepared baking pan, smoothing it mostly level with the soft spatula.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Place on middle rack in the preheated oven and bake 25 minutes. Test for doneness with a toothpick. The toothpick should be not too dry with only a little brown when withdrawn. The edges of the whole brownie will have pulled a little away from the pan. If dough clings to the toothpick, bake another 5 minutes and retest. (If the toothpick withdrawn is totally dry, the brownies are overcooked, so still probably are OK.) Baking should not take over 35 minutes.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Place the pan on a wire cake rack to cool 10 minutes then, using the parchment paper as a sling, gently lift the brownie and place on the wire rack to cool at least 20 more minutes \u2014 a minimum of 30 minutes rest total.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Cuts into 16-20 brownies. Optionally, sprinkle with powdered (confectioner&#8217;s) sugar. Cover leftovers and store at room temperature or refrigerate.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Notes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Egg replacer powder is found in the baking aisle of natural food stores and, increasingly, major supermarkets. If what you have is whole flaxseed, grind in a coffee or spice grinder.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Unrefined coconut oil tastes like coconut; we don&#8217;t want that here. Either coconut oil resembles shortening by being solid at room temperature, and we do want that.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Vinegar can be substituted for the lemon or lime juice.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>1\/2 cup roughly chopped walnuts or pecans could be folded in at step 6.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The chocolate chips, with oils, also can be melted conventionally with a double boiler or similar method.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The brownies bake faster in a 9&#215;9 baking pan than 8&#215;8 as they&#8217;re spread a little thinner. A rectangular baking pan is fine, so hold its square inches to be in the range of these square pans, which here measure between 64 and 81 square inches. I believe metal pans work better here than glass.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Bad Manners cookbook <a href=\"https:\/\/www.badmanners.com\/change\">series<\/a> has a gimmick, exuberant cursing, but the sass is motivational. These are clear well-tested whole-food plant-based recipes.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Brownies have been the first treat I hunt for at any party&#8217;s food table. I&#8217;ll eat the chips and hors d&#8217;oeuvres first but will grab a brownie or two early to make sure I get mine. Butterscotch blondies are a fine alternate, and I can take or leave the nuts add-in, but my mom&#8217;s chocolate [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bake"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Palmer-Cox-Brownie-Books-wiki.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4967,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2014\/11\/falling-down-cake\/","url_meta":{"origin":7197,"position":0},"title":"Falling-Down Cake","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 15, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Falling-Down Cake\" is my childhood name for Mom's chocolate cake. Mom, as discussed previously, was a cook of post-War vintage, the Joy of Cooking, The New Settlement Cook Book and Thoughts for Buffets her references, with a handful of index cards copied from her BFF Isabel Marks. Her weeknight chocolate\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Bake&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Bake","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/bake\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"These are Mom's cookbooks (her Joy of Cooking is lost). Note the cigarette burns on the Settlement. The Falling-Down Cake is from last night so it has a fresh snowfall of confectioners sugar. Yeah, its dome was doomed, right out of the oven, as usual.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/Falling-Down-Cake-1000s-300x300.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":405,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2008\/02\/eat-cancer-in-our-lifetime\/","url_meta":{"origin":7197,"position":1},"title":"Eat Cancer in Our Lifetime","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"February 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2008 Ben S. Pollock One of the outcomes of a Democratic presidential victory come November likely will be national health care sooner not later. And one of the outcomes of national health care will be a sudden and welcome drop in pretentious fundraisers. Nearly nine years ago I wrote\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;American Culture&quot;","block_context":{"text":"American Culture","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/american-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":127,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2006\/02\/dont-call-us-cracked\/","url_meta":{"origin":7197,"position":2},"title":"Don&#8217;t call us cracked","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"February 26, 2006","format":false,"excerpt":"Copyright 2006 Ben S. Pollock Sunday, February 26, 2006. I can throw out Mom's last stuff now. I've procrastinated long enough. One good thing about being a procrastinator is all the things that you get done. You on-timers don't understand this; I have a sneaking feeling you're not as efficient\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Body, Home, Street&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Body, Home, Street","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/body-home-street\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2675,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2011\/02\/moms-chili-if-she-was-vegan\/","url_meta":{"origin":7197,"position":3},"title":"Mom&#8217;s Chili, If She Was Vegan","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"February 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Here is Mom's Spaghetti Sauce, circa 1970s (my sister kept the index card): Brown 1 pound ground beef, drain. Add 1 Tablespoon salt, half an onion chopped, half a stick of butter, 1 (large) can tomatoes cut up, and 1 large can (2 small cans) tomato paste. Cook covered in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Main Courses&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Main Courses","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/entrees\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":6948,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2020\/12\/vanilla-chocolate-vices\/","url_meta":{"origin":7197,"position":4},"title":"Vanilla and Chocolate V&#8217;Ices","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"December 31, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Given that ice cream, gelato, sorbet or even \"nice cream\" are indulgences, here is an alternate name. As nice cream usually refers to a banana-based treat (my adaptation in Notes below), I'm going for \"v'ice\" \u2014 short for vegan ice. The vanilla mock ice cream is adapted from Silk's recipe.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Sides&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Sides","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/sides\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Illustration of polar on iceberg nearing desert island","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/climate-change-illustration-openclipart.png?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":6728,"url":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/2020\/11\/dickinson-chili\/","url_meta":{"origin":7197,"position":5},"title":"Dickinson Chili","author":"Ben S. Pollock","date":"November 27, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The website Bad Manners has great, simple vegan recipes. I've alternated making my Mom's Chili with a version of their Pumpkin Chili for cold-weather dinners for at least four years. So why \"Dickinson\" as the name for the adaptation? That's the variety of winter squash used in canned pumpkin. This\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Main Courses&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Main Courses","link":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/category\/kook-cooks\/entrees\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Acme Brick Company sample","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/WindsorParkVelour-Acme-Brick-16-9-for-Featured-Image-stand-in.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/WindsorParkVelour-Acme-Brick-16-9-for-Featured-Image-stand-in.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/WindsorParkVelour-Acme-Brick-16-9-for-Featured-Image-stand-in.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/WindsorParkVelour-Acme-Brick-16-9-for-Featured-Image-stand-in.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/WindsorParkVelour-Acme-Brick-16-9-for-Featured-Image-stand-in.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-content\/uploads\/WindsorParkVelour-Acme-Brick-16-9-for-Featured-Image-stand-in.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7197","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7197"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7197\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8187,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7197\/revisions\/8187"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7195"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/benpollock.com\/brick\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}