merrifood

Chewy egg-free brownies

Posted by merrifood on May 5, 2013 · 1 Comment 

Recently, a rock-star colleague of mine went to London to run the London marathon and I obviously needed to give her a send off gift.  She can’t eat any eggs, so this provides a bit of a challenge since the vast majority of baked goods do involve eggs in some shape or form.  I eventually found this really cool brownie recipe that uses a paste made of flour and water as a substitute for eggs.  It adds a deliciously chewy texture to the brownie.  My only complaint with the recipe is that it wasn’t quite chocolate-y enough for my taste – I used less sugar than originally called for, but if making it again, I might up the chocolate factor even more.  Sprinkling it with as many chocolate chips as possible is also something you should definitely do.  Overall the texture is one of the best I’ve seen in a brownie – just make sure you follow the golden brownie rule and don’t overbake!

Chewy egg-free brownies (adapted from Whisk Kid)

Ingredients

1/3 c (41 g) flour
1 c (237 ml) water
1/2 c (118 g) butter
4 oz (113 g) chocolate (use dark, obviously)
2 c (284 g) flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar (the original recipe calls for double this amount but seriously, you do not need that much sugar)
3/4 cup brown sugar (you can use all granulated if you like, but the brown sugar contributes to a chewier and denser texture)
1 tsp vanilla
1 c (160 g)chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 180 C / 350 F.  Grease a large rectangular pan and line with parchment paper if you have it.

Combine the 1/3 c flour and water in a saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until thick and gummy. Set aside to cool slightly.  Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and butter in a large bowl in the microwave (carefully!) or on the stove.  Let it cool for a couple minutes. Add the sugars and vanilla, and then stir in the weird gummy flour water paste thing.  (it is weird, but it totally works!)  Then stir in the dry ingredients – salt, baking powder, and 1 cup of the flour.  Add the remaining cup of flour gradually and fold it in, adding at least half of the chocolate chips as you do so.  Don’t overmix!  When it’s just combined, spread into the prepared pan and sprinkle it all over with the remaining chocolate chips, and if you run out, add more.

Bake 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out nearly clean.  Let them cool before diving in.

Melted chocolate and butter.  With the extra serving of chocolate on the side to add in later.

Making the flour water paste

What it looks like once the eggs, vanilla, and sugar are added in to the melted chocolate mixture

Adding in the gummy flour paste – that loosens it up, and then add the dry ingredients to get a normal looking batter

Glorious large pan of baked brownies, sprinkled liberally with chocolate chips of course

Cut brownies – as you can see, they hold their shape really well, and have a great chewy texture

Overall this probably wouldn’t be my go-to brownie recipe as it’s a bit more involved that a typical one, but I was really intrigued by the addition of the flour-water paste as a substitute for eggs.  If you have any friends that can’t eat eggs this is a great option for a nice baked good to give them as a gift.  And the more chocolate chips you add on the top, the prettier it looks!