Banana chocolate chip muffins

I hate the word moist.  It just sounds gross.  Moist.  Moist.  Moist.  Yuck.  Unfortunately it's a word that describes all of the vegan baked goods I've made thus far.  I guess it's not that unfortunate, as moistness is usually considered a good thing.
Anyway.  Banana chocolate chip muffins.

Fork - 3 out of 5 for banana mashing effectiveness.

Raw sugar.

I used half whole wheat and half regular flour.

I only made half the recipe, and it came out to be more like 7 muffins rather than the 6 it should have been.

Muffins.

Overall, these turned out well.  I'd say eat them quicker as opposed to slower, as they get super gooey being stored in tupperware, to the point of seeming almost too mushy, like an overripe banana.  Still, tasty, and didn't taste 'vegan'.

Just can't get enough

I'm so lazy about this vegan baking it's ridiculous.  After two rounds of disappointing brownies, it was back to avocado mousse, this time with orange, because chocolate orange is one of my favorite flavor combinations.  I recognize that it is not for everyone - I once brought chocolate orange brownies to a dinner party, not realizing the hostess hated chocolate orange, and it did not go great.  But this mousse, it did.

I never have any idea what actual quantities I use.  It was roughly one avocado, the zest of one orange, 1/2 cup of agave, and probably close to 3/4 cup cocoa.  I started out with 1/2 cup on the cocoa but it definitely needed more.  It's also much better when it sits in the fridge for a few hours so the flavors can actually blend.

Black Bean Brownies - in which I listen to other people's reactions and not my own PMS

So, apparently brownie recipe #2 was not awful.  People...actually enjoyed them.  One of my friends called the "amazing", but to be fair that is her favorite adjective so it means a little less coming from her.

The also remained surprisingly moist and delicious despite not really having that much liquid in them to begin with.  I think with non-whole-wheat flour they could actually be pretty good.

They look like real brownies. 

Black bean brownies, again

So, with the clearer head that comes from a good night's sleep, I'm ready to talk about the brownies.

They are, to be fair, worlds better than my first batch.  The use of actual sugar/flour helps that.

Worth noting: these brownies?  Sort of expensive.  It's a lot of cocoa, and 2 and 1/4 cups turns out to be like, half of a box of raw sugar.  Which I guess wasn't that expensive, but still.

The good:  super easy to make.  Pretty fast.

So fast.  You just mix the dry ingredients (there are a lot!)...

Puree the black beans...

Yum (not).

So you just mix the beans and dry ingredients and some water (I was pretty indiscriminate with how much I added, I just kept going til the stuff could actually be mixed), and done.  Except I went a little off the deep end, threw in a quarter cup of Kahlua, 2 T of vegetable oil (no added fat brownies just seem wrong) and 2 cups of not quite vegan chocolate chips.  Then into a pan, and bake.

So then they came out.  And they were better, but not great.  I think the problem is the whole wheat flour.  You can really taste it, and it's weird.  Like the moistness and texture are what I'd expect from a normal brownie, but the flour thing is just off.  Despite this, I went on a small brownie bender last night (I have my period and therefore a biological need for chocolate.  It's just a fact), eating a giant one on my own and another decent sized one at my boyfriend's place, where the addition of chocolate avocado mousse was an excellent one.  I have come back this morning and had a little more (it's my uterus's fault, not mine), and I still hate the whole wheat.  They have held up surprisingly well otherwise, as they no longer have the allure of "warm gooey brownie" but as cold brownie, they are still decent.  I might try this again with regular flour.  Then again, I might give up on this black bean nonsense and move on to vegan baking that does not attempt to be healthy.

Regardless, I'm done with brownies for awhile.  Chocolate chip cookies are next up for sure.  I have everything I need except for margarine, which I am really tempted to just steal from my roommate.  But I won't.  Probably.

ARGH

People who think vegan black bean brownies are the "best thing ever! so much better than any brownie i've ever had!" are people who have obviously never eaten a good brownie.

I tried again with a different recipe.  Marginally better.  Still blech.  Will recap when I'm not so angry about them.

Vegan baking, take 1+2=3

So I still had those brownies.  I thought I could improve them by adding chocolate avocado mousse icing.  Wrong-o.  The stupid banana still overwhelms everything.  I could have eaten the whole pan in a sad attempt to hope the next bite would taste like actual brownie, but I knew this to be futile.  So off to work they went.  Where they are still sitting, two days later.  Because these brownies suck.

Vegan baking, take 2

So after subjecting myself to watching others eat brownies while I could not, I went in search of a vegan brownie recipe.  I found this recipe, and it used ingredients I already had on hand, so I figured, why not?

Looks good, no?

In actuality?  Meh.  I give these points for texture as they do in that way resemble a decent brownie.  They do not, however, taste like a decent brownie.  I can barely taste the chocolate.  I should have been scared as they use banana, which I always find to be an overwhelming ingredient, flavor-wise, in brownies, and these are no exception.  Anytime I've tried to substitute banana for egg in brownie recipes, the result has been disaster.  

Given the easy/cheapness of this recipe, and the fact that it's actually pretty freaking good for you (bananas? black beans? practically no fat, which is probably why these tasted kind of terrible?) I will give these another shot.  I'd definitely add more cocoa powder, maybe some chocolate chips/melted chocolate.  And in the meantime, my brownie craving will remain unsated.