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Lazy Cat Kitchen

A food blog with plant-based recipes from all over the world

Vegan hazelnut brownies

May 15, 2015 by Ania - 18

baking, chocolatego to recipe

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fudgy hazelnut brownies stack

I must say I didn’t quite understand the fuss about baking without eggs until I attempted to bake a vegan version of my all time favourite: chocolate brownies. Now, that’s a challenge! I rose to it and over the past couple of weeks made about 15 different brownie versions.

Some landed straight in the bin (even though I HATE binning food), others have been eaten by us or my neighbour, Suzie, who has kindly volunteered to do taste testing of all sweet stuff I make. Poor girl, she has had to eat some proper Frankenbrownies and did not complain one bit.

Don’t get me wrong, a few versions were pretty tasty, but they certainly weren’t a brownie as I know it. They were a bit like an undercooked cakey cake. My perfect brownie has a crispy outer shell that reveals a soft, gooey and very chocolaty centre and not being able to use eggs was making this a mission impossible.

I must admit I was pretty disheartened and depressed that I will never get to eat a proper brownie ever again. I mean, I gave up meat, dairy and eggs intentionally, but I had no idea that meant having to give up brownies too? Finally, after a few more tries, lots of reading on eggless baking and coming across a great brownie recipe on veganbaking.net, I nailed it.

I could see I did by how quickly Duncan reached for another piece. While previous attempts only managed to elicit an unconvincing ‘yeah, they’re…OK’, this one singled-handedly stormed it – ‘OMG! These are soooo good!’ he said grabbing another piece. These brownies have a crispy exterior, very gooey interior, a satisfying crunch from roasted hazelnuts and a subtle taste of hazelnut liqueur.

If you don’t have any handy, you can simply swap it for a different kind. It will work as long as the alcohol content is roughly the same (20%) and you use matching nuts on top – almonds and Amaretto would be my second choice if I didn’t have a self-imposed ban from making baked goods for the next two weeks at least. Now, excuse me but I need to grab a piece before they are all gone!

PS: If you make my vegan hazelnut brownies, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram as @lazycatkitchen and use the #lazycatkitchen hashtag. I love seeing your takes on my recipes!

vegan hazelnut brownies ingredients

vegan hazelnut brownies

vegan hazelnut brownie cutting

vegan hazelnut brownies dessert

vegan hazelnut brownies stack

5.00 from 1 vote
Print
  • serves: 16
  • prep: 30 min
  • cooking: 20 min

Ingredients


TALL BROWNIES (like in our photos)

  • 2 and ½ tbsp* flax meal mixed with 4 tbsp / 60 ml  water
  • 280 g white plain cake (as opposed to bread) flour
  • 1/3 tsp baking soda
  • 7 and ½ tbsp cacao powder (I used raw)
  • 140 g dark chocolate (I used 70% cocoa)
  • 1/3 tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp /30 ml hot espresso (or ½ tsp instant coffee and 2 tbsp water) + 50 ml boiling water (80 ml liquid)
  • 1 and ½ cup brown sugar (I used raw cane)
  • 110 ml / 7 and ½ tbsp mild olive oil
  • 50 ml hazelnut liqueur (I used Frangelico)
  • 50 g roasted hazelnuts, chopped

FLATTER BROWNIES (fewer calories per piece)

  • 2 tbsp* flaxseed meal mixed with 3 tbsp / 45 ml  water
  • 225 g white plain cake (as opposed to bread) flour
  • ¼ tsp baking soda
  • 6 tbsp cacao powder (I used raw)
  • 110 g dark chocolate (I used 70% cocoa)
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 tbsp /30 ml hot espresso (or ½ tsp instant coffee and 2 tbsp water) + 35 ml boiling water (65 ml liquid)
  • 1 and ¼ cup brown sugar (I used raw cane)
  • 90 ml / 6 tbsp mild olive oil
  • 40 ml hazelnut liqueur (I used Frangelico)
  • 50 g roasted hazelnuts, chopped

Method

  1. Prepare flax eggs by mixing flax meal with water (it uses less water than traditionally prepared flax egg). Put into the fridge to chill while you get on with the other stuff.
  2. Pre-heat the oven to 180° C / 350° F. Line 20 cm x 20 cm  / 8 inch x 8 inch baking tin with baking parchment. Make the baking parchment stick out of the tin so that you’re able to remove the brownies from the tin as soon as they are out of the oven to stop them from cooking any further.
  3. Weigh your flour, add baking soda and whisk the two together with a hand egg whisk. Set aside.
  4. Chop your chocolate very finely. Put it into a big mixing bowl, with cacao and salt. Stir well.
  5. Brew an espresso. In a small pot boil water (50 ml for tall brownies, 35 for flatter ones) + add 2 tbsp of hot espresso. Bring both to boil.
  6. Pour boiling water & espresso into the chocolate, cacao and salt mixture. Stir with a spoon so that chocolate melts in hot liquid. Don’t add any more water.
  7. Add in sugar, flax egg (by this time it should turn all sticky) and olive oil. Using a hand mixer, blend the mixture until it’s smooth. Add hazelnut liqueur and blend it into the mixture.
  8. It’s time to add flour and the baking soda mixture. Add little at a time and stir it into the chocolate mixture with a spoon. Do not be tempted to use an electric mixer as it will overwork the batter. Be careful not to overwork the batter or else gluten will develop in the flour and it will affect the texture of the brownies negatively. Stir just enough until there are no flour pockets anymore, but no more than that.
  9. Spoon the batter (it will be rather thick) into a baking tray. Smooth it with a spatula and sprinkle chopped hazelnuts on top. Bake on middle shelf for about 23-25 minutes (taller version – I baked mine for 23 minutes) and 19-22 minutes (flatter version) depending how set you like your brownies. The top should be nice and crispy, but the inside gooey.

Notes

 *I’m assuming that a tbsp holds 15 ml here. Mine only holds 10 ml, for example, so it’s worth checking yours as accuracy is crucial when it comes to baking, especially of the vegan kind.

This recipe is an adaptation of a genius recipe from Vegan Baking blog.

If you want more info on some of the ingredients that we use in our recipes, check out our glossary.
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This recipe has been written by Ania. She is the cook, stylist and photographer behind Lazy Cat Kitchen. You can read about her journey into food blogging here. You can also check her out on Pinterest and Instagram.

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    Comments

    Leave a comment

  1. Angie says

    May 15, 2015 at 4:06 pm

    Thanks for sharing. Is the flour plain or self raising?

    Reply
    • Ania says

      May 15, 2015 at 4:10 pm

      Hi Angie, it’s plain flour.

      Reply
  2. senra says

    May 22, 2015 at 4:57 pm

    ~oooo looks so yummy! wil try it soon! 😀

    Reply
    • Ania says

      May 22, 2015 at 5:03 pm

      Awesome, so glad to hear that. Let me know how you got on!

      Reply
  3. Misty says

    September 9, 2015 at 3:05 am

    Hi, Ania. I’m a newish vegan myself and have been craving real brownies too. Your recipe looks delicious, but I’m wondering if the alcohol is necessary or if I can replace it with something. I’m in a medical treatment and cannot have any alcohol at all. Thanks!

    Reply
    • Ania says

      September 9, 2015 at 6:22 pm

      Hi Misty, I would say that you can simply swap alcohol for water or a bit more espresso if you want to bring out the flavour of chocolate even more!

      Reply
  4. Tamar says

    December 8, 2015 at 2:02 pm

    These look wonderful! Will definitely try soon

    Reply
    • Ania says

      December 8, 2015 at 4:28 pm

      Thank you so much! Please do let us know how you liked them too!

      Reply
  5. plasterer bristol says

    August 22, 2016 at 1:08 pm

    These are so delcious, they turned out perfect when i made them. Thanks so much for sharing.

    Simon

    Reply
    • Ania says

      August 22, 2016 at 2:26 pm

      That’s awesome to hear, Simon! Thanks so much 🙂

      Reply
  6. Molly says

    August 2, 2017 at 6:04 am

    Hi Ania,
    Wondering if the brownies would be okay if we doubled the frangelico?
    We really love halzenut liquor haha

    Reply
    • Ania says

      August 2, 2017 at 10:09 pm

      Hi Molly,

      It should be fine provided that you substitute some other liquid with it or else the batter may be thrown off balance. Good luck! Ania

      Reply
  7. Jordan says

    December 29, 2018 at 3:07 am

    These brownies looked amazing but I found the dough to be particularly thick and not very moist. The brownie had a great texture and hold but the sweetness and gooeyness level was way off. I don’t know what I could do differently, maybe substitute the flour for a different type of flower? Overall it would be good with some ice-cream, but I found the dough too flour dense and bitter. There were whole sections that felt like they hadn’t been mixed well enough, but the recipe says to not mix with an electric mixer. Any advice would be great.

    Reply
    • Ania says

      December 29, 2018 at 5:49 pm

      Hi Jordan,

      These brownies are supposed to be dense when raw so that they get fudgy on the inside and crispy on the outside once baked. When it comes to the uneven level of sweetness, it must be because sugar wasn’t incorporated well enough – did you use a hand mixer for that stage? As for the flour pockets, again, sounds like it wasn’t mixed in well enough either. Flour needs to be folded in gently using a spatula or a wooden spoon. The recipe says not to use electric mixer at this stage as when flour hits moisture in a thick batter like this one, flour needs to be handled very gently or else gluten will activate and that leads to tough, bread-like cakes. Hope that helps! Ania

      Reply
  8. Rosie Blake says

    May 16, 2020 at 7:27 pm

    Hey Ania,

    Is cacao and cocoa the same thing here? I think you call it both in the ingredients and recipe (and I know there is no consensus on the correct use of the name cacao) so just wondered which you used.

    Thanks x Rosie

    Reply
    • Ania says

      May 16, 2020 at 7:45 pm

      Hi Rosie,

      You are absolutely correct, they are not quite the same. I used cacao in these (will amend the instructions) and I totally struggle with these two names being so similar. Thanks for letting me know and hope you’ll enjoy the brownies. Ania

      Reply
  9. Miri says

    December 12, 2020 at 6:13 am

    Hi ! Can I replace the oil with coconut oil ?

    Reply
    • Ania says

      December 12, 2020 at 3:09 pm

      Sure, just make sure it’s melted and cooled a little first and make sure your other ingredients aren’t straight from the fridge as it will make the oil seize. Hope this helps. Ania

      Reply

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Ania Marcinowska
Hi, I'm Ania. I love good food but I love animals more! Adopting a plant-based diet has been the best decision I've made and that's how this blog was born. It's a space where I want to show you that creating delicious plant-based food isn't actually hard at all.
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