Vegan MoFo No4: Ginger nut brownies

I found the basis for this recipe in the book ‘1001 Cupcakes, Cookies and Other Tempting Treats’ and my version is pretty much the same though I substitute chocolate chips for nuts (found the choc chips don’t really add much) and double the ingredients – what they suggest does NOT make the 24 pieces it says! Of course if you want a smaller batch just half the ingredients…but who’d want to do that? 

Serving suggestion ;) Note: Despite what I said above, this photo is actually of a choc chip batch! 

It was the first one I made. And yeah this is cow's milk, but I can confidently say they taste 

great with oat milk too, so I think I can include them in Vegan MoFo!

I’ve made these about 4 times now, once as a thank you present, once for a friend, once to share at an Edinburgh Uni Feminist Society event, and once just because me and Alex were feeling greedy. Every time they’ve gone down amazingly so I really encourage you to try them! The spice mixture is especially lovely in these winter months, I expect I’ll be making a lot more over Christmas!

 

Warning: these are really, really addictive. 

Ingredients:

8 pieces of stem ginger in syrup

450g plain flour

3 tsp ground ginger

2 tsp ground cinnamon

½ tsp ground cloves

½ tsp grated nutmeg

230g soft light brown sugar

230g dairy/non-dairy butter (I’ve used Flora and vegan sunflower spread, both work great)

230g golden syrup

150g chopped nuts (hazelnuts and almonds work well, and I reckon macadamia nuts would too but they’re pretty pricey!)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 150 degrees C/300 degrees F/ gas mark 2 (sorry I normally only give the temperature in Celsius, will try and include Fahrenheit and Gas from now on!) 

2. Sift the flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg into a large bowl. Finely chop the stem ginger and add to the mix along with the sugar. Stir it all together.

3. Gently heat the butter and golden syrup in a pan over the stove. Bring to the boil then pour into the dry ingredients bowl, stirring constantly. Once combined mix in the nuts.

4. When the mixture is cool enough to handle, press it into a lined 30x20cm/12x8inch baking tin and bake in the oven for approximately 30 minutes till golden and when pricked with a knife it comes out clean. When finished, remove from the oven and cut into bars while still hot then leave in the tin to cool.

So obviously this is more than 24 pieces, but I cut these super tiny to share them at an event, 

it'll make approx 24 regular sized bars!