Vegan eggplant brownies with triple chocolate might sound like an odd combination. But the truth is, eggplant is not a weirdo! It’s a totally normal veggie to use in chocolatey treats 🙂 If you’re looking for a new, delicious and fudgy vegan gluten-free nut-free brownie recipe, this is it!
Using vegetables in baking
I first used eggplant or aubergine as it’s also called in brownies in 2015. I shared the recipe on my blog too:
Fudgy eggplant brownies with peanut butter frosting
This recipe became a little hit because adding veggies to baked goods was becoming a trendy thing on social media. You might remember sweet potato brownies? And zucchini brownies? My friend Mitra from Nutriholist used steamed caulilflower to make these amazing cauliflower brownies 🙂 And then there’s my crazy experiment to see how many veggies I can put into brownies so that they still taste delicious. Here’s my experiment:
Chocolate chip brownies with hidden vegetables
I think veggies are mostly used to make treats healthier, but I don’t stand behind this. My aim is not to make “healthy brownies” but to make delicious brownies in a unique way, to get creative in the kitchen and observe the characteristics vegetables brings to treats. In the veggie brownie post mentioned above I’ll explain a bit more about this.
Cooking the eggplant or aubergine
In my first version of eggplant brownies I baked the eggplant in the oven until soft on the inside and only used the super soft insides of the eggplant. This method takes a longer time than my new method which is to:
1.chop organic eggplant (with peels) into small cubes
2.cook eggplant cubes in a pan covered with a lid until soft, about 5-10 minutes
I don’t prefer steaming eggplants, because I think eggplants taste better either baked in the oven or cooked in a pan with a little coconut oil.
So this is an extra phase compared to regular brownie recipes, but it takes just 15 min more brownie making time.
How to make triple chocolate brownies?
Double chocolate on the inside and chocolate frosting – that’s how it’s done 🙂
The base of the brownie batter is a mixture of cooked soft eggplant, coconut sugar and melted dark chocolate. I recommend using max 70% dark chocolate to not make the brownies too bitter. This mixture becomes a lovely chocolate “pudding”, which is mixed together with flours as the base of the brownies.
Also vegan milk chocolate bits are added to the batter to make it sweeter. You can’t actually taste the milk chocolate very well as it melts in the batter but it does give a yummy sweet chocolate flavor.
As a frosting I chose pink chocolate which I buy from Germany. This chocolate is raspberry flavored white chocolate and it balances the flavor of these chocolatey brownies perfectly. If you don’t have pink chocolate, you can also melt white chocolate and add berry powder such as raspberry powder for a little tangy berry kick.
One tip for melting chocolate: sometimes vegan white chocolate doesn’t melt properly. I like to add a bit of coconut oil to aid the melting process. There might still be some bits and pieces left unmelted so if you want a totally smooth frosting I recommend pouring the chocolate through a sieve to get rid of these harder bits.
Now let’s get creative in the kitchen!!
Love,
Tiina
ps If you make these vegan eggplant brownies with triple chocolate or any other of my recipes, please tag me @myberryforest on Instagram so I can share your lovely creations on my Instagram Stories 🙂
Vegan eggplant brownies with triple chocolate
Equipment
- Small baking pan ~20 x 12 cm / 8 x 5 inches
Ingredients
- 250 g / 8,8 oz organic eggplant (with peels)
- 1 tsp coconut oil for cooking the eggplant
- 100 g / 3,5 oz dark chocolate I use 70% vegan dark chocolate
- 90 g / 2/3 cups coconut sugar
- 25 g / 1/4 cups white rice flour (not a heaped cup!)
- 25 g / 1/4 cups gluten-free oat flour (not a heaped cup!)
- 0,5 tsp baking powder
- 0,5 tsp salt
- ~40 g / 1,5 oz vegan "milk" chocolate
White chocolate frosting
- ~40 g/ 1,5 oz white chocolate or raspberry white chocolate if available
- 1 tsp coconut oil
- If using white chocolate, you can add about 1/2 - 1 tsp berry powder to get a tangier berry flavor to the frosting.
Instructions
- Chop eggplants (with peels).
- Cook eggplants in coconut oil for a minute or two in high heat. Lower heat to very low, put on a lid and let eggplants steam in the pan under the lid for about 5-10 minutes until soft. You can stir occasionally so the eggplants won't stick to the pan.
- Preheat oven to 180 C / 356 F and line a baking pan with parchment paper.
- Melt dark chocolate. Chop "milk" chocolate.
- Blend soft eggplant with melted dark chocolate and coconut sugar until you get a smooth pudding.
- Mix dry ingredients: flours, baking powder and salt.
- Combine dry ingredients with eggplant-chocolate "pudding" and fold gently. Add chopped "milk" chocolate and mix well.
- Pour batter into the pan and spread evenly.
- Bake for about 30 minutes and let cool.
- Melt white chocolate and add coconut oil. Add berry powder and mix until fully combined.
- Spread frosting on top of brownies and enjoy!
- These brownies keep well in the fridge for about 4 days.
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