#stayhome Chocolate Tahini Vegan Fudge Brownies

In the current stay-at-home environment, I have been eating way too much chocolate. I have shopped and consumed lots of chocolate under the excuse of the Easter holiday and the stressful Covid-19 situation. In fact I keep taking mini chocolate breaks to the refrigerator throughout the day. So in a bid to satisfy my chocolate cravings and eliminate this guilt, I baked these chocolate tahini vegan fudge brownies. These brownies are refined sugar-free without any butter, cream or eggs. They use 1-bowl , take about 15 minutes to prep and bake in about 20 minutes. However all the brownie goodness I love is still retained – that dense, chocolatey , chewy and fudge-like brownie texture.

Further swirling in tahini, honey and some salt crystals on top lifts the brownies to a whole new level creating a very salted-caramel like flavour. The special ingredient in these is the sweet potato that provides additional sweetness along with creating the gooey fudge like texture. Hence I no longer feel guilty eating these during the afternoon slump. In fact I think they are totally fine to consume as a breakfast bar.

So if you, like me, are going through such cravings during these crazy times, these are the best chocolate brownies that you can bake yourself. The only issue is you have to wait another 8 hours after baking to let the brownie tray set in the refrigerator before slicing them. This is to ensure they set well and are chewy enough to then consume. Below you can read all my notes regarding the ingredients, storage instructions and how I went about baking these life changing brownies.

Or you can just go to the recipe and get baking pronto 🙂

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Helpful Baking Notes for Chocolate Tahini Vegan Fudge Brownies

• Note on Key Ingredients
• Storage Instructions
• Scaling the recipe
• Making the Brownies Gluten-free
• Useful Links related to Brownies

Note on Key Ingredients

On flour and binding the ingredients: In these brownies, sweet potato along with some flour helps create the fudge like chewy texture. I had purple sweet potatoes on hand but you can use yellow / white sweet potatoes . The colour will be masked once we mix in the chocolate. In addition to the sweet potato, I used 3/4 cup wheat flour that has a higher protein content compared to other refined flours , and this helps create more dense baked goods. I haven’t used any baking powder as brownies don’t require any leavening to ensure we create a dense, chocolate fudge brownie and we do not want the batter to rise.

On Fats and using no eggs in the brownie: There is adequate fat in the form of melted coconut oil and tahini paste added in the brownie batter. In place of eggs, I used 2 tbsp of chia seeds mixed in with 6 tbsp of water. The gelatinous chia mixture further helps bind the brownie batter together while baking. (Remember in a normal brownie batter that uses butter and eggs, we mix in melted butter with full eggs without creaming the mixture. When we do not cream butter and eggs, we prevent the brownie from getting too fluffy and hence not creating a cake-like brownie. )

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Storage Instructions

Store these brownies in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They keep well up to a week and can be frozen for a few weeks. Since these brownies are dairy free without any eggs, they won’t spoil easily in the refrigerator.

Scaling the Recipe

Using an 8×8 inch square pan, I was able to cut 16 squares of these fudge like chocolate tahini brownies. You can double up or double down depending on the size of your baking pan or the quantity you want to bake.

Making the Brownies Gluten-free

As I mentioned in my note above, these brownies use 3/4 cup of plain wheat flour so they are not gluten-free. I haven’t made these with any gluten-free flour mix or any alternative like almond meal. However I do think some form of gluten flour is required for binding the ingredients together for the fudge texture. Wheat flours have a higher protein content than compared to something like even pastry flour (Remember these both contain gluten). Without getting too technical, the protein in wheat flours does contribute to a dense baked good. In the case of these brownies, the flour and sweet potatoes help create the dense chewy texture which is what I was aiming for. A gluten-free flour will make them light and crumbly which is not what I was aiming for here.

Useful Links related to Brownies

• Here is the history of brownies – Their origins date back to the 20th century
• Do you prefer cakey or fudgy brownies ? This link covers those differences that you may have always wondered.
• This popular brand of nut and seed butters has covered the difference between hulled and unhulled tahini here . I prefer un-hulled tahini , but that is just a matter of preference.

Please let me know in the comments what you think of these brownies or if you do try baking these brownies , let me know the questions that you may have. Don’t forget to tag #urbanfoodlover and please follow along on Instagram for some more foodie inspiration.

Stay safe, stay home and take care of yourself and your loved ones. Happy baking everyone!