Vegan Chocolate Covered Espresso Bean Brownie Recipe

I have been making so many cupcakes lately that when I typed the name of this recipe, I accidentally typed "cupcakes" instead of "brownies", and that is the type of experience you have to look forward to when you make this recipe.  It's packed full of chocolate, sugar, and caffeine, but it isn't all bad because it has flax seeds and flax seeds lower cholesterol.  That makes them healthy, right?

I may not sleep tonight, but rest assured that these brownies are delicious.

Yeah, ok, maybe I should just go ahead and post the recipe before this stream of consciousness rant turns into some sort of manifesto.

Ingredients

3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons milled flax seed
1 ¼ cups sugar
1/3 cup coconut oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

½ cup espresso or strong coffee
 ½ cup vegan chocolate chips

1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ cup cocoa powder
½ teaspoon salt

½ cup chocolate covered espresso beans (cut into pieces if they are large)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8”x8” cake pan with greased parchment paper.

In a large bowl, combine the milled flax seed and water and allow it to rest for 10 minutes.

To the flax seed mixture, add the sugar, coconut oil, and vanilla.  I used a spoon to combine all of my ingredients.  The batter gets a little thick so it was easier to use a spoon than a mixer.

Combine the hot espresso and the chocolate chips in order to melt the chocolate chips.  Add the espresso/chocolate chip mixture to the wet ingredients.  Melting the chocolate chips in this way makes the brownies extra fudgy.  

Sift together the cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and flour.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients.  The mixture will be quite thick.

When the wet and dry ingredients have been incorporated together, add the espresso beans.

Spoon out the batter into the lined baking cake pan.

Bake for 28-32 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  (Since it is vegan, you can underbake them just slightly to make the brownies a little more moist)

 


Eat the whole pan and never sleep again!