Beautiful Bubbles needs a home! She's in Philly!

Happy Tuesday, folks!

Here are a few things I’ve been excited about this week:

1. Kittee’s zine!!
2. pasta!!
3. nilla wafers!!
4. Thai noodles!!
5. scones!!
6. gallette!!
7. brownies!!
8. soufflé!!
9. bundt cake!!

and

10. ketchup chips? yes, ketchup chips!!

Huzzah!!!

The double batch of brownies I just pulled from the oven are the third go I’ve had with this recipe in the last two weeks, I like ‘em that much. The first were developed as an experiment for a friend’s birthday and had great results, so the second were baked for our local World Wide Vegan Bake-sale (y’know to make sure there’d be enough xgfx stuff for the masses), and this last batch I made just for us–since my folks are visiting from far away. However, since it’s become apparent that my Dad is still stuck somewhere in the Stone Age, I had to make half special for him without the rocks, since he’s anti-keen on the marshies.

I’m inspired to share the recipe with you, since we were just discussing brownies over on Facebook. This was modified from The New Farm Vegetarian Cookbook, which has remained one of my favorite cookbooks since I first went vegan over 20 years ago. I thought the method of the recipe was super unique, since I’d never heard of cooking flour and water together to make a thick brownie base before, but it seems other folks like The Cinamon Quill are having success with this method as well. Personally, I find my version works best if you use extra fine brown rice flour and allow the brownies a chance to set up in the fridge overnight or for a few hours, because otherwise I find they’re super gooey straight outta the oven, especially with the melted Dandies oozing all over the place.

Rocky Road Brownies

Makes an 8X8 brownie pan full.

What You Need:

• 1/3 cup teff flour
• 1 cup water
• ½ cup vegan margarine (you can sub a few tablespoons of coconut oil for a few of the margarine)
• 2/3 cup Fair Trade cocoa powder
• 1 cup unbleached granulated sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar, unpacked
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons finely ground flax meal
• 2 ½ teaspoons baking powder
• 1 1/3 cups superfine brown rice flour
• ¼ cup tapioca flour
• ½ cup potato starch
• ½ bag Dandies marshmallows, each marshmallow cut in half
• ½ cup chopped walnuts

What You Do:

1. In a medium saucepan, whisk together the teff flour and water, then over medium heat, stir constantly until it turns into a thick, thick goo. Spoon into the bowl of your stand mixer and allow to sit while you work on step two (if you have guns, you can also do these by hand in a big bowl with a wooden spoon, but the stuff gets really thick).
2. Wash out the saucepan, place it over medium-high heat and melt the vegan margarine. Quickly whisk in the cocoa powder to combine, then dump this mixture on top of the teff mixture, and allow it all to cool.
3. Once the stuff has cooled, preheat your oven to 350F, and then beat the stuff until smooth.
4. Next beat in the baking powder, sugars, salt, vanilla and flax-seed. Then beat in the brown rice flour and starches until smooth, thick and batter-like. Last, toss in the marshmallows and nuts, and stir by hand to incorporate.
5. Scrape into a well greased square brownie pan (or line with parchment to get them out easier) and bake 35-40 minutes. When done the top will become crunchy and the brownies will have risen and become set, but still slightly soft in the center, without being jiggly.
6. Allow to cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for several hours or overnight. Cut into squares and declare yourself a master of xgfx brownies.