Girl Meets Brownie, Part 2

Clearly, I was dissatisfied with my last brownie endeavor. If you’re at all familiar with America’s Test Kitchen, you will remember their painstaking adjustment process, where they change one ingredient at a time and wait for the result. Well, I am not that patient. I chose instead to scrap the entire recipe and try something completely different. I have been having good luck with the Ener-G egg replacer in my chocolate chip cookies, and many of the recipes you see here, like my jalapeno corn pancakes. So, an eternal optimist, I figured I could do a one to one substitution and have the amazing brownies of my childhood. I turned to the recipe I grew up with, from my mom’s handwritten collection of recipes. I pulled the brownies from the oven, hopes high. Unfortunately, unlike my hopes, the brownies had sunken down to the middle of the pan. But don’t worry, dear readers, this was not the worst of my brownie batches. The edges of the brownie were reasonably good, and at the very least they were edible. My family actually finished this pan of brownies, an honor which cannot be awarded to future batches. But the center pieces from the pan were barely a quarter inch thick, and seriously gooey. Once again, not the perfect brownie.

1/2 cup non-dairy butter melted
5 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup granulated sugar
3 teaspoons Ener-G egg replacer
1/4 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Heat oven to 350º. Prepare an 8” x 8” baking pan with butter or canola oil. Combine butter, cocoa, and sugar in a large bowl. Mix the egg replacer and water in a blender until frothy. Add to the butter mixture with vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, and mix thoroughly. Add the walnuts if desired. Pour the batter into the pan, and spread evenly. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.