Apple Sauce Chocolate Brownie

Yes, it’s true. This brownie is made replacing a lot of the oil and sugar with pureed apples. Not the first thing you might think of when boxes of cooking apples turn up at The People’s Supermarket” here in London, but that’s the good thing about that shop; they make you think of what to do with seasonal produce as that’s pretty much all they stock.

that guy with the buggy isn't me by the way, Theresa ; )

However, how did I get to making a brownie out of this? Well, I’d read about using what they call “apple Sauce” in baking, basically stewed apples to us Brits, as a sweetener and substitute for copious amounts of butter or oil when I got into a Vegan phase a while back. To be honest it seemed rather hopeful at the time. 

However, It does work. You don’t taste the apple and although I added a good glug of honey (yes, I’m not vegan again right now) the brownie was sweet enough and had a good moist and gooey factor. Of course, I’m sure it would taste different some might say better, with regular sugar and butter, but, for what it’s worth, here at Yogi Kitchen we usually say for the actual noticeable difference versus healthiness, it’s not worth it. 

This recipe is adapted from Peter Berley’s book which, as always, provides very reliable recipes, whilst also keeping sensible – unlike Simon Rimmer’s book I got from the library recently which is ridiculous in it’s use of butter, sugar, eggs and cream and, I think, gives people a misleading idea of how rich they need to make food; especially those that are new to cooking without meat and hence already and shaky territory wondering how to replace flavours and create sufficient taste.

So herein lies the proof that you can get depth of flavor and satisfaction out of foods simple and healthful enough that you can eat them on a daily basis.  If you like things a little sweeter I would recommend using a little Sucanat, which is evaporated cane sugar and I think one of the least refined sugars on the market right now.

Apple Sauce Brownie (makes 10 squares)

1 cup unbleached organic white flour

½ cup cocoa

1 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp baking powder

½ cup walnuts (chopped roughly)

1 cup apple sauce

½ cup honey

2 tbs sunflower oil

½ cup soya milk

1 tbs ground flax seeds (optional, but stops them crumbling)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a small baking tin.
2. Sift the dry ingredients together, minus the walnuts and then strir in the walnuts
3. Blend the apple sauce with the rest of the ingredients and transfer to the bowl containing the dry ingredients.
4.  Stir just  enough to ensure the dough is fully mixed and spoon into the prepared tin
5. Bake for 30 minutes. The Brownie is done when a knife comes out clean from the cake.
6. Let the cake cool for 10 minutes and then turn out of the tin and allow to fully cool on a wire rack. Cut into pieces and serve.