I’m not vegan – mostly due to my inability to live without butter, butter is my love language – but I’m a curious, adventurous even, eater/ baker and I’ll try anything once.

Although I eat and cook a lot of plant-based meals, when it comes to vegan baking I’ve always been a bit skeptical…maybe because when I first tried a vegan cinnamon roll years ago at my local bakery it was disappointedly dry and doughy – and not in a good way, and I seemed to have made an unconscious decision at that moment to steer clear of vegan desserts. It would be years until I tried a vegan baked good again.

It turns out I was a little bit wrong. I made a vegan chocolate cake the other day for the first time, substituting the eggs for applesauce and I was absolutely shocked to learn there was no telling it was a vegan cake. As much as I love the beautiful process of beating the eggs and the butter for minutes straight, until it becomes the loveliest, lightest and fluffiest cream, I have to admit… the vegan cake was just as moist and delicious.

So it was time for a new venture: vegan almond butter brownies. What could go wrong? Almond butter is just a better and improved version of peanut butter, so it was bound to be a success. I was excited.

I tried Liv B.’s recipe because when I saw it out of nowhere on my feed I one day I couldn’t stop thinking about it. And let me preface by saying the recipe is great, and she did warn me about the almond butter, but I think I still got the wrong kind. My brownies turned out a bit on the cake-y side. I like a good old fudgey brownie so that was slightly disappointing.. I do blame it on the almond butter though, so here’s my advice: make sure you really get the runniest kind possible! Having said that, the brownies came out delicious and I’ll be making it again. I like using chocolate chunks instead of chocolate chips, so I also recommend doing that. Maybe also don’t skip the ice cream like I did (I was out). It’s an integral part!

Vegan Almond Butter Brownies

• 1 cup almond butter (very runny kind)
• 3/4 cup sugar of choice (brown sugar works best!)
• 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup applesauce
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt (unless your almond butter is salted, then do 1/4 tsp)
• 1/2 cup dairy-free chocolate chunks

1. Line a 9×9 square baking pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 F. 
2. In a mixing bowl, combine almond butter and sugar and beat until combined. Add almond milk, applesauce and vanilla and combine until smooth.
3. In a separate bowl add cocoa powder, flour, baking soda and salt and mix until combined. Mix dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Add chocolate chunks and fold in until combined. 
4. Spoon batter into parchment-lined pan. It is very thick, so spread with a spatula or use oiled fingers to press batter into an even layer. 
5. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the brownies (not into a melted chocolate chip) comes out with a few crumbs. It should be done at around 25 minutes but some ovens may need slightly more or less time.
6. Allow to cool for a while before slicing.
7. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days at room temp or 5 days in the fridge.