Double Chocolate Brownies

I had a lovely run at the park this morning.

I am trying to run consistently so I can get back my running mojo. I seem to lose running steam whenever I don’t do it consistently. I have been spending time at the gym or hiking this past summer and Fall season seems to be the time that I get back to running outdoors.

I also love walking out the door for my run and being greeted by the lovely rose bushes around our house.

I love flowers so I had to take pictures and appreciate them today because I know soon the flowers will be gone and they won’t bloom again until next Spring.

I cut a few stems and put them inside a vase to add some color and beauty indoors. Look how they match the colors of the maracas from our wedding 🙂

Speaking of wedding, today is the 3oth and we have been married for four months 🙂 Oh how time flies!

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Lets talk chocolate. Brownie to be more specific.

I’ve made these brownies twice now.

I like them both ways, but the second time around I added an ingredient that just made it even more delicious.

I made Single Chin Brownies from Peas and Thank You blog. We loved that batch because it was moist and chocolaty. We ate it all during our trip to Mammoth last month.

Then I wanted to make it the second time around, and use an ingredient I’ve had in my pantry for awhile. I don’t know what took me so long to use this syrup. This time, I used the same recipe from Edible Perspective.

I’ve used brown rice syrup in baked goods before but this is the first chocolate brown rice syrup that I’ve seen.

It worked perfect for this brownie recipe since the more chocolate there is, the better it is in my books. It definitely took this recipe up a notch.

Double Chocolate Brownies

• 3/4 C whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/3 C unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 T instant coffee (optional)
• 2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t baking soda
• 1 C unsweetened applesauce
• 1/4 C dark brown sugar
• 1/4 C brown rice syrup (I used chocolate brown rice syrup)
• 2 t vanilla
• 1/2 C dark chocolate chunks/chips
• 1/2 t salt

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Mix flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, instant coffee and salt together in a large bowl.
3. In a medium sized bowl combine applesauce, brown rice syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla until thoroughly combined.
4. Pour the wet into the dry and mix (by hand) until combined. Make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl but do not over mix. The batter will be somewhat lumpy.
5. Let rest for a few minutes [it will become a bit foamy] and then mix in chocolate chips.
6. Pour and spread evenly into an 8×8 greased pan.
7. Bake ~20min until edges pull away from the pan or toothpick test.
8. Let cool for at least 30min before cutting out of pan.

These were dark and moist and triple (cocoa powder, chocolate syrup and chocolate chips) chocolate goodness.

I stored them in an airtight container in the refrigerator and they stayed moist for a few days.

Because this was a vegan recipe, I was able to eat the leftover batter and knew since the batter tasted so good that the finish product would be the same.