Vegan blueberry-banana brownies

Brownies are one of my all time favorites to bake, not just because they are deliciously gooey and easy to make, but also because you can easily create so many different variations of them. To celebrate the World Vegan Day (November 1), I decided to create a vegan brownie recipe.

Vegan brownies are naturally dairy-free and egg-free. In this recipe, I used bananas to replace eggs. Bananas add structure and juiciness to the batter. The rule of thumb is that a half a banana equals one egg. I used coconut oil instead of butter which gives a nice chocolatey soft texture to the batter when combined with coconut sugar. Coconut sugar has a low glycemic index and thus keeps the blood sugar levels more stable than white sugar.

I always add something extra to a brownie batter such as nuts, white chocolate or berries. In this recipe, I decided to pair the taste of banana with blueberries - the classic pair of chocolate, raspberry, would surely suit this recipe just as well.  Adding blueberries and banana made these brownies really juicy and tasty!

To add a bit more twist, I made an icing for the brownies from coconut oil, cocoa powder and icing sugar. To finish the whole treat, I sprinkled a bit of Biokia organic bilberry powder on top of the icing. The berry powder mix is made from Finnish bilberries, by drying and grating fresh berries. One tablespoon of the powder equals one deciliter of fresh berries, so the powder is an easy way to add more vitamins and minerals to desserts.

As a final tip, these vegan treats are easy to make gluten-free by switching the wheat flour to a gluten-free flour mixture.

Ingredients

Brownies

• 1 mashed banana
• 2 ½ dl coconut sugar
• 75 g coconut oil
• 1 ¼ dl cocoa powder
• 2 dl wheat flour (you can also use gluten-free flour of your choice)
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 ½ - 2 dl blueberries (fresh or frozen)

Icing

• 1 dl coconut oil
• 5-6 tbsp icing sugar
• ½ dl cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp Biokia bilberry powder

How to prepare:

1. Preheat the oven to 175 ℃.
2. Mash the banana with a fork or with a hand blender.
3. Melt the coconut oil in a double boiler or in a microwave and add it to the banana-sugar mixture.
4. Mix the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl and add it to the banana-sugar mixture. Avoid mixing more than what is necessary.
5. Add the blueberries into the mixture.
6. Place a baking paper on a baking tray (20x25cm) or grease it with coconut oil. Spread the batter evenly on the tray.
7. Bake the crust in 200 ℃ for about 20 minutes. When the crust is done, take it out from the oven and let it cool completely.
8. Bake the brownie in the oven for 15-20 minutes. The brownie is done when the edges feel firm and the batter is still a bit soft in the middle.
9. Let the brownie cool down and prepare the icing.
10. Melt the coconut oil in a mild temperature in a double boiler.
11. Add the icing sugar and the cocoa powder to the melted coconut oil. Feel free to use more or less icing sugar than what is suggested in this recipe - trust your own taste here. :)
12. Spread the icing on the brownie, sprinkle some berry powder on the icing and put the brownie in the fridge to solidify for an hour. Cut it to pieces and enjoy!