Vegan Brownies

My first son used to have so many food sensitivities.  Milk and soy were the top ones.  A friend of mine had a son with a ton of food allergies and she introduced this recipe to me.  She made it as a peppermint cake with peppermint frosting (so good!).  She used the Hershey's dark chocolate cocoa powder and except for rare occasions when I'm feeling cheap, I used nothing else now.  I usually use almond milk in place of soy because of the obvious soy issue we had.  Almond milk is great to use when baking.  Enjoy!

Brownies:

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cups cocoa powder (I recommend Hershey's dark chocolate)

1 1/2 cups of brown sugar (or use 1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar with 1 TBS of molassas) - brown sugar so much easier to use

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 cup water

3/4 cup of almond milk (any flavor) - if you have nut issues, try soy milk 

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (opt.- I NEVER use these)

Frosting (optional, but if you wanted to make this a cake)

30 small round peppermint candies 

1 stick margarine (Earth's Balance and Fleischmann's is vegan)

2 cups confectioners sugar

2 TBS almond milk (or soy)

1/2 tsp peppermint extract (this stuff is potent so you may want less)

For Brownies:

Stir flour, cocoa, sugar, baking powder, soda, and salt together.

In another bowl, mix water, milk, and oil

Add liquid ingredients to dry and mix.  Stir in walnuts (optional).

Pour batter into greased 9 x 9 pan and bake at 325 degrees for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean (I use an 8 x 8 so it usually takes 45 minutes to bake).

To make frosting:

Unwrap the candies and crush them into powder.  Heat the margarine and milk in a saucepan on low to melt margarine.  Stir in the other ingredients,  Pour on top of already baked brownies.