Vegan Peanut Butter S’More Brownies
A package arrived at the Test Kitchen containing packages of standard and miniature sized Dandies Vegan Marshmallows. We hadn’t had them before but if you are vegan you are probably familiar. The company bills them as a “cruelty-free alternative to the traditional marshmallow. They’re all natural, contain no corn syrup or gelatin, and are the first ever marshmallow to be Non-GMO Verified!” Being summer we immediately wanted to use them in a vegan s’more application. We headed to the backyard, made a fire in the fire pit, found some sticks and got roasting.
But there was a big problem. The pictures of the s’mores didn’t come out! We were roasting the marshmallows, assembling the s’mores and stuffing our faces while trying to take pictures in the dark at the same time. Not a recipe for success. So while the Dandies toasted and roasted nicely we decided to take them inside to the Test Kitchen and try anew.
We bring you Vegan Peanut Butter S’More Brownies. They are the kind of brownies that are very moist without veering into truffle territory. If you over bake by a few minutes they do become cakey but no less delicious. Watch carefully and remove from oven when there are some moist crumbs still clinging to the toothpick/cake tester and you will be rewarded with a rich chocolate brownie, melty pockets of marshmallow, bits of crunchy nuts and nuggets of chocolate morsels.
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup mini Dandies Vegan Marshmallows
- ⅔ cup lightly toasted chopped pecans
- ⅔ cup semisweet chocolate morsels, mini or standard
- ¾ cup vegan sugar
- ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
- ⅓ cup sifted natural cocoa
- ¼ cup natural smooth peanut butter
- ¼ cup flavorless vegetable oil
- ½ cup unsweetened almond milk or coconut milk (carton style)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Position rack in center of oven. Preheat to 350°F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with foil (see Tips). Coat foil with nonstick spray.
- Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt to aerate and combine; set aside. Toss together the Dandies Vegan Marshmallows, nuts and morsels. Set aside about ½ cup of this mixture separately.
- Whisk together the sugar, applesauce, cocoa, peanut butter, oil, milk and vanilla in a large mixing bowl until well combined. Stir in the flour mixture until a few floury streaks remain then fold in the larger amount of Dandies/nuts/morsels. Scrape batter into prepared pan and smooth top with a small offset spatula. Scatter remaining ½ cup Dandies/nuts/morsels evenly over the top.
- Bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or just until a toothpick inserted into center comes out with a few moist crumbs clinging. Cool pan on rack. Use foil overhang to remove brownies from pan, place on cutting board, peel foil down and away and place brownies directly on cutting board. Cut into a 4x4 grid. Brownies are ready to eat and may be stores in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Bakepedia Tips
- To easily line your pan with foil, follow this technique: flip pan over and lay a large piece of foil over the bottom. Carefully press the foil down around all sides, smoothing edges and corners carefully so as not to tear. Remove foil, which will now be in a square shape, turn pan over and carefully press the pre-formed foil down into pan. There should be foil overhang on all sides, which will help with unmolding after they are baked.
- I recommend a metal baking pan and I am partial to those with straight (not flared) sides. All of your brownies will cut with a nice straight edge.
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