Today’s recipe is a tray of vegan tahini brownies cos baking season is now officially open and these brownies are perfect to start the proceedings with. These vegan tahini brownies rely on only a few staple ingredients and are really straightforward to make.

These tahini brownies are deliciously fudgy, deeply chocolatey and topped with a nutty and slightly savoury tahini drizzle. They are beautiful to look at and delicious to eat. They only take minutes to put together and they keep well – although I don’t think that’s an issue you are likely to have. Well, I hope you’ll enjoy them as much as me, my husband and my neighbours did.

MORE ABOUT THE INGREDIENTS

GROUND FLAX: Instead of eggs, I used finely ground golden flax in this recipe, which becomes gelatinous and thick when whisked with plant milk and sugar. I have not tested with chia seeds, but they should work just as well in theory.

PLANT MILK: I used soy milk to activate flax seeds and to add moisture to the batter. I like using soy milk in baking as it’s high in protein, but I any plant milk will work just as well.

DARK CHOCOLATE: A good tray of brownies relies on good chocolate. I used 70% cacao dark chocolate and that’s what I recommend for an intensely chocolatey flavour.

VEGAN BUTTER: Fat is essential to brownies fudgy interior. I use vegan butter (Violife and Flora), but you could also make these with coconut oil. I recommend the odour-less version unless you want the coconut aroma in the final product.

SUGAR: I used a mixture of caster sugar and light muscovado sugar. Caster sugar gives brownies their thin crispy shell and muscovado is high in moisture and so it helps to crank up brownies’ fudgy interior. If you are missing any other these, you can also use either or – the brownies will still be delicious.

ALL PURPOSE FLOUR: Plain flour is used in these brownies and that’s important – we don’t want to use self-rising flour as it would make these brownies cakey. If you want to make the brownies gluten-free, use a good GF flour mix, one which contains a high proportion of starches for binding.

CORNSTARCH: A bit of cornstarch helps with fudginess, but if you cannot have it, use another tablespoon of plain flour instead.

COCOA POWDER: natural (not Dutch processed) cocoa powder gives the brownie layer even more chocolate richness than what you would get if you were to use melted chocolate alone.

SALT: A bit of salt is great in desserts and especially in chocolate desserts as it makes the chocolate taste better. I only used a small amount as my vegan butter contains salt already, but if yours doesn’t, feel free to double the amount.

BAKING SODA: A very small amount of baking soda helps these brownies cook, but it’s not enough to make them cakey.

CARDAMOM: I added a touch of cardamom to these as it’s a spice that works really well with chocolate and tahini, but if you are not a fan – it’s quite a divisive flavour – you can safely skip it.

TAHINI: I used good tahini to create a nice tahini whip that I swirled into these tahini brownies at the end. You can sweeten it with a tablespoon of maple syrup if you wish, but I personally love the contrast between sweet and fudgy brownies and bitter tahini.

HOW TO MAKE IT?

1) ACTIVATE FLAX

Combine ground flax and plant milk in a large mixing bowl and let them sit together for 20 minutes. While you are waiting, place broken up chocolate and vegan butter in a bowl suspended over a pot and start melting it on a very low heat.

2) ADD SUGAR AND WHIP

Add sugars to the activated flax and whip for a couple of minutes, until thick and bubbly.

3) MIX IN MELTED CHOCOLATE AND BUTTER

Next, add in melted chocolate mixture and gently incorporate it into dry ingredients.

4) FOLD IN DRY INGREDIENTS

Incorporate dry ingredients into the wet ones in two batches until you get a uniform batter.

3) TRANSFER TO A TIN & SWIRL IN TAHINI MIXTURE

Transfer the batter into a prepared baking tin and dot tahini mixture on top. Use a chopstick to swirl tahini mixture into the brownies and bake until barely set.