Baking is one of my favorite hobbies, but I definitely go through phases with it. Some months I’m whipping up treats every other day, and then sometimes I go weeks without firing up the oven. I hadn’t made anything since I was home for Easter, so I wasn’t surprised when the baking bug hit this afternoon!

I’d saved a recipe for vegan brownies from Self magazine a few months ago, and decided to give it a whirl. There are dozen of vegan cookie recipes, but I feel like vegan brownies are more difficult to do well! Instead of following the recipe exactly, I opted to make a few changes, and they turned out delicious- chocolatey and peanut-buttery, with a moist and fudgy texture that was still surprisingly light.


Vegan Peanut Butter Brownies (adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow’s Fudgy Chocolate Brownies)



- 2 cups spelt flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/2 tablespoons baking powder
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup canola oil
- 1 cup non-dairy milk
- 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350*F. In a large bowl, combine flour, cocoa and baking powders. In a separate bowl, mix together maple syrup, oil, milk, peanut butter and vanilla extract. Add dry ingredients to wet and mix until well combined. Spray a 9×9 inch pan with non-stick spray, and pour half of batter into pan. Sprinkle half of chocolate chips on top of the batter, then add remaining batter and sprinkle remaining chips over second layer. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until toothpick inserted into center comes out with crumbs. Allow to cool before cutting.

How often do you bake?