Vegan Brownies and Fika

Fresh brownies....how I love fresh brownies, and I'm sure everyone else EVERYWHERE loves fresh brownies to. That's why I made some!

From my Vegan Junk Food Cookbook

I didn't have chocolate chips or crushed almonds. So I used coconut and crushed walnuts. But I'm going to say you could use anything that you like in this brownie recipe.

Mixing things up!

 This was also one of the first recipes that I learned to make buttermilk for. I always thought you had to buy buttermilk from the store, that there was no way to make it. In my mind buttermilk was butter finely mixed into milk. But it's not! It's actually a byproduct of churning. Buttermilk is the left over liquid after milk or cream is churned for butter!
Vegan Buttermilk can't be bought in a store (that I know of), but it's super easy to make! All you have to do is add lemon juice or vinegar to the soy or almond milk. Then let that sit for 5 minutes and you got "buttermilk".   :D

All mixed up!

 This batter....is AMAZING! I seriously almost ate the whole bowl waiting for the oven to heat up. And the best part is you can't get sick from it. With no raw eggs in it, there's no way for you to get sick. So it's perfectly okay to eat raw.

All ready to go!

YUMMY!

TA-DAA

Don't they look amazing!
While waiting for these to bake, I was on Yahoo and I learned how other countries relax. One tradition I learned about was Fika (pronounced "fee-ka"), which happens in Sweden. It's basically a coffee break. I read it takes place around 3pm, but I'm not sure if that's true since I don't live there. But it just so happened that around the time the brownies were it done it was close to 3pm.

Fika Time!

So my boyfriend and I decided to try Fika. I know it's silly, because it's just a coffee break. But we turned off the TV, and the computer and sat at the table and had a nice conversation. It was nice to just unplug for 15 minutes and talk. I highly suggest it! So now if it's around 3pm and I notice the time, I try to have some coffee or tea and just relax. It may not happen everyday, but it's definitely a new part of my routine.

Brownies to go!

 

 

 

Before Tom went to work I wrapped up 2 big pieces for him to take with him. I love bragging about how good some vegan cooking is! Because it's really not as gross and bland as some people say it is. 

So the people he shared it with loved it! And it was really good to hear that one person in general really liked it. A while back he bought a vegan seaweed brownie (it was actually green) from a Whole Foods store and he was not pleased at all. So I was so happy to redeem his faith in a vegan brownie!

Has anyone tried anything new today?

Happy Baking!