Yes, really. This really happened.

This happened too. I've been sitting on this news for a while, but: look at me! I'm a columnist! 

One Green Planet is a vegan, eco-friendly, ethical website which features loads of relevant-to-my-interests articles and relevant-to-my-stomach recipes, and as a vegan, eco-friendly, ethical girl... it's pretty much everything I'm on board with. So! I'm excited to announce that from now on, I'll be contributing a monthly recipe column to the food section of the site! Expect more of the good stuff, with a focus on vegan baking with no specialist ingredients (because... I totally can't get specialist ingredients here) that anyone could make without spending a fortune in Holland & Barratt's - no chia seeds, fake-dairy cheese/cream, or spelt flour (except, maybe spelt flour cause I love it, but I'll also give an alternative). And a few Japanese inspired recipes for good measure. That's where we at.

Can I say thank you, at this point, for being lovely and hitting up my rather humble little blog? papillon is really just a quiet corner for me to be ironic at my own expense, and I'm so glad you're in it with me. Please please feel free to spread the link around, by tweeting and Facebook-ing and whatever else you kids are doing these days.

So. So. You can find me talking about brownies OVER HERE...

...And you can also find the recipe right here, now. Just in case you need a serious awesome vegan chocolate fix basically right this moment and you promise you'll read my One Green Planet contribution later.

My Ultimate Vegan Brownies

120g / 1/2 + 1/3 c. plain (all-purpose) flour

1/2 tsp salt

1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

150g / 5.5 oz vegan dark chocolate

115g / 1 stick vegan margarine

130g / 3/4 c. white sugar

50g / 1/4 c. soft light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

180g / 3/4 c. (when pureed)/ 2 avocadoes, peeled and pitted

  

Preheat oven to 180C / 350F. Grease and line a 8×8 inch (20x20cm) square baking tin.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, salt and cocoa powder. In a saucepan, melt the chocolate and margarine over a low heat, stirring with a spatula to prevent burning or sticking. Once melted, remove from the heat and add the vanilla and both sugars, mixing in well so there are no lumps.

Puree the avocado flesh in a food processor – or, if you don’t have one, mash thoroughly with a fork, but make sure it’s absolutely lump free, because avocado lumps in your brownies would kind of suck. When it’s completely smooth, add to your saucepan mixture and fully combine.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over the top and fold in lightly until just combined; don’t overmix. Pour into the prepared baking tin then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes (22 mins was perfect in my oven, but be aware that yours may be different and keep an eye on your brownies). When baked, a knife should come out with nothing more than a few damp crumbs sticking to it; the brownies shouldn’t still be gunky (but don’t bake too long, as they will continue to cook in the pan once removed from the oven).

Allow to cool fully before cutting into 16 squares and demolishing the pan single-handedly.