Vegan Coffee Brownies

Another and very memorable recipe; back in November in 2018 I was in Vietnam visiting my brother and we came across the famous Maison Marou House in Hanoi, we noticed every detail of this store was so well designed from sacks of cacao as waiting seats to a big grinder of cacao beans, now follow that smell and re-enter this place with me; we briefly met Chef Stéphanie Aubriot who kindly had a 30 second hello with us, she was focused yet polite but reading a little about her words gave me a better sense of the type of woman she is, a kind and driven one!

Back to the design of this place, as my brother and I entered we of course were mesmerized by the elegant pastries and didn’t know what to order so went with our gut (we also ended up with a gut!); we ordered *the* cheesecake, a big cup of hot chocolate and a brownie; we also sat in front of their big glass open kitchen and then I can say I felt like at the movies, with a brownie on my plate while watching her team working on the pastries.

After that brownie no brownie will ever be the same, I never thought of a chocolate covered brownie or a brownie that will satisfy me this much; I never was a big fan of baking brownies either so when I decided to make this one of course I had Maison Marou in mind; note that when it comes to chocolate while I love it I can’t handle extremely sweet chocolate so finding that dark bitter cacao flavor was key to counterbalance the rich brownie…so if you are ready to knock your socks off, keep scrolling and check this recipe!

Rich Coffee Brownies

Vegan

Makes: 16 brownies

Prep time: 20 mins

Cook time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

1 cup + 2 Tbsp AP flour
1/2 cup cane sugar
3 Tbsp cacao powder*
3 Tbsp fine ground coffee
1 pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 Tbsp flaxmeal
3 Tbsp water
1/2 cup soft coconut oil (NOT melted)
1/2 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
1 cup cacao paste**
2 Tbsp Maple syrup
3 Tbsp melted cacao butter***

Instructions:

Start by mixing the flaxmeal and water, set aside while you work on the rest
Cream the sugar and soft coconut oil until well combined and it has a bit of frothiness
Now add the rest of the ingredients and mix on low for a couple of minutes until everything is well mixed and you have a thick dough on your bowl;add the pecans and gently mix for a few seconds
Now turn that dough into a flat surface, it won’t stick so flouring is unnecessary, work on it for about 30 seconds until you have a uniform dough, form a small rectangle, wrap in plastic and let rest in fridge for 10 minutes; don’t rest any longer since coconut oil solidifies quite quickly and then you will have a heck of a time trying to roll out a brick of dough (ha!)
Now you can pre-heat your oven at 350F; start by rolling the dough, I suggest rolling with the plastic (as pictured) for a smooth even surface, in its same rectangular share until about a 1 inch height or ½ inch depending of preference; my first batch was 1” and my second was ½” and I have to say I prefer the 1”
Now a ruler comes in handy to cut those little squares; I prefer small pieces so one person can enjoy one for itself because they are rich. If you roll 1/2“ height you will have 16 pcs but if you prefer 1” then you will have approximately half of it
Bake for 15 minutes (1/2” version) or 20-5 minutes (1” version) thick brownies and immediately (with a spatula) transfer them to a cooling rack until fully cooled
Work on the chocolate cover by melting the chocolate by double boiler method, once the paste is three quarters melted add the syrup and cacao butter; it shouldn’t be too liquid nor too thick, more like a semi-thick ganache
Pour the chocolate cover over all the brownies, let slightly cool and sprinkle some salt, I sprinkled some smoked salt
Let cool at room temp for about 1 hour or to accelerate the process, in the fridge for 20-30 minutes
Lastly and most importantly share!

*Cacao powder is made by cold pressing the raw non-toasted cacao beans to keep the enzymes alive but if you have cocoa powder handy, that also could be used

**Cacao paste, I use raw cacao paste which is made by pressing raw cacao beans into a liquid and then they solidify; you can substitute with dark bitter unsweetened chocolate

***Cacao butter is also extracted from the cacao beans and while it cannot easily be substitute for its rich flavor, I can suggest you use melted coconut oil