I have not baked in a while (mmm… like a whole week) and was missing it. I was craving brownies but was debating whether to find a vegan recipe or just make something a bit less guilty that everyone could enjoy, or both.

I love to bake with zucchini. It blends in smoothly with the sweet flavors and adds a soft texture to the recipe. And as the parent of a toddler, I always appreciate any way to hide a vegetable in a recipe. Here, I blended the zucchini and it was pretty runny, so I added some whole grain oat flour to thicken the consistency. We do like the dark chocolate flavor in the house, and I used dark chocolate chips with unsweetened cocoa powder. The dark chocolate married beautifully with the honey flavor.
These brownies are rather soft right out from the oven and could make a great hot and cold dessert with some ice cream. But once it cools the crust hardens a bit while the inside is soft and is great with some tea or a glass of sweet dessert wine.

Vegan zucchini brownies

Wet ingredients
1 1/2 cup of zucchini puree in a blender (from  3 medium zucchini)
1/2 cup sunflower seed butter
1/3 cup raw honey
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 tablespoon flaxmeal (ground flax seeds) + 3 tablespoon water

Dry ingredients
2/3 cup oatmeal flour
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder

Heat up the oven to 350°F.
Mix the flaxmeal with the water and let sit for 5 minutes until it has a gelatinous consistency. In a bowl thoughtfully mix the wet ingredients until it is smooth. In a separate bowl, mix all the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix carefully.

Line a baking pan with parchment paper and pour in the brownie mix and spread it out evenly. Bake for 35-45 min at 350°F.