I reviewed this recipe once before, thinking these were awesome brownies. I tried making them again last night with a few changes and they turned out the absolute best brownies I have ever made. I did a half batch in an 8" square non-stick pan, which I lightly sprayed with Pam. I used 1 cup AP flour, 3/4 cup white sugar, 6 TBS cocoa, ½ tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt, ½ cup water, 2 TBS veg oil, ½ cup natural/unsweetened applesauce, and 1 tsp vanilla. I poured half the batter in the pan, put in a layer (around 3/4 cup total) of butterscotch and chocolate chips, and then poured in the rest of the batter, spreading to cover the chips. They took around 30 minutes to bake, but we have a new oven and are adapting from our old one. :) They were rich, gooey, fudgy, but not overly sweet. Thank you again, Sandy. This is the BEST!!

I get a little frustrated by reviews that recommend non-vegan additions to a vegan recipe. I think that there are plenty of great non-vegan brownie recipes to add those comments to. Here are my vegan recommendations: Use raw sugar instead of white sugar. Not only does this ensure that it is vegan, but the raw sugar crystals make a beautiful glimmer on top of the brownies! The first time I made these I used oil. I even cut down the oil, and they were still very oily. The very next batch (made the same day) I used vegetable shortening instead. They were soooo much better. I added a few shots of espresso (from my local cafe) to the batter. You don't taste the espresso itself, but it does wonderful things to the chocolate taste. You could substitute with strong coffee. Here's the key for those who have crumbling brownie issues. Mix the flour and the water first. This allows the gluten to form. It helps to let that sit for a little bit before adding the other ingredients. If you don't do this, then the oil in the recipe will make it impossible for the water and flour to form gluten and make the brownies stick. I have substituted vanilla soy milk for the water in the past, and that worked well too. I have also added nice little extras. Try peppermint extract or cayenne pepper (really...I mean it chocolate and cayenne pepper are sooo good together).

I'm fairly experienced with vegan baking and often just adapt existing non-vegan recipes (it's fairly easy once you've gone through a bit of trial and error and know what works and what doesn't). So, this recipe intrigued me. I used it as a base and straight off it seemed like a LOT of oil. I don't really like baking with oil even though most vegan recipes suggest it because it makes the product greasy. So, I changed the recipe for 12 servings (to bake in a 12x muffin pan). I used 3/4 of the amount of fat it suggested (I substituted oil for melted vegan non-hydrogenated margarine). I doubled the liquid and used 1/2 soy milk and 1/2 water. I used Demerara sugar instead of white and 1/2ed that too. I then added 2 table spoons maple syrup (to give back some moisture and gooeyness). I doubled the amount of vanilla extract and added 1 tsp cinnamon. It made the mix quite dough like and it actually rolled up into a ball. I worked with it like that, breaking off 12 portions, rolling them into balls and pressing them into the muffin tin. I then baked it for only 15 minutes to keep them gooey. They came out delicious! They aren't very sweet with less sugar (my intention) so if you like your brownies sweeter (and higher calories!) add 2-3 more table spoons maple syrup!

I have tried SO MANY vegan brownie recipes in search of the perfect one, and WOW! These are incredible! I made a few changes, but nothing major; just little things to suit my personal tastes, and my boyfriend & I REALLY loved these! We made a half-batch, and these are my notes: -Used 1/4 c. canola oil, plus 1/2 c. organic unsweetened applesauce for the oil. -Added 1/4 tsp. almond extract, in addition to the vanilla. -Threw in about 1 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (vegan, of course!). -Used coffee instead of water. We baked for 23 minutes, and they are ooey, gooey, DELICIOUSNESS! Thank you so much for sharing! I will be making these quite often, I'm sure. *Oh--Also: I didn't find these crumbly at all, as stated by other reviewers. Perhaps the applesauce helped bind them together better?*

These are only vegan if you use raw sugar. If you use white sugar they are not even vegetarian, as animal bone char is used in the bleaching process.

These were good but crumbly. I wouldn't take them to a get together, due to the crumbliness, but I'd definitely make them again to eat at home. They didn't seem too oily to me like some reviewers stated. I baked them for 35 minutes, a little longer than the recipe called for. Some reviewers have commented that white sugar isn't vegan. If it's cane sugar, it may not be vegan if it has been processed with bone char but not all cane sugar is processed that way. You'd need to write, call, or e-mail the manufacturer and ask. I prefer not to mess with that and just use beet sugar. It looks and tastes just like cane sugar and is vegan as it is never processed with bone char. Also, "THEBOYCANPLAY" said that these are "not exactly vegan, as being vegan implies a bit more of a mindset than "no eggs, no dairy" I'm not sure exactly why this reviewer said this. If it's because of the white sugar, again, white sugar can be vegan. If it's because these aren't exactly a health food, food doesn't have to be healthy to qualify as vegan. A food is vegan if it doesn't contain animal products of any kind.

These are awesome brownies. I wanted to cut back on fat and calories some though, so I used splenda instead of white sugar, and 1 1/2 cups of soy milk and 1/2 cup of oil instead of 1 cup water and 1 cup of oil. YUM!

My non-egg- and meat-eating friend alike made these brownies disappear at a work function. I DEFINITELY recommend cutting the oil to 1/4 cup and adding 3/4 cup applesauce. It makes these MUCH more brownie-like. Also, I added some chocolate chips and a VERY SCANT layer of icing to the top (not vegan, because it was milk chocolate), and it got rave reviews. Also kept them a bit more moist. If you add the applesauce, you do not need to overbake. 25-30 mins is just fine. YUMMY!

Absolutely delicious recipe, however I halved the recipe and used Earth Balance (a vegan butter subsitute made from various oils, which is so delicious) in place of the oil and vanilla soymilk in place of the water. I also added some chocolate chips and a bit of oats. So quick and easy, I would recommend this to anyone!

My kids have milk/egg allergies so this is a much-appreciated recipe! Very chocolately and rich. Slightly crumbly due to no-eggs, but the best I've tried so far. I use equal parts of brown and white sugar and add 1 c of both pecans and coconut flakes. You can also half the recipe and bake in a 8" or 9" square pan. Add 1-2 tsp of instant coffee for mocha brownies. Batter will be thick so don't be alarmed.