Easy-to-make (and Easier-to-eat) Brownies Topped with Nice Cream

Do you ever want to prepare a dessert that is not only delicious but healthy, yet find yourself needing tons of ingredients that you don’t have on hand? Have you ever made a special trip to the grocery store for these ingredients only to later realize that the dessert takes hours to make… and quite frankly, just isn’t worth the time? Trust me, I have been there before.

And for those of you who are vegan, have you ever wanted to show your friends and family that eating vegan can taste just as good as foods containing animal products, if not better? If so, I am 110% with you. I absolutely love showing my loved ones that vegan recipes can be super delicious.

The following is one of my go-to recipes for when I have guests over and need to quickly whip something up for dessert. All the ingredients are readily available in my kitchen and will probably be in yours as well! Believe it or not, the recipe is simple, easy to make, as healthy as can be, completely plant based AND, most importantly, delicious! Did I mention, the recipe is also gluten free?...

Easy-to-make (and Easier-to-eat) Brownies - Serves 4

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup cocoa powder
• ½ cup all natural peanut butter (or tahini for a nut-free alternative)
• 1 cup mashed banana
• ¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
• A pinch of salt (optional)
• 2 tablespoons of brown or coconut sugar (optional)
• Vegan chocolate chips (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350F
2. Combine all the ingredients in large bowl or food processor and mix them together thoroughly. Make sure the bananas are mashed prior to combining all the ingredients.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using your hands, form the mixture into balls the size of your palm and place them on the baking sheet. Make sure you spread out the balls, so they don’t mold into one big brownie… although, that wouldn’t be so bad…
4. Put the brownies into the oven and bake them for 20 minutes. When the 20 minutes are up, remove the tray from the oven. Stick a tooth pick into a brownie to see if it is fully cooked. If any mixture sticks to the toothpick, put the tray back into the oven for 5 minutes or until you notice the brownies are fully cooked.
5. Let the brownies cool for 10 minutes. In the meantime, get working on the nice cream!

Note that you can make these look like regular brownies by baking the mixture in a square pan and cutting the brownies into squares once they have cooled down. Otherwise, you can form them into balls like the recipe calls for.

Banana Nice Cream - Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 4 frozen bananas
• ½ cup peanut butter
• ¼ cup vegan chocolate chips (optional)
• ½ cup or more of any non-dairy milk (my preference is oat or cashew milk)

Instructions:

1. Add frozen bananas, peanut butter, and ½ cup of non-dairy milk to a food processor and blend until smooth. If the ingredients are not blending well, add small amounts of milk until the consistency of the nice cream is as desired.
2. Serve immediately by adding a scoop (or two) of the nice cream on top of a brownie. You can also freeze the nice cream for 1-4 hours to make it more firm. The nice cream will stay good in the freezer for up to 24 hours. You can leave it in the freezer longer, but it will not taste the same once it hits the 24 hour mark.

Note: To make the nice cream nut free, simply subtract peanut butter from the recipe. In this case, you might want to add some vanilla or mint extract for some extra flavour.

… And there you have it. These easy-to-make, healthy, vegan, delicious brownies - topped with nice cream - are great for any occasion, whether you are vegan or not. Although they are simple, these make for an impressive dessert that will leave your guests (and you) wanting more. To my fellow vegans, be prepared for no one to doubt your baking skills ever again.

As an added bonus for those of you reading this article: to make a quick and easy vegan chocolate cake, triple the Easy-to-make (and Easiter-t0-eat) Brownies recipe, add the mixture to a 9-inch cake pan, and bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Voila!