Pumpkin Swirl Brownies

Mmmmmm… brownies.  The ultimate comfort food out of a box.  Make them cake-y, make them fudgy, make them with black beans instead of the eggs and oil and water for “healthy” brownies…

-OR-

Ditch the box altogether and make these awesome pumpkin swirl brownies.  First of all, let me apologize for all of the Martha Stewart spinoffs recently, but also tell you that this is one too.  Oops.  You may not like the lady, but she’s got some delicious baked goods up her sleeve, and the fact that I can veganize them makes them even better.  The chocolate batter is dark and rich, the pumpkin batter is cinnamon-y and lighter, and the two combine to make a super-rich brownie.  One tiny square is all you need to satisfy your sweet tooth.

 

PUMPKIN SWIRL BROWNIES

• 8 tbsp. (1 stick) non-dairy margarine, plus more for pan
• 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped (I used cocoa powder:  1 oz of bittersweet chocolate=3 tbsp. cocoa + 1 tbsp vegetable/canola oil)
• 2 c. all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 3/4 c. sugar
• Egg replacer equivalent for 4 eggs
• 1 tbsp. pure vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 c. solid-pack pumpkin
• 1/4 c. vegetable oil
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

Preheat oven to 300̊F.  Butter a square pan, line the bottom wiht parchment paper, then butter the parchment paper.

Melt the butter (and chocolate, if you’re using the bittersweet stuff).  If you’re using the cocoa powder and oil method, just mix those in after butter is melted.

Whisk the flour, baking powder, and salt in a bowl, and then set aside.  Put the stgar, eggs, and vanilla in another bowl and beat (with electric mixer) until fluffy and mixed (note:  it doesn’t actually get fluffy, just so you’re not beating and beating waiting for it to get fluffy.  It jsut doesn’t) – about 3 to 5 minutes.

Beat in flour mixture.

Divide the batter between two bowls.  Add the chocolate mixture to one bowl and pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, and oil to the other.

Ok, at this point, Martha tells you to layer the two batters.  With all due respect, Martha is a liar.  The chocolate mixture is waaaaay thicker than the pumpkin, and doesn’t “layer” the way Martha tells you it should.

Start with about half of the chocolate batter, and plop it in little scoops on the bottom of your pan.  Then pour half of the pumpkin over it, smoothing it out a little.  Then plop the rest of the chocolate batter on top of that and the pumpkin on top of that (I sprinkled some chocolate chips in between the first pumpkin layer and the second chocolate layer for extra yumminess).

Then, run your knife through the mixture, swirling the batters together (but not too much, you still want to be able to see the two different batters).

Bake until set, 40 – 45 minutes. Let cool in pan.  Martha also tells you to sprinkle the brownies with nuts – I’m telling you that I hate nuts in my baked goods, as do a lot of people, so I sprinkled more chocolate chips on top when they came out of the oven.

Let cool, then cut into little squares and enjoy!