Vegan Chocolate Chip Ginger Brownies

Chocolate and ginger were born apart, but they are meant to live together--and this is the proof.

I am, again, going to give rave reviews to yet another amazing new vegan cookbook: 1000 Vegan Recipes by Robin Robertson. I believe I own all of her cookbooks, and no, she does not know me, and neither does her publisher. Robin has made my conversion to vegan cooking a true pleasure. I believe you need inspiration to keep your creativity rolling. I believe in that too with my knitting, painting or gardening. I strongly believe in it when it comes to cookbooks. Her cookbooks fill the vegan shelves at Barnes and Noble and Borders--you can hardly miss them. I just could not resist this cookbook--1,000 vegan recipes, come on!

I was inspired to make this when I saw her Ginger Spice Brownie recipe--the book literally opened up to this page! I made modifications to this recipe to suit my own taste. Nevertheless, it worked! I would not start making this until I was sure I had fresh ginger on hand--it is a must!

Vegan Chocolate Chip Ginger Brownies

1 1/2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1/4 cup spelt flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon cardamom

3 1/2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon canola oil

1/2 cup molasses

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup sucanat or regular sugar (try to mix these if you can)

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1 " of fresh ginger grated

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly flour and oil an 8" or 9" baking pan. (*If using 9" reduce baking time and watch for doneness). Mix the dry ingredients with the chocolate chips and set aside. Mix all wet ingredients in another bowl--by hand with a whisk and mix it well but there is no need to use a blender! Add the grated ginger. Now, add wet ingredients to dry--mix by hand until moist. Pour into baking pan. In 8" pan, I would bake about 20 minutes--they will start to look done about 15 minutes--but just to be sure, I tested with a toothpick. Let cool. Slice, serve with a sprinkle of powdered sugar!