Car Free in Raleigh

Tonight, I had the urge to make my Incredibly Good Brownies™. Unfortunately, I created the recipe long before we had a toddler with food allergies. I’ve yet to create a Malachy-safe version.

So, tonight looked like it would be the night. I melted the “futter” (fake butter - Earth Balance brand). I mixed in the cocoa powder and double-strength coffee. I stirred in the soy flour (it’s a little known egg substitute for baking: 1 Tbsp + 1 Tbsp water = 1 egg). I spritzed in the cinnamon. I drooled.

Then, I opened the sugar canister. Half a cup, at best. I looked for our ever-present unopened bag of sugar. Curses. Foiled again. Clearly, someone had neglected to make the appropriate mental note when he or she opened the last bag of sugar and dumped it into the canister.

I grumbled and puzzled it over for a bit. Mark offered to walk to Food Lion and pick up some. But at 7:00, a naked toddler was streaking through the halls and I had no desire to tackle and diaper him (and then wrestle him into jammies) while Mark made his late night run.

I poked around the cupboards a bit and unearthed some maple syrup, corn syrup, honey, and brown sugar. I added a bit of this and a bit of that. I added the rest of the ingredients. I adjusted the sweeteners some more, feeling just a tad smug as I mused over how easy it was to run out to the grocery store when you had a car.

I tasted the batter. Yuck.

Then I threw the rest away, rationalizing that I’d actually saved myself a little time and money, because everyone knows that the first ten or so attempts to “vegan-ize” any favorite recipe are always a disaster anyway.

(At least I didn’t have to scrape the baked “brownies” into the trash can and clean that pan, too.)