Fudgy Wudgy Okara Brownies

If I don't tell, you probably wouldn't have known these fudgy wudgy brownies contain okara. Okara is a by product of soy beans, the pulpy mass leftover from straining soy bean milk. If you make soy bean milk at home, don't throw the okara away. Make these and you'll be glad you've saved it!

Well, my Daughter obviously didn't suspect a thing. She enjoyed the brownies so much and even helped herself to seconds. If only she knew. But she did! I accidentally leaked out the 'secret ingredient' while talking to dear Hubby. This fazed her a little but she soon  forgotten about it and reached out for the leftovers. Really, these brownies don't taste beany at all and it's really quite hard to believe they contain okara! Hehehe! Who would have thought something so good and healthy can be so yummy (in the form of a brownie of course!).

After much browsing and researching, I decided to use a vegan recipe from Vegan Feast Kitchen as it seems to be quite a popular one where okara brownies are concerned. Being a vegan recipe, it calls for egg replacement glop and for non-vegans like me this is really quite unheard of! So I used REAL eggs instead, and REAL butter in place of the Earth Balance which is actually margarine.   

Here it is, the recipe, de-veganised (if there's such a word!).

Okara

FUDGY WUDGY OKARA BROWNIES
Makes 14 cupcake squares 

Ingredients:

4 Eggs
2 cups Brown sugar
3/4 cup, packed well-squeezed Okara (soybean pulp from making soymilk)
4 oz (1/2 cup) melted Butter
1/4 cup Water
2 teaspoons Vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup plain white flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1 cup chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, or other favorite nuts) 


Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 150C. Line a 12 hole square muffin pan with cupcake liners.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs together with brown sugar until thick and foamy. Add vanilla, water, melted butter and okara. Combine well.
3. In another bowl, mix together the cocoa powder, flour, salt and baking powder. Sift  into the wet mixture. Fold and stir briefly, just to blend. Do this in batches. Fold in the nuts.
4. Scrape the batter into the prepared muffin pan until almost full and bake for about 40 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Notes:

1. Baking time is just a guideline . Your oven may need less or more time. 
2. If you prefer, use a 9 inch square baking pan and line with non-stick parchment paper (with over hang on the sides for easy removal). Bake for about 50 minutes. Leave to cool on a rack. Do not cut until the brownies are cool. You can lift the whole thing out of the pan, using the parchment liner, onto a cutting board.