Tofu Chocolate Brownies

I love tofu.  When I was in Auckland a couple of months ago I brought masses of the stuff to bring home and freeze.  What I didn't count on was the change in texture.  Fresh tofu is velvety smooth and has a delicate taste but defrosted tofu is chewy and pretty much tasteless.  I've tried adding it to stirfries and other things but it always get left to the side of our plates.  Very dissapointing.

The other day I popped into the library and found a book on tofu, Tofu Cookery by Louise Hagler.  It has loads of recipes for frozen tofu, pretty much treating it like mince.  While I was flicking through the book I found a chocolate brownie recipe.  The recipe called for fresh tofu but I had to give it a try.  It worked really well.  The kids and I enjoyed soft, fudgey choclate brownie for afternoon tea, I'm sure if I didn't tell anyone they'd have no idea this is was a vegan recipe.

Tofu Chocolate Brownies

225g Soft Regular Tofu
2/3C Water
1/3C Plain Flour
2C Sugar
1t Salt
1t Vanilla Extract
3/4C Cocoa Powder
1/2C Canola Oil
1 1/2C Plain Flour
3/4t Baking Powder

Heat oven to 180C Bake.  Break tofu into small pieces into the the bowl of a food processor.  Add in water and first measure of flour.  Process until it's smooth and creamy.  Put tofu mixture into a medium sized pot and cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until thickened.  Remove from heat and cool to room temperature (I put my pot in some cold water in the sink to speed this up).  Beat in sugar, salt and vanilla.  In a small bowl combine cocoa powder and oil, mix into tofu batter.  Add in flour and baking powder and mix until just combined.  Pour and spread evenly into a greased 25cm square brownie tin, or a loaf tin for thicker brownies.  Bake for 20 minutes.  Allow to cool for half an hour to set.