Chocolate Peanut Butter Spiderweb Brownies (Vegan, Gluten Free, Dairy Free)

Step 1

Make the brownies: Preheat oven to 325°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or greased foil. Set aside.

Step 2

In a medium bowl, whisk together peanut butter, coconut sugar, maple syrup and coconut oil. Whisk until it resembles caramel.

Step 3

Add cocoa powder in ¼ cup increments, whisking until shiny and smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Whisk in vanilla and salt. Add flax eggs, whisking until well incorporated. In thirds, whisk in the oat flour. As the batter gets harder to whisk, switch to folding with a rubber spatula.

Step 4

Fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter into pan. Using a rubber spatula, smooth batter into an even layer.

Step 5

Bake for 28-32 mins. Mine took about 30 minutes. Cool for about 2 hours. It must be completely cool before frosting. Once cool, it’s time to make the frosting.

Step 6

Make the frosting: In a medium bowl, whisk together the frosting ingredients: peanut butter, maple syrup, cocoa powder and water. Whisk until this mixture thickens and resembles frosting. Lift brownies out of the baking pan and set onto a baking sheet. Pour frosting over brownies. Using a rubber spatula, spread the frosting into an even layer. Place in the freezer for 20-25 minutes to harden the frosting tops for easier cutting.

Step 7

Create the spiderwebs: Remove from freezer and slice into 16 bars. Thoroughly stir your drippy, natural peanut butter and remove any clumps. Pour peanut butter into a plastic zip bag and cut off a tiny corner, or pour into a piping bag fitted with a very fine tip.

Step 8

Pipe a small dot in the center of a brownie. Using that as a guide, pipe from that point outward, towards the edge of the brownie. Repeat until you’ve created 6 total lines, evenly fanned out across the brownie. Starting slightly further out from the center dot, pipe a curved strand from one of the 6 lines to connect to another, until you’ve circled the entire brownie. Pipe another strand slightly spaced out from the last. Repeat for all brownies. Enjoy! Storing notes below.