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Say hello to your new obsession: Vegan Caramel Cornflake Brownies aka caramel crunch brownies. Fudgy chocolate brownie base sets the mood, while a golden swirl of gooey caramel-coated cornflakes adds the perfect sweet crunch on top. They’re sultry, satisfying, and totally irresistible, your new favorite fling in brownie form. The ultimate dessert bars recipe to enjoy throughout the year! 

Ingredients for caramel crunch brownies: 

• Flour: The perfect amount of all-purpose for seriously fudgy vegan brownies. Aka plain flour.
• Cocoa: Dutch-process cocoa is something you have to use! If you use regular cocoa powder or even cacao your brownies will taste bitter, and that’s not what you want!
• Vegan butter: I always like using salted vegan block butter, but use unsalted vegan butter if you prefer. Just add in an extra pinch of salt to balance everything out. And more butter for the caramel, but this will need to be at room temperature for the caramel recipe to work.
• Chocolate: Dark chocolate chips, or even a bar of dark chocolate. I like to use the dark chocolate bar for the batter, and dark chocolate chips as an add-in.
• Aquafaba: It’s the liquid from tinned chickpeas. And before I scare you off, just trust me!! This ingredient is our egg replacer and the secret to my crinkle-top fudgy brownies!
• Sugars: The combination of light brown sugar and granulated sugar gifts us the perfect texture for fudgy vegan brownies! And granulated sugar for the caramel sauce.
• Vanilla extract: Just a touch! Be sure to use vanilla extract and not vanilla essence. As essence is NOT vegan!
• Salt: All sweet things need a little salt!
• Plant-based double cream: Any brand! I used the Oatly one. You’ll want to pop it into a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 1-2 minutes or until warm.  
• Cornflakes: I use the gluten-free box of cornflakes because it’s the only vegan one! The regular one has Vitamin D3 which isn’t vegan friendly. 

Making the delicious fudgy brownie

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Line a square pan with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang. Grease the insides with a little vegan butter, or with cooking spray. You can use parchment paper if you prefer but I find using foil to be easier and quicker!

Next, melt the chocolate and butter together using the double boiler method. Simply, add the vegan butter and dark chocolate chunks into a bowl. Add 1-2 cups of boiling water to a small pot, and place the small-medium bowl over the pot. You want to make sure the water doesn’t touch the bowl, so if it does just pour some of the boiling water out. Allow the vegan butter and dark chocolate to melt completely. Scraping down the sides when needed. This step will take around 5 minutes or so. Once everything is melted, turn off the heat and keep the bowl over the pot so it stays a little warm.

In a large bowl whisk together the granulated sugar, light brown sugar and aquafaba for 5-9 minutes. You’ll want to use a high-speed hand mixer for this. Very quickly you’ll see the color of the mixture change, along with the texture. Keep whisking everything until it becomes white and thick, kinda like meringue.

Next, pour in the melted dark chocolate mixture, along with a dash of vanilla extract over the whipped aquafaba. With a rubber spatula, gently fold together until the mixture becomes chocolatey.

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In a separate bowl, sieve the all-purpose flour, cacao powder and salt together. This just ensures that there are no large clumps and it’ll prevent over-mixing once combined with the wet ingredients. Transfer the dry ingredients to the aquafaba mixture, and fold together until nearly combined. There should be a few visible streaks of flour. Add in the chopped dark chocolate chunks and fold together until fully combined. 

Transfer the brownie batter into the lined square baking tin and with an offset spatula, spread into an even layer. 

Transfer to the pre-heated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes. At this point, remove the brownies from the oven and insert a toothpick in the centre. What you’re looking for is a toothpick covered in a little brownie batter. I always advise taking out the brownies a little sooner, as they continue to cook as they cool.

Place the tin with the brownies onto a wire rack, and allow the brownies to cool at room temp. The residual heat from the pan will finish cooking the brownies as they cool.

All about the crunchy cornflake layer…

Heat a wide, large saucepan over medium heat. Add in 1/2 cup of sugar into the pan and heat until the sugar starts to melt. Make sure you’re constantly stirring to prevent the sugar from burning! Keep repeating this step until all the sugar has been added. Keep stirring, and cooking until all the sugar has melted and turned a nice amber colour. Remove the pot from heat, and while constantly stirring, pour in the warm plant-based double cream. Once it’s all added, pop in the room temp butter, mix until melted, and add in a pinch of salt. Heat over medium heat for another 4-5 minutes, just to thicken it up very slightly.

Add the cornflakes into the caramel, and gently mix until every single piece of cornflake is covered! Transfer the caramel cornflakes to the top of the cooled brownie. Gently press down and smooth into an even layer. Pop into the fridge and allow to set for 4 hours. I like to let it chill overnight, that way I have the cleanest, crisp slices. 

Tips on making this vegan caramel cornflake brownie recipe perfectly: 

• Dutch-process cocoa is something you have to use! If you use normal cocoa or even cacao your brownies will taste bitter, and that’s not what you want!
• Make sure you whisk the aquafaba and sugars until it’s thick and white.
• Melt butter and chocolate using the bain-marie method on low-medium heat.
• When it comes to combing the dry and wet together be sure not to over-mix the batter and fold gently! 
• If it’s your first time baking these brownies and are worried you might overbake them, check them after 30 minutes and if they’re not cooked at this point bake in 5-minute bursts, checking in between.
• The double cream for the caramel has to be warm! And the butter needs to be at room temperature.

​Once chilled, slice and enjoy! Keep these brownies store in an airtight container and in the fridge! They’ll keep for 4-5 days, but honestly, this recipe is SO good I highly doubt they’ll even last that long! 

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