Chopping Chocolate

I woke up this morning with a stye in my eye that was reminiscent of Mr Hook's Panda Gate incident. To avoid scaring the swathes of students in the library, I holed up at home with tea and a perfectly-timed (as ever) present of Green & Black's Maya Gold Chocolate from Mumma Hart, which she posted me along with my fineliners (yay!) and an article snipped from the Telegraph entitled 'How to dither no more'. Apparently we procrastinate for 3.63 hours every day. That bit's probably right for me, or maybe even an underestimate. How? TV, Internet, 'personal grooming', making tea and coffee... Also accurate. My chief procrastination method, however, is procrastibaking, loved by students across the country. There's this thing about cooking where it feels constructive because you achieve something, be it an exquisite soufflé or a so-so microwave mug cake. 

The number one piece of advice for us procrastinators is this: "The next time you procrastinate, ask yourself, 'What made me decide to do this in the first place?' If you don't know the answer, don't do it.' In the case of today's procrastibaking, the motivation was inspiration in the shape of chocolate from Mumma H, and the idea of arriving at tonight's dinner party with something to offer, and to make life a little sweeter for my newly-vegan-for-lent housemate. So going by that logic, I'm pretty sure this is a legit way to spend time and definitely not procrastination. 

The vegan brownie recipe comes from the Grand Old Duke Jamie Oliver. I'm learning quite a lot about vegan eating at the moment, and one gem of wisdom is that almost all plain/dark chocolate is dairy-free. Who knew. Also vegan-friendly are Oreos and Hobnobs, which I would suggest has made Amy's lent a helluva lot more enjoyable. This brownie mix seems really smooth at first and then the chocolate cools and it gets a bit thicker and more mousse-like. Not the most dainty of brownies but bloody good all the same. To be enjoyed with (dairy-free) ice cream.

p.s. for a good read on the sounds of cooking, try this!

p.p.s for more vegan recipes, go see Brogues!