Vegan Spiced Chocolate Brownies

While the Beloved and I were at the Winter Magic Festival in Katoomba yesterday, we treated ourselves to some vegan brownies. They were soooo good, I was inspired to make my own, but spice it up a bit. And voila! Sunday afternoon tea...

2 cups of plain flour
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup soy milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 cup broken hazelnuts (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180C.  Grease and slice tray with baking paper.

In a large bowl sift all the dry ingredients together twice.

Add oil, water and soymilk, and mix thoroughly to a thick batter.

Fold in hazelnuts.

Pour into the greased and lined tray, and bake for approximately 20-25 minutes. If you don't want the brownies to be as gooey, leave them in for another ten minutes. Allow to cool for approximately ten minutes, and then cut into squares.