Grey doesn’t strike me as a “delicious” color, but I took this lyric from “Be Our Guest” as a challenge. How to make grey… delicious. And I ended up with brownies topped with a sort of cookies and cream mousse.

For this recipe, you will need:

• 5oz vegan chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup vegan butter, cut into pieces
• 2 TBS cocoa powder
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 “eggs”
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 1/2 cups soymilk
• 1/2 cup sugar OR 1/3 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 TBS cornstarch
• 2 1/2 cups soymilk
• 2 TBS butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 15 oreos
• 2 cups coconut cream

There’s a few components here.

Start by making a vanilla pudding. Combine 2 1/2 cups soymilk, 1/2 cup sugar or 1/3 cup maple syrup, and 1/4 cup cornstarch into a medium saucepan. Whisk it together to dissolve the starch, then bring it to a simmer over medium heat. When this mixture begins to steam, continue to whisk it constantly and reduce the heat to keep it from boiling over. Continue whisking and cook it for about 3-4 minutes, or until it thickens. Remove the pudding mix from heat and whisk in the vanilla.

Chill this pudding in the refrigerator for at least one hour. Next is to create a chocolate pudding. Whisk together 2/3 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa powder, and 3 TBS cornstarch. Then, add 2 1/2 cups milk. Put this pan over medium heat and bring to a simmer while whisking. Continue to simmer for about 3 minutes until it’s slightly thickened and glossy-looking. Remove it from the heat, and add 2 TBS vegan butter and 1 tsp vanilla extract.

Let this pudding set in the fridge for a few hours as well.

While the puddings cool, begin making the brownies. Preheat your oven to 350F and grease a 9×9 cake pan. Create your eggs using egg replacer. Then, melt together the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler. For this bake, I used Plant-Based Tollhouse Chocolate Chips.

Once the chocolate is melted, remove it from the heat and stir in 2 TBS cocoa powder and 1 cup sugar. Whisk in the vanilla and “eggs”, then finally the flour and salt. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Once your puddings are cool enough, combine them in equal parts to create a mousse. Crush the oreos in a food processor until they are fine crumbs. Then, whip the coconut cream until it has stiff peaks and resembles a whipped cream. If you’re having difficulty with this, add a bit of powdered sugar or cream of tartar. Then, add the oreos to the pudding mix and fold in the whipped cream.

Chill this mousse in the fridge for at least one hour. Once the brownies are cool, use a small round cookie cutter to cut the brownies. When the mousse is chilled, add it to a piping bag with your tip of choice. Pipe the mousse onto each brownie, then top with edible pearls or extra oreo crumbs. (My mousse was a bit runny; possibly my whipped cream was not whipped enough so make sure you have stiff peaks before adding it to the pudding!)

The grey stuff is indeed delicious!