Alternative Oils Brownies Test #1

I did alternative sweeteners and flours, so now it is time to turn to different types of oils. Normally I'll use either vegetable or canola oil when I bake brownies from a mix. Yup, I'm using a mix this time, the same mix for each type of oil I'm testing. I'm also following the same procedures to make each batch so I'm stirring by hand, using the same pans, and letting cool for the same amount of time. Baking time may vary but that is part of the test to see if some oils need to bake longer. Our first oil to test is sunflower oil . I received a huge gallon of Massimo Gusto Sunflower Seed Oil for free from the brand via the Amazon Vine program; no other form of compensation was received for reviewing the product on that website by simply sharing my experiences. Today's piece on The Chocolate Cult is unexpected.

First let's look at the brownies using my regular vegetable oil, in this case from Wesson.

Brownie Mix, Vegetable Oil

Now let's look at the results when I used the sunflower oil. Notice that they look fairly similar but the top isn't as crisp looking.

Brownie Mix, 

The sunflower oil required that I bake the brownies two minutes longer but that isn't such a difference that it might reflect the weather or just my oven. The big problem I had was with the bottle. I knew going into this product testing that the bottle would be big but I didn't expect that the oil would have leaked out before I ever opened it. 

In terms of flavor, these was really no difference, no sunflower flavor or scent at all. The texture was very similar but it did take longer to bake to get there.