Brownies rest at the intersection of minimal effort and maximum chocolate intensity. (What? You thought I would let Valentine’s Day go by without a mention of chocolate?) Last year I shared what I think of as the perfect brownie recipe. It should be the ideal all-occasion dessert... but it’s not.

Dairy-free cooking is not just for people with milk allergies or the lactose intolerant. I keep a kosher home, which means that among other things we must separate dairy and meat at all times. So as much as I enjoyed that lovely roasted chicken dinner I just made, I cannot finish it off with one of those perfect brownies. Sure, there are a million other possible desserts out there. But sometimes, you just want a brownie.

Unfortunately, removing the dairy from the brownie is not as simple as swapping out the butter, because its precise flavor and texture is hard to replicate. Substituting a half-cup of vegetable oil generates greasy, tasteless results. Brownies made from stick margarine are often a bit too crumbly—and are also a step backwards on my path toward reducing highly processed foods in my diet.

About a year and a half ago, a friend loaned me Paula Shoyer’s "The Kosher Baker," a cookbook full of non-dairy desserts suitable for serving after meat meals. (It is entirely possible that I have yet to return the book.) Though I am less than thrilled with the recipes that call for non-dairy creamer and other chemical-laden dairy wannabes, the book has several treasures—including the “Quick and Elegant” section’s Fudgy Brownies. The recipe calls for plain canola oil, but Shoyer cuts back the amount, ups the chocolate, and somehow captures butter’s nutty-creamy undertone with the addition of a little soy milk.

Of course, I had to make some adjustments. Brown sugar, with its rich molasses flavor, adds another dimension to chocolate desserts and quickly found a place in my version. The original recipe also produced brownies that were too cake-like for my palate. I set out to remedy this, repeatedly adjusting the balance of various dry ingredients and eventually eliminating the baking powder altogether.

Once I had conquered texture, I found myself faced with a new challenge: a friend with a soy protein allergy. Since some of my children’s friends have nut allergies, I wanted to avoid almond milk as well. The simplest answer was rice milk, and it worked—but that little nutty-creamy nuance was missing. I spent nearly a year using this not-quite-perfect solution.

One day—I cannot remember when or how—I realized that answer lay not in finding a flavor match for the missing butter, but in making sure not to leave a void where that flavor belongs. Before I knew what I was doing, there was a quarter-cup of coconut milk in the brownie batter (and a mostly full can of the stuff sitting next to the stove). Its distinct aroma was barely perceptible when diffused throughout, adding just a hint of tropical sweetness. And with its extra richness, the coconut milk brought back a pleasant stickiness that I hadn’t even realized was missing from the rice milk brownies.

You can stop there—and I did, through several more batches of brownies. But in recent months, coconut oil has made its way into my pantry. With its high proportion of saturated fat, coconut oil is solid at room temperature; this makes it a closer textural match for butter than any liquid vegetable fat.

By using unrefined coconut oil (now available at Trader Joe’s!) I finally recaptured the rich texture of my perfect dairy brownies, but with a coconut flavor that was a too pronounced for my taste. I am sure many people appreciate the interplay of coconut and chocolate in their desserts—including some friends who enjoyed that batch—but I am not one of them.

Life is full of trade-offs, so I have settled on the more neutral flavor of refined coconut oil for these brownies. Combining unrefined coconut oil with canola oil works just as well, without too much effect on the texture. And if you choose to use canola oil alone, you won’t be disappointed.

But promise me you will not skip the coconut milk. There is just no substitute.

Decadent Coconut (or Not) Brownies
Adapted from "The Kosher Baker," Paula Shoyer
Yield: 16 brownies
Active Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 45-50 minutes, plus cooling

• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder, plus more for dusting pan
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 6 ounces chopped semi-sweet chocolate or chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, plus more for greasing pan
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup coconut milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8-inch square baking pan with coconut oil and dust with cocoa powder; set aside. Sift flour, 1/2 cup cocoa and salt together in a small bowl; set aside.

2. Place chopped chocolate and 1/3 cup coconut oil in a 3-quart saucepan. Melt over medium-low heat, stirring to prevent chocolate from scorching. Add granulated sugar and continue to stir over medium-low heat until sugar has dissolved and mixture appears smooth. Stir in brown sugar and coconut milk; remove pan from heat and set aside to cool for about five minutes.

3. Add eggs and vanilla, and mix vigorously by hand until batter is smooth. Add flour-cocoa mixture and stir just until incorporated; do not overmix.

4. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool completely in pan before cutting into squares.

   Notes: I prefer Native Forest brand organic coconut milk, which contains no preservatives and is sold in BPA-free cans. Coconut milk separates in storage; shake the can well before opening, or else empty the contents of the can into a bowl and mix well with a fork. Leftover coconut milk may be frozen in ice cube trays and thawed as needed for future baking. Because freezing affects its consistency, thawed coconut milk is not recommended for soups or drinks.