I knew I had to do a dessert pairing with “Queen Sugar” given the show’s title and the plot revolving around a family’s sugar cane farm.

Yes, I could have gone with one of the show’s prized pies, but I knew I couldn’t live up to the legacy of Aunt Vi’s delectable desserts.

This vegan, gluten-free cookie brownie recipe makes approximately 16 “servings.”

Ingredients
1 bag or box of gluten-free brownie mix
any supplemental ingredients the brownie mix calls for (oil, water, egg replacer, etc.)
16 balls or cubes of premade vegan, gluten-free chocolate chip cookie dough

Instructions
Grease an 8″ square baking dish and preheat your oven to 350°F.

Follow the directions on your brownie mix to turn it into batter. My mix required oil and water.

Pour the brownie batter into your greased baking dish.

Bake your brownies at 350°F for 45 minutes.

Place your cookie dough balls on a greased baking sheet. Make sure they’re touching.

When there are 10 minutes left on the brownie timer, put the cookies in the oven (on the sheet).

As the timer goes off, pull out both the brownies and the cookies. The brownies should be completely baked, but it’s OK if the cookies aren’t quite done yet.

Carefully transfer the partially baked cookies from the sheet to on top of the brownies.

Place the baking pan back in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, or until your cookies are a nice golden brown.

Let cool for at least an hour.

Slice and serve with an episode (or a season) of “Queen Sugar.”

The Easy Route
Considering I used a brownie mix and store-bought cookie dough, this one is very easy already.

If you have a bakery, store or restaurant near you that makes vegan, gluten-free cookie brownies, please share those details in the comments!

The Pairing
I watched “Queen Sugar” in two big binges. The first involved the first three seasons in about the span of a week or two. I was hooked.

I decided to pace myself and ultimately made the decision to come back to it after the final episode aired so I wasn’t kept in suspense with a season finale cliffhanger.

Seasons four through seven were watched over the course of a couple months last fall, and the Bordelon family really drew me into their world once again.

The show is centered on three siblings, Charley (Dawn-Lyen Gardner), Nova (Rutina Wesley) and Ralph Angel (Kofi Siriboe). They all live very different lives, and seeing how they both come together and clash is utterly captivating.

Charley is the wife and manager of a star NBA player (Timon Kyle Durrett) in Los Angeles, Nova is a journalist and activist making a name for herself in New Orleans, and Ralph Angel is a single father to Blue (Ethan Hutchison) who found it best to stay around home and work his family’s farm in rural Louisiana.

The start of the series centers on the three of them coming together to mark the passing of their father, Ernest (Glynn Turman).

Rounding out the talented cast are Nicholas Ashe as Charley’s son, Micah; Tina Lifford as the aforementioned Violet, aunt to the three leads; Omar J. Dorsey as Hollywood, Violet’s beau; Bianca Lawson as Darla, Blue’s mom and an on-again/off-again love interest for Ralph Angel; Greg Vaughan as Nova’s on-again/off-again cop boyfriend, Calvin; and Henry G. Sanders as Prosper, a close family friend.

Yes, the show is often reduced to being soapy or steamy, but it is really an amazing show that spotlights Black life in America in a truly holistic way. Of course there is pain and tragedy, but there is also unbridled joy and passion.

No one better personifies this range of emotions than Wesley. She is absolutely radiant as Nova, and I need to see more from her.

Then there’s Siriboe’s star-making turn as Ralph Angel, and don’t even get me started on the chemistry with Lawson’s Darla.

These three characters kept me watching week after week, and I am sad I will no longer be getting updates on their lives in the form of new episodes.

If my little write-up even remotely piques your interest or you’ve already been curious about the show, stop reading and get to streaming.

If you decide to make cookie brownies and/or watch “Queen Sugar,” let us know! Tag us in your Instagram posts & stories, threads, tweets or TikTok videos: @veg_out_recipes