Vegan Brownies

after reading reviews of the fail vegan brownie recipes out there, one user made ingredient recommendations that i somewhat heeded in making mine...
NOTE: this is vegan except for the nutella, which has milk, but i can't resist it, feel free to substitute or omit

1c. flour
1 Tbsp flax seed meal
½ c. cocoa powder
¼ c. brown sugar
¼ tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
½ tsp cinnamon
½ c. raw almonds
½ c. semi sweet chocolate chips
¼ c. safflower oil
¼ c. nutella
¼ c. warm water
1c. apple butter/sauce (1.5 lb apples peeled/cored/chopped / 1c. sugar / ¼ tsp cinnamon, dash ground cloves/salt - put dry ingredients over apples in slow cooker 12 hrs; high 1st hour, low 11 hrs, stir occasionally)

preheat oven to 350°F
2 med bowls: in one, sift together dry ingredients except almonds and chocolate chips
in the other, combine all wet ingredients.
fold dry mix into wet mix, don't over-work
add almonds and chocolate chips
spoon into greased 8x8 pan or 12 ct lined muffin pan
bake until just cakey but still moist (15-20 min - 10-15 for muffin pan)
remove pan and cool covered with towel