Simple gluten-free brownies
Aug 13th, 2010 by lapazfarm
As some of you may know, I was recently diagnosed with gluten intolerence. Major bummer. I am trying to adjust, but I have to admit, my recreational baking has been hit hard. And the kids and I are suffering from a lack of chocolaty goodness. So many gluten-free recipes are just sooooo *fiddly* — involving expensive ( and sometimes not too tasty) ingredients, plus over-complicated techniques, that I am hesitant to even try them.
Well, I did some *experimenting* in the kitchen late last night and came up with my very own recipe for gluten-free brownies that turned out great!
I wanted to share because if you are avoiding baking because of fiddly gluten-free recipes, you will love this recipe–it is EASY as can be!
Gluten-Free Brownies:
In mixer combine:
4 eggs
2 cups sugar
1 T vanilla
Mix until smooth and creamy
In separate bowl combine:
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup corn starch*
1/4 cup potato flour*
1/4 t salt
Add dry ingredients gradually to egg mixture. Mix well at medium speed (start slowly and work up to faster).
Melt 2 sticks butter and drizzle into batter as mixer is running. Mix well.
(note: I used real butter. I don’t know if margarine will sub well or not).
Pour into greased brownie pan ( I used 11 X 7) and bake at 350 until inserted knife comes clean.(I forgot to time it. Maybe 35 minutes or so?)
Let cool and enjoy!
* this is just the combination of flours I tried. Other flours (rice, tapioca, etc) may work as well.
I hope this helps someone. I know I feel much better knowing I can whip up a batch of yummy brownies in a snap just like I used to.
Anyone care to share their simple gluten-free recipes? I’m going to experiment with cookies next!
YUM… sounds great!
For years we were a wheat free family because of my son’s allergies and our favorite baked good was flourless peanut butter chocolate chip cookies.
You can find a version of that recipe at http://www.dietivity.com/emerils-flourless-peanut-butter-and-chocolate-chip-cookies-as-shown-on-abc-news/
We also made them just as peanut butter cookies like these http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/flourless-peanut-butter-cookies/Detail.aspx but I added vanilla.
There are many more complicated recipes out there but these were our staples because there were no special ingredients necessary.
I hope you enjoy.
Keep ‘em coming!
I just got the news as well (as well as being allergic to all dairy), so I had a few weeks of major yummy-withdrawl. I’ll try them with my vegan margarine sometime and let you know how they come out.
Hey, I can post here and get both of you at once!
Here’s a friend’s recipe website. She’s been dealing with celiac for years. Recipes are marked with regard to major allergens and many have modifications for various allergens. OMK, the newer ones may have dairy, as she and her girls were recently able to add dairy back into their diets, but many are dairy free. Early on in their celiac journey, they had a lot of food intolerances, but getting the celiac under control eased a lot of the others.
All sorts of dishes http://ourgaggleofgirls.com/recipes/
If you’re craving chocolate baked goodness, there are lots of flourless chocolate cake recipes out there that use nut flours instead of wheat flour. Some will contain a small amount of wheat, but I’ve never had a problem if I omit it. A generally allergen friendly way to top it if you want to decorate is to use marzipan instead of frosting or fondant. You can color it to make muted tones, or even add cocoa for flavor and color.
If you’re missing oatmeal because of the cross contamination potential, Bob’s Red Mill sells a tested gluten free oatmeal. Another friend of mine makes pancakes out of oatmeal, bananas and eggs, spiced and sweetened to taste. No real recipe on that one, just mixed to the consistency the cook likes.
Made these tonight substituting Earth Balance margarine (vegan and 0 trans fats) for the butter and 1/2 C brown rice flour for the corn starch and potato flour. Padawan Learner declared they were DELISH. I admit, I had seconds as well.
Oh, the chocolately goodness.
Karen: thanks for the link. I’ll check it out.
Yay!!! so glad it worked out for you! I have brown rice flour so I’ll try that next time!
Thanks, Karen! I’ll definitely check it out!
I am here to testify that they were great!
We’re gluten intolerant as well and found these brownies to be so incredibly fudgy and yummy. http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/2594
Surprisingly, they are truly flourless and use a can of black beans in place of the flour. Sounds gross but they are really yummy. You’ve got to try it. There are also cookie and cake recipes using beans. They up the protein content and lower the carbs, an extra bonus.
Oh, that sounds cool, Jennifer! We have plenty of black beans so we will have to give them a try.
sweet! I was recently diagnosed too… not a huge baked goods person to begin with but having a decent option will be nice!
Hi, I am Paula and I found your weblog via Buntglas. I am a mom of a gluten-free home school family in Belgium. Gluten free chocolate isn’t a problem in Belgium, but gluten free cookies are notoriously expensive. I solve this by baking gluten-free cereal bars with (Irish or Dutch) oats, raisins, honey, nuts, corn, buckwheat, whatever. Sometimes they fail miserably, often they are yummy.
Apart from our guinea pigs, we all eat gluten free which is important to avoid contamination.
Eating gluten free is easy at home, annoying outdoors but you get used to it within a reasonably short time.
Good luck.
Paula – if you can get and store hay from farms instead of pet stores, your guinea pigs can easily join you in being GF.
Guinea pigs don’t need grain products – grass hay (not alfalfa) and vegetables/fruits are a good diet. Pet store hay is very expensive – if you can buy from farmers a bale of hay is cheaper than the small bags sold for little pets. If there is a horse stable, you could try asking them if you could buy a bale from time to time.
Karen, you are so right. I lately started to experiment replacing expensive food-coloring loaded guinea pig food with sunflower seeds and corn. Since GP originally come from Peru, their diet must have been greenish and corn anyway. Corn is essential since their teeth grow. If you only give soft green and hay, their molars grow too long.
Anyway, I wish you the best with gluten free recipes. Not only for your health but also because wheat prices will soar.
Here is a nice website with GF recipes:
http://www.ReadingWritingandRecipes.com
Paula (Belgium) told me about this site. I wish you best as you start your gluten-free journey.
I’m with you about “fiddly” recipes. For my daughter’s wedding, I made regular and gluten-free versions of four different breakfast breads: Ginger-zucchini bread, a Moroccan Spice Loaf, a spinach roll, and a chocolate-almond coffee cake. After all that baking a year ago, I may have made a half dozen or so breads or desserts. Too much fiddly.
However, after reading your brownie recipe and all the comments/links, I may have to satisfy my chocolate craving with some more baking.
Hey Mom. Here are those tasty peanut putter cookies I made. They don’t even need flour. It doesn’t get much simpler than that!
http://www.sweetestkitchen.com/2009/04/flourless-peanut-butter-cookies/
Love you,
Emily
Thanks, Babe! I had forgotten about those, and they were really good!!!