No lie.
Did you know May was Celiac Awareness month? Well, it is.
1 in 133 Americans have the very dangerous form of gluten allergy called Celiac. 1 in 20 have some form of gluten sensitivity. Lots of information available at your fingertips, if you are curious you can Google it. The WSJ published an article just last month. It is obvious companies are listening to their customers. Just look at the explosive quantities of gluten-free foods now available. And not just at health food stores but even your local corner store. Things that you have eaten forever, and which are naturally gluten-free, are now labeled to reflect that.
Do you think the rampant numbers of diagnosed celiac and gluten sensitive individuals has anything to do with the genetic modifications that happened to wheat in the last 50 years? Or that generically modified wheat could be a major contributor to obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, dementia, depression and so many other of our modern ills? It is FrankenWheat — a scientifically engineered food product developed in the last 50 years that is behind so many of our ills, I say. I could be wrong but jeez we eat a lot more wheat, now, than we did 100 years ago.
And I know not everyone is eating wheat free, or gluten-free for that matter, but if you have a friend, co-worker, neighbor, party thrower, you name them, that does avoid wheat or gluten give these a go. They will thank you for your thoughtfulness. But so will the same neighbor, friend, co-worker…. that does eat gluten. They are that good! You could also try them with traditional all-purpose flour. Either way, I bet you’ll think these are better than any old boxed brownie.
Okay, so, back to the best gluten-free brownies I have ever made.
Even if these may be the only gluten-free, brownies I’ve ever made, they are right up there with our favorite, some may even call famous, family brownie recipe which has gluten in it.
In my opinion, these have the perfect balance of chocolate and sugar. Fudgey but not heavy, more cake-like but not quite. You just have to trust me and make them.
Just so you know, I didn’t create this recipe. I just followed a recipe. Seems to be the best way to go when looking into *new* GF recipes. Karina is a goddess of all things GF. For real. She’s been eating this way since before most of us had ever even heard the word, much less put together symptoms and wheat. She has been creating recipes since before we had the internet at our disposal. She is the actual creator of many of the recipes we see out there on this internet thing.
Here you go.
Ingredients:
5 ounces high quality 60-70% cocoa dark chocolate (I used 59% Dagoba chocolate because that’s what my baking aisle has)
1/4 c organic coconut oil, 1/4 c butter (All shortening or coconut oil if eating dairy free)
1 c light brown sugar, not packed
1/2 cup almond meal
1/4 cup brown rice flour
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 organic free-range eggs, beaten
1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla or other GF vanilla
Optional:
1/2 cup chopped pecans
Dark chocolate chips for the top
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line an 8×8-inch square baking pan with foil and lightly oil the bottom.Melt the dark chocolate, the coconut oil and butter in a saucepan over low heat, gently stirring.
In a mixing bowl whisk together the brown sugar, almond meal, brown rice flour, fine sea salt and baking soda. Make a well in the center and add the beaten eggs, vanilla extract and melted dark chocolate mixture. Beat on low-medium for two minutes, until the batter begins to come together. At first it will seem thin, like cake batter, but keep beating until it thickens and becomes smooth and glossy.
If you are adding nuts, stir in the nuts by hand and spread the batter into the prepared baking pan. Even out the batter with a silicone spatula. Or if you’re like me you forget to add the pecans until half of it is in the pan…. You can still mix them in…
Stud the top with some dark chocolate chips and press in slightly.
Bake in the center of a preheated 350ºF oven for 32 to 35 minutes, or until the brownies are set. The top will crack, like a flourless chocolate cake.
Cool on a wire rack; and remove the cooled brownies from the pan by gripping the foil edges and lifting the brownies out as a whole.
You could chill them for an hour before cutting. We didn’t. We couldn’t stand not cutting into their warm gooeyness!
If you decide to give it a go, let myself or Karina know what you think.
And if you’re wondering about serving desserts on smaller plates to make you feel like you are getting more? It doesn’t work. It just brings out the rebellious child in you and makes you want two.
I say Go For It!
Sewfrench 
Thank you so much for posting this. I am gluten intolerant and have eaten gluten free since Feb. I tried the box brownies. Yuck! Not good, so I am anxious to try these. By the way, I so agree with you about the ‘Frankenwheat’. They now put this GM wheat in about everything so we are getting an overload of it.
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Looks good. I have missed your blog. Welcome back!!!!!!!
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That looks really good. Missed your blogging. Welcome back.
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