A brownie challenge

When you first receive the news that you have a gluten intolerance and must avoid it - you most certainly go through the five stages of grieving!
1.  Denial - "Oh, it won't be so bad."
2. Anger - " I HATE this - NOTHING tastes as good as the real thing!" 
3. Bargaining - "I'll cheat today, but I promise I'll be good tomorrow." 
4. Depression sets in - "Sigh, I'll never enjoy food again." 
5. Acceptance - " I am really ok with not eating gluten.  I feel so much better."

That said - though I am mostly at the final stage of my gluten/no gluten journey - there are times when the "real deal" just looks so delicious. 

I recently pinned this recipe for Fudgy Coconut Flour Brownies on my Pinterest board.  It promises they are dense and fudgy, and taste rich and decadent.  These I gotta try! 

We made them.  They taste good, but they taste better the next day.  They are dense and fudgy, but as with most gluten free baked goods, they are a bit gritty in texture.  The texture is always a give away that they are gluten free, and a little disappointing.

{Pinterest Fudgy Coconut Brownies}

 

So, it made me wonder.... what if we used Hannah's tried and true and absolutely delicious "regular" brownie recipe and tweaked it by substituting the all purpose flour with 1/2 coconut flour and 1/2 almond flour?

{Hannah's Fabulous Gluten Free Brownies}

Now tell me these don't look delicious?  You WOULD NEVER KNOW they are gluten free.
The taste is superb and the texture is perfect.

Generally, when baking gluten free, we have found through trial and error that the combination of almond and coconut flours along with using real eggs {not egg substitute} and another leavening agent {like baking soda or baking powder or both} have yielded really nice results in flavor, texture and a nice balance of lightness and density.

These are the differences between the two recipes:

• Hannah's recipe includes baking powder; the Pinterest recipe does not.
• Hannah's recipe uses chocolate chips; the Pinterest recipe uses cocoa powder.
• Hannah's recipe uses sugar; the Pinterest recipe uses honey or maple syrup.
• Hannah's uses a almond/coconut flour blend; the Pinterest recipe uses only coconut flour.
• The Pinterest recipe might be considered healthy - you can use raw honey or grade B maple syrup, cocoa powder has health benefits too - so maybe the grit/guilt factor might come into play for you, but if not...

I'm sharing Hannah's recipe with you - so that you can surprise, shock, and spoil all your gluten free friends!  :-)

Hannah's Fabulous Gluten Free Brownies

1/4 butter {or coconut oil}
3/4 c. semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 c. sugar
2/3 c. all purpose flour {* substitute 1/3 c. coconut flour + 1/3 c. almond flour}
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/2 c. chopped nuts {optional, we left them out}
1/2 c. semisweet chocolate chips.
 
Preheat oven to 350.  Grease a square baking pan.  Heat the butter and 3/4 c chocolate chips over low heat until melted, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat.  Stir in remaining ingredients, mixing between each addition.  Stir in remaining chocolate chips. 
Bake until tests done with a toothpick, about 30 minutes.