Gluten Free Brownies

As I mentioned in my previous post, my mother was here to visit this past weekend! I was super excited to finally be able to have a guest and not be embarrassed about the state of our house. My mom was the first one to see the main floor in all of its completed glory!

In addition to all of the excitement around showing off our house, it was also my mom's birthday! Don't worry, Mom, I promise not to reveal your true age...


To thank her for her help with the house, as well as to celebrate her birthday, I invited my two brothers and their roommate over for supper. Mom got to relax in the now-cozy living room while I slaved over a hot meal in the kitchen, with the SO as my assistant.

I (we) managed to pull together a rather amazing dinner (if I do say so myself) and it went off without a hitch!! The only thing I was worried about... my first ever attempt at gluten free brownies! My mother has been gluten free for a few months now but I still wanted to give her a "birthday cake". So I transformed my grandmother's brownie recipe into gluten free.

I was terrified about how they would turn out (and the ridicule that would be sure to follow if my brothers didn't like them). So I was pleasantly surprised and super excited when the first words out of my littlest brother's mouth were "this actually isn't that bad".

Now that maybe doesn't sound like the most enthusiastic of compliments, but if you knew my brother you would understand... that's a huge deal! And he seemed to scarf it down just fine! The rest of the reviews also came back positive, and my mom seemed happy enough to accept the last two pieces as a treat to take home with her.

As for my opinion, I thought they turned out great. I think they had a bit of a different taste (not a bad one! just slightly different), but nobody else seemed to think so (maybe I'm just crazy).

If you'd like to give them a shot, here is the recipe:

Gluten Free Brownies

1 cup gluten free all purpose flour
 1/2 tsp xanthan gum
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

Directions:
1. Sift together flour, xanthan gum, salt and cocoa.
2. In a separate bowl, cream butter with white and brown sugar.
3. Add eggs and mix thoroughly.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well.
5. If you've chosen to include them, add the chocolate chips now.
6. Spread batter into a 9x13 greased pan and bake for 25-30 minutes at 350F.

We didn't have time for it, but you could also put some icing on these if that catches your fancy. If you're not of the gluten free variety, these can also be made with regular flour, just eliminate the xantham gum.

One other tip... get a sifter! I've tried baking gluten free without it before, and I can honestly say it made a huge difference this time.

Anyways, give them a shot, come back and let me know what you think!

Until next time...

D.