Really Good Gluten-Free Brownies

I do a lot of baking during the holiday season.  I love trying different ingredients out in the kitchen and found this lovely organic coconut flour by Let's Do...Organic.   Perfect for gluten free baking and higher in fiber than most flours.

I took their recipe for wheat free brownies from the back of the bag and altered it- trying to create a somewhat healthier version.  It originally called for a lot of eggs, more sugar, no bananas/applesauce- which I'm sure is delicious, but since I added vegan marshmallows, tried not to make it too rich.  This is a double batch in 13x 9 Pyrex dish.



Hope's Wheat Free Brownies

8 eggs
2/3 c butter
1 c cocoa powder
1 1/2 c brown sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/3 c unsweetened applesauce
1 cup Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 c organic coconut flour
1 large banana, mashed
1/2 c Sweet & Sara's Marshmallows (if you want these to be totally gluten-free, add a gluten-free marshmallow- these are processed in a plant with wheat products)

Preheat oven to 350.  In a saucepan over low heat, blend butter and cocoa powder.  Remove from heat and let cool.  In a separate bowl, mix eggs, sugan, vanilla, applesauce, and mashed banana.  Stir this into the cocoa mixture.  Then slowly add the coconut flour until batter is no longer lumpy.  Pour into pre-greased Pyrex (13x9) glass baking dish.  Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly on top of batter.  Cook about 45-60 min.- testing w/ knife or toothpick.  Chop marshmallows into 1/2" bits and gently push into the brownie.  You can bake the marshmallows too, but my son and I thought they tasted better when added at the last minute.







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Vegan Mofo Fav Food: Sweet & Sara's Marshmallows

I'm not a big fan of marshmallows, probably because they aren't technically vegetarian AND come out of a plastic bag. Typically, I prefer savory over sweet. My son has a sweet tooth, though, and when I saw Sweet & Sara's vegan Vanilla Marshmallows at Cooperstown Natural Foods, they became my 'impulse' purchase of the day.

What I loved about these: they don't taste as disgustingly unnatural as most marshmallows do. Where some vegan products fail is that they often try to replicate a food item, but the vegan version will end up being way more processed than the meaty counterpart. For example, I can't stomach most vegan cheeses. Taste horrible and the ingredient list is far from natural.
What Soren loved: They taste better than marshmallows.
These are handmade and the texture is so much nicer- a little firmer. They keep for several weeks and need to be refrigerated. I cut them up in bits and add them to my brownies- although Soren and I found that they taste better added the minute the brownies emerge from the oven.




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