The best gluten-free brownie

I realise that I am about to make a strong statement, but for me the best gluten-free brownie ever is the one that you can find at the “naturally fast food” chain Leon in the UK (where fast food is good). And Leon’s has blessed us by supplying the Better Brownie recipe in their Leon’s “Brownies, Bars & Muffins” recipe book. These are a slight commitment to make, and possibly not for the faint hearted as there is a substantial amount of chocolate involved. I make these for friends who do not to follow a gluten-free diet and they also agree that these pretty good! So give yourself some time, get chopping and melting, and make these bad boys.

Ingredients

180 grams unsalted butter plus extra for greasing
200 grams dark chocolate (54% cocoa solids)
1 orange
2 teaspoons espresso or strong coffee
80 grams whole almonds (skin on)
4 free-range eggs
100 grams ground almonds
160 grams dark chocolate (54% cocoa solids, in chunks)
160 grams very dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
150 grams fructose
pinch of sea salt
3-4 drops vanilla essence

Directions
Heat the oven to 180 degrees C. Generously butter a 30 x 20 x 5cm baking tray.
Melt the butter in a small pan, and allow it to cool slightly.
In a separate bowl, melt the 200g of chocolate over a pan of hot water, stirring well to make sure that it is properly melted, and being careful not to burn it. Finely grate the orange zest directly into the melted chocolate to catch the oils that are released during the zesting.
Add the coffee and melted butter to the chocolate mixture.
On another baking tray spread out the almonds and toast in the oven for 10 minutes, or until golden, then roughly chop.
Crack the eggs into a large mixing bowl. Add the ground almonds, the chopped almonds, all the chocolate chunks and lastly the fructose. Stir in the salt and vanilla, followed by the chocolate mixture.
Mix well until creamy and thickened, but do not over-mix, as too much air will cause the brownie to crumble when baked.
Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tray and place in the oven for approximately 20-25 minutes. Take care not to over-bake the brownies. They are ready when the edges are slightly crusty but the middle is still soft. Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin.

Note: fructose turns a much darker colour when baked than sugar. The brownie develops a glossy sheen and will not look cooked, when in fact it is. Resist the temptation to cook it for too long. You can replace the fructose with 180 grams of sugar.

These are rich and decadent, but so worth the effort, and taste even better the next day (if that is even possible).

Follow the recipe exactly (even the order ingredients are added to the bowl) and you too shall experience this best gluten-free brownie ever!

And here is the brownie in it’s natural habitat at a Leon’s.

Book cover below – find the magic on page 10!

Gluten-free macaroons

Something gluten-free that I used to eat as a child was macaroons. Diagnosed with coeliac disease at the age of 1, there was not much cake and biscuits available when I was growing up, but I remember some form of macaroons. Not to be confused with macarons, a macaroon is made up of egg whites, sugar and shredded coconut or almonds. A macaron on the other hand is a coloured cookie made from egg whites, sugar and ground almonds with two halves that are joined together with a ganache or buttercream. I have never attempted to make macarons; they just seem to be a little finicky and the texture can go wrong, macaroons on the other hand are relatively quick and easy!

This is my standby recipe, and for unknown reasons to be honest, I decided to try them with some lemon curd and made a little sandwich. And you know it was rather good.

Ingredients
3 cups shredded coconut
4 large egg whites
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
¼ teaspoon salt
Additional

Directions
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Combine the egg whites, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk until the whites and sugar are completely combined and the mixture is frothy.
Pour the coconut over the egg white mixture and stir until the coconut is evenly moistened.
With wet hands to prevent sticking, shape the coconut mixture into small balls about 1 1/2-inches in diameter and space them an inch or so apart on a baking sheet (the wet hands make this job a lot easier).
Bake the macaroons until golden; about 15-20 minutes (check them after 15 minutes).
Let the macaroons cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Eat as they are or indulge yourself with some lemon curd.

Easy!

You can find the original recipe from thekitchn.com here.

Gluten-free banana bread

Continuing the back-to-basics theme, one of the things that I am continually baking is gluten-free banana bread. This started before the pandemic, and yes, I definitely did bake this during lockdown. I have always used this recipe; it might not be sweet enough for some people as the only added sugar comes from a little maple syrup, which I often do not even add since I find the bananas are sweet enough. This recipe is from Hemsley and Hemsley and I did actually eat the real thing at their café at Selfridges before it sadly closed. I have taken to adding things to the recipe, and my only guideline is to add half a cup of whatever you feel like – here I added blueberries.  You could also top this with nuts and seeds, I have done flaked almonds before which worked very well.

Ingredients
4 large ripe bananas
60g coconut flour
1 tbs cinnamon
1 pinch salt
4 medium eggs
50g/3 tbs coconut oil, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 tbs apple cider vinegar
½ tbs maple syrup for the batter plus ½ tbs for the top
Additional: ½ cup blueberries

Directions
Peel the bananas. Weigh out 350g and mash until smooth. Reserve the leftover banana to decorate the top of the bread (this is about 4 large bananas; little ones will not cut it here).
Preheat oven to fan 180ºC and line a loaf tin (12cmx23cm) with baking parchment (my oven is not fan assisted so I went down to 160ºC).

Whisk the dry ingredients together, and then stir in the eggs, mashed banana and the rest of the wet ingredients using only ½ tbs maple syrup and mix until smooth.
Alternatively, blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth (beware slight chemical reaction when apple cider vinegar meets bicarb, no need to panic!).

Pour the batter into the lined loaf tin. Decorate the top with slices of reserved banana and drizzle with the remaining ½ tablespoon of maple syrup.
Bake at 180ºC for 50 mins – 60 min or until a knife comes out clean.
Cool on a rack completely before turning out of the tin.
Eat.

Mixing this in the food processor does create a very smooth batter and quite a firm bread, mixing by hand obviously creates more texture. I did not have a food processor or blender for this version, and you can see if you compare to the photo from Hemsley and Hemsley (see below) the texture difference.

I like to cut a slice while it is still warm out of the oven, maybe eaten with a little bit of salted butter!  

I found the original recipe quite a while ago here http://hemsleyandhemsley.com but it no longer seems to be anywhere on the website or the links, but I would think it is in one of the Hemsley cookbooks if you want to find it.

And here is the slice of banana bread at Hemsley & Hemsley.

Gluten-free dark chocolate pretzel cake

As per my Christmas list, one of my gifts was the new cookbook by Donna Hay “Modern Baking” and although this is not a gluten-free cookbook, a large percent of the recipes is gluten-free. Win win. So, I have decided for 2019 that I will work through this book and bake what I can. I trust Donna Hay, and so I have the utmost confidence that this will be a good year!

We begin with chapter one – chocolate (how convenient). The first recipe that can be used is on the 2^nd page so not too far to go before we find a winner and the dark chocolate pretzel cake. I have made many a gluten-free chocolate cake in my time and I think this recipe is at the top of the list (with or without pretzels) and is my new “go to” gluten-free chocolate cake. This is delicious!         

Ingredients
115g unsalted butter, chopped
450g dark chocolate (45-55 per cent), chopped
4 medium eggs, separated
55g caster sugar
2 tsp sea salt flakes
50g store-bought mini-pretzels

Directions
Preheat the oven to 160C. Line a 22cm round spring form tin with non-stick baking paper. Place the butter and chocolate in a large heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir until melted and smooth.
Place the egg whites in the bowl of an electric mixer. Whisk on high speed until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar and whisk until thick. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and whisk for a further 2-3 minutes or until the mixture is thick and glossy.

Add the egg yolks and salt to the chocolate mixture and gently fold to combine. In 3 batches, add the egg white mixture to the chocolate mixture and gently fold to combine. Pour into the tin and arrange the pretzels on top. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the edges are cooked when tested with a skewer and the centre is just set. Allow to cool to room temperature in the tin. Refrigerate for 3 hours or until chilled.

NOTE If you’re going to be refrigerating this cake for longer than the specified 3 hours, remove it from the fridge 1 hour before serving to allow it to come to room temperature.

Visit https://www.donnahay.com.au/ for more information about the book.

Flourless chocolate espresso cake

It’s been nearly 6 weeks since I made this flourless chocolate espresso cake, the recipe thanks to the marvellous Martha Stewart. I had a friend’s birthday around Easter and I thought it would be the perfect time to try this recipe and throw on some chocolate speckled eggs whilst I was at it. Which I did. And then the world, fatigue and the general thrills of the auto-immune life got in the way, and now I find myself at the end of May… so before the month completely comes to an end let us discuss this cake and the chocolate glaze that comes with it!

Ingredients

3 tablespoons unsalted butter
6 ounces/170 grams bittersweet chocolate, chopped (ideally 70%)
6 large eggs, separated, room temperature
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons instant espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extra

For the glaze

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/3 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.
Invert the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan (so the cake will slide easily onto the serving plate) and line with a parchment round and butter the parchment.
Melt butter and chocolate, stirring until smooth, in a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water.
Beat together the egg yolks and 1/2 cup of the sugar with a mixer on medium-high speed until thick and pale, about 3 minutes. Add espresso powder and salt; beat until combined, about 1 minute. Add vanilla and melted chocolate mixture; beat about 1 minute more.
In another bowl, beat the egg whites on medium-high speed until foamy. Increase speed to high; gradually add remaining 1/2 cup sugar, beating until stiff peaks form, about 5 minutes. Fold into chocolate mixture in 3 batches. Transfer batter to pan and bake until set, 40 to 45 minutes.
Let cake cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

For the glaze, combine the chocolate, butter, and vanilla in a bowl. Bring cream, sugar, espresso powder, and salt to a boil in a small saucepan, stirring until sugar and espresso powder are dissolved. Pour over chocolate mixture and whisk until smooth. Serve alongside the cake.

In the spirit of the holidays, I may have gotten a little carried away and flung not just the eggs but everything chocolate related at the cake. So I decorated it with chocolate eggs, flake, chocolate buttons and even some honeycomb (all gluten-free of course). And then we had the chocolate glaze on the side. But guess what? There was none left, so thanks to Martha! This takes a bit of effort with the additional step of the glaze, but it is worth it.

P.S Did I ever mention that I like chocolate! 🙂

 

Gluten-free chocolate zucchini bread

Zucchini is a huge favourite of mine in any way shape or form, so gluten-free chocolate zucchini bread was oh so tempting to try. I found this recipe in The Healthy Coconut Flour Cookbook by Erica Kerwien.

So the recipe notes say this can be baked in a loaf tin as bread, a square baking tin to make cake squares or a muffin pan to have cupcakes. I made the bread, had it for brunch, and thought of it in the same way one eats French toast or a chocolate croissant (not that I personally have eaten these, the joy of being of being a coeliac since the age of 1 and living in South Africa). So I had some jam, some nut butter and banana and even some blueberries. I believe everything is better with blueberries, and now with blueberries and zucchini, how good can this be?

 Ingredients 

• 2 cups (200grams) grated or finely shredded zucchini
• 4 large eggs
• 2 tablespoons (30ml) olive oil or unsalted butter or ghee or coconut oil
• 1/3 cup (106grams) maple syrup or honey
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup (35 grams) coconut flour
• ¼ cup (20 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.Grease the baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper. Dust the sides with coconut flour.
Using a food processor or mixer blend together the zucchini, eggs, oil, maple syrup and vanilla. A food processor will further break up the zucchini so you won’t see it in the baked bread (unless like me you love zucchini and feel no need to hide it).
Add the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt to the mixture and stir well until blended. Let the batter sit for a few minutes.
Mix in the chocolate chip sand pour the batter into the prepared tin. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Cool and serve.

Notes: some of the bread’s sweetness comes from the sweetened chocolate chips but if you don’t want to add them it is still sweet on its own. If you find it’s not sweet enough you can add another tablespoon of maple syrup or honey, a teaspoon of coconut sugar or a drop of liquid stevia.

They key to using the zucchini is to remove any excess moisture so place the zucchini in a towel and squeeze.

So the verdict… hmmm I am not sure if I would make this again . I enjoyed it with all the toppings but not so much by itself. I think it could be more to do with the coconut flour (although such a small amount) than the zucchini, or maybe it wasn’t sweet enough for me. But it was nice. Enough said.

The best basic gluten-free macaroon recipe

Happy 2017. I am starting my new year with an old favourite of mine. I have previously posted a couple of gluten-free macaroon recipes, but this one really is the simplest out there that I have found. Quick to do if you suddenly need to supply something sweet (or you just feel the need to bake… it happens). The beauty is that you can tweak this standard recipe to suit your own tastes – I have added cranberries and macadamias and of course a little dark chocolate drizzle.

Ingredients
3 cups shredded coconut
4 large egg whites
½ cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla or almond extract
¼ teaspoon salt
Additional
½ cup cranberries chopped
½ cup macadamias chopped
Dark chocolate for drizzling

Directions
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Combine the egg whites, sugar, vanilla, and salt in a mixing bowl. Whisk until the whites and sugar are completely combined and the mixture is frothy.
Pour the coconut over the egg white mixture and stir until the coconut is evenly moistened.
Add in the nuts and cranberries if using and stir to combine.
With wet hands to prevent sticking, shape the coconut mixture into small balls about 1 1/2-inches in diameter and space them an inch or so apart on a baking sheet (the wet hands make this job a lot easier).
Bake the macaroons until golden; about 15-20 minutes (check them after 15 minutes).
Let the macaroons cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Melt the dark chocolate in a double boiler and drizzle over the cooled macaroons.
The macaroons can be kept in an airtight container for up to a week.

Easy!

You can find the original recipe from thekitchn.com here.

Gluten-free banana bread (Hemsley & Hemsley)

I hope I am not developing an obsession with banana bread…but would that really be such a bad thing anyway? After watching the Hemsley sisters bake their banana bread on their TV series, and eating the real deal at their shop in Selfridges, I had to try the recipe for myself.

Ingredients

• 4 large ripe bananas
• 60g coconut flour
• 1 tbs cinnamon
• 1 pinch salt
• 4 medium eggs
• 50g/3 tbs coconut oil, melted
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 tbs maple syrup for the batter plus ½ tbs for the top

Directions

Skin the bananas. Weigh out 350g and mash until smooth. Reserve the leftover banana to decorate the top of the bread (this is about 4 large bananas, little ones will not cut it here).

Preheat oven to fan 180ºC and line a loaf tin (12cmx23cm) with baking parchment (my oven is not fan assisted so I went down to 160ºC).

Whisk the dry ingredients together, and then stir in the eggs, mashed banana and the rest of the wet ingredients using only ½ tbs maple syrup and mix until smooth. Alternatively, blend all ingredients in a food processor until smooth (beware slight chemical reaction when apple cider vinegar meets bicarb, no need to panic!).

Pour the batter into the lined loaf tin. Decorate the top with slices of reserved banana* and drizzle with the remaining ½ tablespoon of maple syrup.

Bake at 180ºC for 50 mins – 60 min or until a knife comes out clean.

Cool on a rack completely before turning out of the tin.

Eat.

*Tip – You could also top this with walnuts, goji berries, pumpkin seeds.

I think this banana bread definitely has a different look, it’s almost more solid, less cake-like, but then it does not seem solid or heavy when you eat it. I made this in the food processor as I am sure that makes a difference to the consistency as everything is very finely incorporated, more so than if you just mixed by hand. Definitely less sweet than the bread I normally bake – more eggs and banana than usual and less sweet ingredients such as honey – but somehow that’s just fine and dandy. Very moreish and you don’t even feel like it is a cheat meal – hey have it for breakfast! My friend who came with me for tea at Hemsley and Hemsley (a non celiac, non gluten-free person) found it to be one of the best banana breads she’d had, and that is saying something! And it really is super quick and easy to make.

You can find the original recipe here here

 

Gluten-free @ Hemsley & Hemsley

A week in London came and went in the blink of an eye, with an average temperature of around 18 degrees which I loved (odd then that I live in Africa!) and far too many gluten-free delights to make mention of. I have not been to the UK for 5 years or so but I am in Australia every year so I see a large amount of gluten-free goodies overseas, and yet I found myself somewhat overwhelmed in all the supermarkets– there is just so much choice – so I spent more than my fair share of time just wandering around shopping aisles.

The first point of call (ok second after breakfast with my brother who was visiting from Australia at the same time) was Helmsley and Helmsley at Selfridges. I am generally quite happy swanning around Selfridges (there are some gluten-free goodies in the food market) but topping it all has to be this restaurant. I went for breakfast and then returned with a friend to sample some tea time treats. All gluten-free of course.

First was Pep-up tea with ginger, turmeric, cayenne and lemon juice.

Followed by quinoa courgette toast with avocado, feta, tomato and a fried egg.

Tea time: cinnamon banana bread made with coconut flour served with butter and blueberry chia jam. Possibly one of the best banana breads ever.

And to share ChocBeet cupcake with live yoghurt raw honey frosting made with whole beetroot, cocoa and dates. Surprisingly rather good.

I probably could have visited every day as there are so many more things to try on the menu. Probably not the cheapest gluten-free options (especially on my sad rand to pound exchange rate) but as far as I am concerned well worth it on a day out (or two in this instance), and I know that it is 100% gluten free.

Next mission: make that banana bread!

Gluten-free chocolate banana bread

For unknown reasons I go through phases of buying bananas and then they just sit there and look at me. So obviously I needed to make banana bread, but a run of the mill bread would not do, no it was time to find a great gluten-free chocolate banana bread. And I did not have too far to look; the first book I opened seemed to do the job rather brilliantly…

Ingredients

• ¾ cup almond flour
• ¼ cup coconut flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons olive oil or other oil
• 3 large eggs
• 1 cup (250 grams) mashed banana (around 2 ripe bananas)
• ¼ cup maple syrup or honey
• ½ cup finely shaved or ground dark chocolate

Directions

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Grease a 19x9x6 cm baking pan or line the bottom and grease the sides.

Whisk the almond flour, coconut flour, baking soda and salt together in a bowl.

Add the olive oil, eggs, bananas, maple syrup and chocolate to the dry ingredients and blend well with a stand or handheld mixer. Let the batter sit for a few minutes and mix again.

Spoon the batter into the baking pan and bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean (this was about 35 minutes in my oven).

Cool and slice. Eat.

In the original recipe the chocolate used is ground as this distributes the chocolate evenly through the loaf; however I used chocolate chips as this creates “islands of flavour” and every bite is different. I baked 2 loaves (I baked one and then the next morning I thought “uh oh it’s kind of been eaten already” and so I baked another). This means that a) this is simple to make and b) this is good! A third loaf has already been baked. A 4^th one is needed to compare the chocolate chips to ground chocolate… my work it seems is never done!

Recipe from The Healthy Coconut Flour cookbook by Erica Kerwien.