The Gluten-Free Birthday Party Series: Gluten, Grain, and Sugar Free Fudge Brownies

More shiteous food photos.  Honestly, I am shocked with all the chaos and running around that I was able to snap anything at all.  The dark black/brown square blobs on the left are brownies.  And not just any brownies.  Delicious, insane, decadent, fudgy, perfect brownies.  That also happen to be free of grains, sugar, and gluten and nuts/nut flour.  Yes, it is possible.  But healthy, no they are not.  These are some once-in-awhile type treats for sure.  Pictured at right are some raw coconut cake bites, which I'll post later on.  For now, lets talk about brownies.  Delicious fudge brownies to be exact!

Gluten, Grain, Sugar, and Nut Free Fudge Brownies
1 stick organic pastured butter
1 1/2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
1/2 cup erythritol
1 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1/2 cup SF chocolate chips (optional)

In a double boiler, melt your unsweetened chocolate with your stick of butter.  When fully melted, remove from heat and add in erythritol.  Let cool a bit before adding your egg yolks and vanilla extract.  Stir well.  In a separate bowl, combine cocoa powder, baking powder, and pinch of salt.  Pour wet into dry and mix well.  Pour into greased 8x8 brownie pan and bake at 350 until the corners are starting to harden.  The batter will taste grainy as the erythritol crystals will be a bit crunchy.  Don't be scared!  I was!  It came out fine and they were not grainy in the least!  In a regular oven this would probably be done in 20 min.  In mine it was more like 25-30.  But you do not want to over bake these so I'd start checking at 15 and go from there.  The consistency of these was just between fudge, and a brownie.  For all those times I lamented too cakey brownies, too dry, too light, too whatever, this is the brownie to end all others.  What's the secret?  You need the full stick of butter, don't use oil, and you need YOLKS not whites.

This would be a slam dunk passover recipe too.  Have at it GFG peeps!  Xoxo GFG

Grain-Free Sugar-Free Brownies That Don't Suck And Are Actually Pretty Good

Please excuse the ridiculously long title.  But how else could I accurately describe these brownies?  If you remember, I've lamented before the sad truth that grain-free, sugar-free baking really cannot produce a yummy, fudgey, dense, chocolatey brownie.  Even if you can make a delicious flourless brownie, that doesn't solve the issue of needing sugar.  Stevia, date paste, banana mush, uh uh.  Not going to cut it.  I've seen people use honey, maple syrup, coconut/palm sugar, agave, you name it.  And maybe those work out, but I don't use those ingredients. But, I think I'm finally on to something.  I will keep tinkering with the recipe, but this is an AH-HAH moment as Oprah would say.  This is the start of a new day for the gluten/grain/sugar free brownie-starved people of the world!  Ok...........  So here's what I did.

Grain-Free Sugar-Free Brownies That Don't Suck And Are Actually Pretty Good!
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup oil or melted butter, or vegan butter
3/4 cup granulated sweetener (I used a combination of erythritol and xylitol)
2 eggs
2 tbsp cocoa powder
4 tbsp coconut flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp sugar free liquid sweetener
3-6 tbsp (nut)milk
1/4 cup chopped nuts, I used walnuts
1/4 cup sugar-free choc. chips (optional)

Preheat your oven to 320 and line an 8x8 with parchment.  Over low heat, melt your unsweetened chocolate with your oil or butter.  Stir constantly so it doesn't burn.  Then, pour in your granulated sweetener.  You might be able to use palm/coconut sugar here, so try it out.  Stir well.  The chocolate is going to look grainy, so don't be alarmed.  Remove from heat and let it cool for a few minutes.  While it cools, mix your coconut flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt together.  Make sure there are no lumps.  Mix your two eggs into the slightly cooled chocolate, and add your vanilla, and liquid sweetener.  Stir into dry ingredients and incorporate well.  You can see that I put 3-6 tbsp of milk in the ingredients.  This depends on a few things, how big your eggs were, how dry your coconut flour, etc.  Start with a couple tablespoons and go from there.  You want the batter to be pourable and wet, not spongy or dry.  So add your milk little by little until it's become a pourable consistency.  You could also bake this in cupcake form.  You'll notice if you taste it that it's no longer grainy (but if it bothers you, you can put your granulated sweetener in your vitamix, or cuisi first to make the grains finer) and it has absolutely no discernible coconut taste to it.  I baked mine for 30 minutes and removed it when it was still a teensy bit underdone, and then put it in the fridge for a few hours. 

If you don't have sugar-free choc. chips then don't use 'em, or go ahead and use what you have.  Walnuts in brownies I think are divine but you really don't need them either!  Some yummy frosting on these would be even better, but I can't help you with that, not today anyways.  After at least a half dozen attempts at some kind of SF/GF brownie, not only are these the only ones that are even remotely edible, they are seriously awesomely amazing!  No shit!  **Edit:  These get even better after a day or two.  They become much more fudge-like after a day or so.  So good!!!