Brownies

After seeing this post on Pioneer Woman’s site, I knew I had to try to make these little deliciousnesses.  I was planning to work on them soon, but when I offered to make them for a wedding shower, I had to get going.

So on Thursday I found a few grain-free brownie recipes online.  I decided to try this recipe.  The only things I changed was to substitute a little peppermint extract for some of the vanilla, and I only made a half batch.  I was not impressed.  At all.  They turned out rather cake-y.  I was looking for a fudge-y brownie.  And the flavor was o.k.  I didn’t really like the mint flavor, either.  I decided to give up on making them mint-flavored brownie.  No one really liked that.

After that brownie failure, I felt rather discouraged.  What if I couldn’t find (or make) a decent grain-free brownie?  Oh my.  This would make my life rather difficult.  I’m not sure if I could make it without a decent brownie.   I couldn’t really decide which of the other gluten-free recipes I should try. 

Then I was thinking. (I do that every once in a while.  I know, a rather dangerous occupation.)  Why don’t I start with a recipe that I know will work, then change it to being grain-free?  I figured that, even if it didn’t quite work out, at least I would know that it would taste good.  But I had never done that before.  How do I substitute almond and coconut flour for regular white flour?  Equal parts?  I thought that if I just substituted almond flour, it would crumble.  I had also heard that coconut flour expands a bit when you add it to a batter.  I decided to use both together.

I didn’t decide on the amount of flour before I started.  I decided that I would add mostly almond flour with a smaller amount of coconut flour.  I would add the flour a little bit at a time, feeling it as I went.

It went phenomenally.  I ended up using 3/4 c. almond flour and 1/4 c. coconut flour instead of the one cup white flour.  Next time I will probably use a little less coconut flour, as it adds a bit of texture.

But, THEY WERE BROWNIES!!!!!!! Unlike my first attempted, which turned out as cake wannabes.  The few that I made as brownie bites were a bit over baked, but when I covered them with mint chocolate, they were VERY GOOD.  (I made the mint chocolate by melting dark chocolate chips and adding some peppermint extract, until it tasted minty.)

I will definitely be making them again!

A funny thing that happened today – When Meiling and I were talking earlier, I decided to tell her a few jokes.  I started with “Pinshoo (pinch you) and Pinshme (pinch me – I was trying to obscure the names) had a race…” you know how it goes.  Well, she fell for that the first time.  But that is one that you can only get them to fall for once.  So I tried the next one.

“Pete and Repeat were on a boat.  Pete fell off.  Who was left?”  I queried.

“Repeat,” Meiling answered.

“Pete and Repeat were on a boat. Pete fell off. Who was left?”

“Repeat”

And on. And on.  We probably did this at least 25 times, if not more.

Suddenly Meiling exclaimed, “I get it!”

It was cute.  🙂

My first attempt at grain-free brownies

My second try…

…is definitely a success!