If you've ever wanted to make a moist, chocolaty gluten-free brownie that is not made with rice flour, this one might be for you.
Many good brownie recipes use butter for the fat. I swapped out butter and used coconut oil instead. I also added shredded coconut and hazelnuts to give the brownies texture. Just to use up some homemade rhubarb sauce that I had in the fridge (sweetened with honey), I added it to the batter. The result was fiber along with honey and a special sort of sweetness.
The recipe for regular, gluten filled brownies that I make for my family (other than me) uses lots of sugar. I decided to opt out of the normal refined sugar and used coconut sugar instead. You could swap out for white sugar or even brown sugar if you wanted to. I would shy away from using much liquid sweetener as that might make the brownies too soft.
For the fruit, applesauce would be good, as well as raspberries or strawberries. If not using a sauce or jam, cook the fruit a bit to give it some juiciness.
To top it all off, I salted the top of the cooked brownies while still very hot with coarse sea salt. Delicious!
Gluten-free Chocolate Brownies
2 eggs
1 cup coconut sugar
1/2 cup oat flour
Scant 1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1 TBSP cacao nibs (optional)
1 TBSP shredded, unsweetened coconut
1/2 - 3/4 cup fruit sauce or jam
Handful of blanched hazelnuts (or other nut)
Course Salt
Cream sugar and coconut oil. Add eggs and beat well. Then add oat flour, cocoa powder, vanilla, and baking powder and stir well. Stir in coconut, nuts, and cacao nibs if using. Add fruit sauce or jam last and stir until well blended.
Spread the batter in a 9 inch square pan that has been greased with coconut oil. Bake in a 350 degree oven (Fahrenheit) for roughly 30 minutes. Begin checking with a toothpick for doneness at 25 minutes. Immediately after taking brownies from the oven, lightly salt the top with coarse salt.
