Monday, September 30, 2013

Gluten Free, Sugar Free Brownies

    A couple of weeks ago, I made homemade brownies from a recipe on the box of Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate. It tasted so good. But it had 2 strikes against it: 1. It contained sugar and 2. It contained flour (although organic).
   The brownies never tasted better to me. I have cut way back on sugar consumption and my body seems to know when I am missing this lovely, terrible ingredient, unfortunately.
   The flavor of the brownies was stuck in my memory, so I decided to make my own version of these brownies, but without using real sugar and white flour. Here is the original recipe:

One Bowl Brownies


1
pkg.  (4 oz.) BAKER'S Unsweetened Chocolate
3/4
cup  butter or margarine
2
cups  sugar
3
 eggs
1
tsp.  vanilla
1
cup  flour
1
cup  coarsely chopped PLANTERS Pecans

HEAT oven to 350°F.
LINE 13x9-inch pan with foil, with ends of foil extending over sides. Spray foil with cooking spray.
MICROWAVE chocolate and butter in large microwaveable bowl on HIGH 2 min. or until butter is melted. Stir until chocolate is completely melted. Stir in sugar. Blend in eggs and vanilla. Add flour and nuts; mix well. Pour into prepared pan.
BAKE 30 to 35 min. or until toothpick inserted in center comes out with fudgy crumbs. (Do not overbake.) Cool completely. Use foil handles to remove brownies from pan before cutting to serve.   
So, here is my version of the recipe:
One Bowl Brownies Made Gluten-Free and Sugar-Free
2 squares Baker's unsweetened chocolate
3/4 stick butter
1 cup xylitol
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup Gluten free flour
handful of chopped walnuts
  Let the butter and chocolate squares melt in a pot on low heat, until melted. Add xylitol and stir. Beat eggs and add. Stir in vanilla and add flour. Stir well. Add chopped nuts and pour mixture into 8X8" pan (I used a glass pan, buttered, lined with parchment paper, and buttered). Bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool and cut up.
*note: I also put Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips (60% cacao) on top of brownies, and let them melt, then spread them around. There isn't too much sugar in these chips and they have a high level of cacao. The higher, the better).
Maybe, in the future, I will use almond flour, instead of gluten-free.