Grain Free Chewy Brownies

Have you heard of the Daniel Plan? It's a faith based lifestyle change that I started recently. I got the book from the library and read it through in about a week. The basic principles are Faith, Food, Fitness, Focus and Friends. It's suggested that you start with the Daniel Detox, which says to go gluten free and dairy free from ten to 40 days. I went a little bit further and decided to do grain free, which means no quinoa, brown rice, etc. It's been a pretty great experience so far except I do miss my baking. I decided to do some research and it says I can eat coconut flour and almond flour. Yippee! I looked into it and coconut flour is cheaper than almond flour so there's where we begin.

I couldn't find a coconut flour recipe that I really liked for brownies so I decided to make my own.  I started with one of my favorite recipes that I've had for quite some time. It comes from Fine Cooking magazine 2010 edition.

 

 

This magazine has all kinds of delicious chocolate goodies in it. If you can get your hands on it, I would highly suggest it. I've made about half of the recipes in there and they're all good.

 

It took a few tries but I think I figured it out. Put on your favorite Pandora station. Mine is the Contemporary Christian radio or one I've made myself with some of my favorite artists like Ellie Holcomb, Mandisa, Britt Nicole and Jamie Grace. There's nothing like listening to your favorite uplifting tunes and baking something for someone you love. It really lifts my spirits!

 

Here is our finished product.

 

These brownies are made with cocoa powder, which is even better because everyone has that in their cupboards, right? No having to go out and buy chocolate to melt down. They are surprisingly rich and deeply flavored. They are moist and chewy and oh so yummy. I could finish that plate off all by my lonesome if I let myself. I had some self control; I only ate four. Hahaha!

 

 

Here is a pic of what it should look like just before the eggs are mixed in to give you a little idea of what you're aiming for.

 

Here is the recipe. Enjoy!

Coconut Flour Cocoa Brownies

Ingredients:

• 1/4 c. coconut oil, or you could use whatever oil you have on hand.
• 3/4 c. applesauce
• 1/4 c. water
• 1 c. granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 2/3 c. cocoa powder
• 6 eggs
• 1/3 c. coconut flour
• 1/2 c. chopped pecans or walnuts (optional)

1. Position rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x9 in pan or cover with parchment paper.
2. In a medium size bowl, whisk together coconut oil that has been melted and measured out with the cocoa powder.
3. Then add the water, applesauce, sugar, salt and vanilla.
4. Add in the eggs all at once and whisk again to combine.
5. With a rubber spatula, fold in the flour just until incorporated. Fold in nuts, if using.
6. Spread batter in the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick comes out moist and gooey but not wet, 18 to 20 minutes. Be careful not to overbake the brownies, as they'll toughen. Let them cool completely before cutting.

Blessings.
Pamela



 





Chocolate Bliss Cake

So my oldest daughter, Caitlyn, is in the Youth Choir at our church and they will be putting on the musical Godspell soon and then taking it on tour in July to hopefully be a blessing to many others. Tour=$$ and that means fundraising time. They decided to sell stew and have a Bake Sale, which I got to coordinate. It was such a blessing for me to be a part of this and see all the love and support for our Youth. It went better than I had even imagined. Here is a picture of our tables while still setting up.

See those mini cupcakes at the bottom right corner, those were part of my donation. Yum! Again, I ask, who doesn't love chocolate! And they're the perfect little bite.

I think the greatest ingredient anyone can put into their food is love. And that is what I saw on the table over the weekend. Along with my mini triple chocolates, I also baked some smore mini cupcakes, a banana cake with vanilla frosting and a Chocolate Bliss Cake. Here are a couple pictures of the items I took for your viewing pleasure.

                                                             SMORE MINIS

                                                               BANANA CAKE                                                    

But those aren't what this post is about. On to the chocolate...This Chocolate Bliss Cake recipe I've had for about 13 years. I couldn't tell you where I got it either. You know how sometimes you see a recipe and you know it's going to be good; so you write it down(because this was before I had a computer or a cell phone) and stick it in one of your many recipe books. This cake is full of chocolate and is dense and moist.  I knew this would be one of the things I wanted to donate because it tastes like homemade food baked with love.

Here is the recipe. I hope you print it off, write it down or pin it to your board to save for later just like I did. It's an oldy but a goody. And here's a quick little tip: when greasing your pans to bake for something chocolate, use cocoa powder instead of flour to bump up that chocolatiness. (Is that even a word? If not, it should be.) Enjoy!

Chocolate Bliss Cake

Ingredients:

1 package chocolate cake mix

1 package instant chocolate pudding mix (4 serving size)

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

1/2 cup oil

1/2 cup water

 

For the Ganache: 

3 cups thawed Cool Whip

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, spray bundt pan with cooking spray or oil and flour it. Combine cake mix, pudding, sour cream, oil, water and eggs with mixer till combined. Beat for an additional 2 minutes on medium speed.
2. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan.
3. Bake for 50-60 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool for 10 minutes before flipping onto a plate.
4. Let cake cool completely.
5. For the chocolate topping. Microwave Cool Whip and chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl on high for 1-2 minutes until melted and creamy, blend well with spatula.
6.Pour Ganache pour over cake.

I garnished with a few raspberries but you could certainly use any fruit that pairs well with chocolate or leave it as is.

Many blessings.
Pamela

Black and White Brownies

Sunday night was our Youth Parent/Teen Night dinner. I have a small group of girls, whom I adore, that I lead and my oldest is in Youth also, in another small group. It was great fun. We played Name That Tune, sang along as the Praise Band led us, and ate some delicious food. My husband was going as our daughter's "parent" since I  needed to be with my group of ladies. This inspired my dish for the evening. He LOVES brownies. And one of my all time favorite brownie recipes is Black and White Brownies.

I can't remember where I originally got the recipe but it calls for a brownie mix. And that's okay if you want to go that route. Sometimes simple and quick are the best way option. However my family really enjoys when I use the classic recipe from Nestle Toll House. It's usually on the side of the cocoa powder container. They make for a delicious, fudgy brownie. So good! Here is a picture of my finished product.

 

 

I'm sorry for the quality of the photo. It looks like I'm going to need a new camera if I continue with this blog idea. Ha! My current camera is a Vivitar ViviCam F332 and is being held together by duct tape. By I digress... Of course the brownies were gone by the time my table finally got our turn to go through the food lines. But that's okay because I always keep some to share with my family at home. That's one of the perks of living with the baker I guess.

 

 

 

So here is the recipe for these ooey, gooey bites of goodness. I hope you enjoy and share some with your family. And I have to share one more photo with you.

 

Look at all those chips, semi-sweet chocolate and white chocolate chips! There's almost more chips than batter. And is that a bad thing? I think not. If you wanted, you could even make it a triple chocolate chip brownie by adding dark chocolate. Doesn't that sound divine? I love dark chocolate. It's so creamy and dark. It's definitely  my favorite. Now I need to make a run to the store and make another batch. Enjoy!

• 1 2/3 c. granulated sugar
• 3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
• 2 tbsp. water
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 1/3 c. all purpose flour
• 3/4 c. baking cocoa
• 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350. Grease 13x9 in baking pan. Combine sugar, butter and water in large bowl. Stir in eggs and vanilla extract. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt in medium bowl; stir into sugar mixture.

• 10-12 oz. pkg. white baking pieces
• 1 c. semisweet chocolate pieces
• 1/4 c. butter, melted
• 3 tbsp. hot water
• 2 c. sifted powdered sugar
• 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tsp. vanilla

Stir in half of the white baking pieces and all of the semisweet. Spread the batter in the prepared baking pan. This will be a thick batter. It won't seem like it's going to be enough but it will. Use your spatula or spoon to spread it out. Bake about 30 minutes or until center is set. You can use a toothpick to check if the middle is done. Sprinkle with the remaining white baking pieces; bake for 1 minute more. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

For frosting, in a small bowl combine melted butter and hot water; stir in powdered sugar, cocoa powder and vanilla. Beat by hand until smooth. Spoon over to of brownies. Cool about 1 1/2 hours or until frosting is set. Cut into bars. Makes about 36 brownies.

Many blessings from my home to yours.
Pamela





 



  

Monkeying Around (or my first post)

So here it goes, my first official post. It's not scary at all. (Note the sarcasm.)

My littles told me this morning that they would like something a little different to take for their school snack. You know, other than the boring old cheese stick or granola bar... That and a few yummy ripe bananas led to me looking for a wheat flour banana muffin.

After much debate and about 20 minutes on Pinterest (my favorite website these days), I finally came across this recipe from 100daysofrealfood.com.

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2014/04/30/recipe-whole-wheat-banana-nut-muffins/

I like a lot of her recipes so I thought I would give it a try. I don't usually have pure maple syrup in my pantry though so I substituted out honey instead. And then I added 3/4 tsp. cinnamon to it for a little extra flavor. Here is a pic of my ingredients.

 

 

Patience isn't my greatest virtue sometimes and I am not the biggest fan of doing dishes. Therefore I mixed mine a little differently than she did. I melted my butter in the bowl and then mixed in the bananas and eggs. By then, the butter had cooled enough I could add in the honey and not lose any of the health benefits. If you're not aware, heat kills the honey nutrients and we don't want that. I then sifted my dry ingredients in the bowl and mixed it all together. Finally I folded in my nuts, which are definitely optional.

 

My girls love tiny food so I portioned my batter out with my small ice cream scooper into mini muffin tins and then baked for about 9 minutes. The baking times will vary from the difference in ovens so be sure to check yours. I don't like stabbing my food so I can usually tell by the springiness of the top of the muffin when they're done. But if you're not really sure that will work for you and don't want underdone muffins, just test with a toothpick.

 

Presto, magico, here is the finished product:

 

Look at how creative I got with it. It was fun to play with my food. And of course, you have to do quality control. They're delicious. If you decide to make them in a regular size muffin tin, I would suggest splitting them in half and spreading some yummy peanut butter on them. Or if you're not really too concerned about the healthiness of it, add a few peanut butter chips to the batter before you bake. Delicious! I'm getting excited just thinking about it.

I hope you try these and find out for yourself how easy and delicious they are. Here is the recipe with my changes in it.

1½ cups whole-wheat flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

2 eggs

½ cup (1 stick) butter, melted

⅓ cup honey

 3/4 tsp. cinnamon

2 very ripe bananas, peeled (the riper they are the sweeter they'll be)

½ cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 and spray your tins or line with cupcake liners.
2. Melt butter in bowl.
3. Mix in other wet ingredients, adding honey last so the butter has time to cool.
4. Add in dry ingredients.
5. Stir in walnuts, if wanted.
6. Portion out to approximately 12 oversized muffin tins or 36 minis.
7. Bake until about to brown on top, about 20-22 min for regular and 9-12 for minis.

Let cool and enjoy.

My next baking adventure will be coming soon. Our Youth Group is having Parent/Teen Night this Sunday and I still need to figure out what to bring as my covered dish. Decisions, decisions. What am I to do when everything sounds so good.

Well, it was fun spending time with you. I hope you decide to come back and see what I have in store next time.

Many blessings to you and yours.
Pamela