Butter Bean Brownies

I created this recipe on a day that
I just didn't feel like baking with gluten-free flour.

When I bake a cake, I like to strike a balance
between sweet and less sweet.
Personally, I detest a sickly sweet cake with an equally sweet icing.
The solution? Balance them out.

In this case, I went for a slightly less sweet cake base
with a sweet and runny icing.

Ingredients & Method:

1 tin (240g drained weight) of butterbeans zoeshed in food processor with 100ml buttermilk

2 egg whites beaten to soft peaks

2 egg yolks mixed with 6 Tbsp sugar

- Add 2 Tbsp cocoa powder, butterbean/buttemilk mix, 2 Tbsp oil, 1/2 t bicarb, 1 tsp creme of tartar to egg yolks and sugar. Mix together.
- Stir through the egg whites.
- Bake at 180 Celsius for 25 mins.


Icing:

1 Dsp coconut oil

2 tsp honey

2 Tbsp cocoa powder

1 pinch of vanilla seeds

- Mix liquid coconut oil with liquid honey (heat slowly over a very low temp. if your oil/honey has set).
- Stir through the cocoa powder & vanilla seeds (once off the heat if heating is required).
- Ice/Glaze cake and decorate with pecan nuts.

Gluten-Free Coconut Flour Truffles

I found this fantastic gluten-free product at a health shop last week, and have been making batches of these little truffles for visitors ever since!

I contacted the distributor, Yussuf, to make sure that the flour doesn't contain any corn flour or other fillers, and was happy to find out that it is just pure, finely-milled coconut.

It's a lovely product to bake with, adding not only a delicious taste, but also fibre. As an added bonus, each bag of flour comes with a booklet of tasty recipes using the flour. Please note, it is a liquid absorbing flour of note, so use less in recipes (as in 3/4 cup of coconut flour instead of 1 cup of gf flour)

Now, onto the truffles! My recipe is a raw modification of the chocolate charm cookies I posted about in February, but based on coconut oil/flour not butter/gf cake flour. You can, however, also bake it (see variation below at step 4 of method), with the end-product tasting like shortbread.

Ingredients:

• 113g coconut oil
• 100ml agave syrup
• 175ml coconut flour
• 30ml cocoa powder

Method:

1. Beat the coconut oil (room temp, not liquid) and agave syrup till lighter and fluffier.
2. Use a dough hook to add in the coconut flour and cocoa powder.
3. Roll into balls and refrigerate till ready to serve.
   
4. IF YOU'D LIKE A BAKED PRODUCT then add an egg at step 2, as well as 1 tsp of vanilla essence. Refrigerate for 1 hour, roll into balls, bake in the oven at 160 degrees Celsius for 8 minutes. These taste like shortbread when baked!
   

If you would like to order the flour
from the distributor directly
to avoid shop mark-ups
visit
cocopure

Scotch pancakes with a twist

After walking past it for weeks, I finally bought myself a non-stick pancake pan the other day. Good thing too since two days later, they were gone off the shelf.

Its inaugural use was actually for an omelette while I was sick and avoiding sugar, but today they served their true purpose - and what a grand and far easier purpose it was!

Gluten-free Scotch pancakes

Ingredients:

• 240ml potato starch
• 5ml hemp protein powder
• 5ml cocoa powder
• 125ml buttermilk
• 1 large egg
• 0.5ml bicarbonate of soda
• 0.5ml creme of tartar
• coconut oil (for the pan/griddle)
• For the variation: coconut flakes and agave syrup
  

Method:

1. Mix the ingredients together very lightly...
really, just enought to get rid of any flour lumps.

2. Oil the non-stick pan lightly and pour the desired
amount of batter into the pan on medium heat.


3. When it bubbles on the top, it is ready for flipping over,
and then it just needs about 30 - 40 seconds depending on the heat.


4. Variation: Once the batter has been poured into the pan,
sprinkle the batter with coconut flakes and drizzle with agave syrup.
Once flipped, watch it carefully else the coconut/agave will burn.


5. Enjoy with the jam/fruit preserve/syrup of your choice.

These aren't the prettiest looking pancakes but they shape well, they're quick to make and they sure do taste nice!

Weekend treats

I'm celebrating my last day of four-weeks of hour-long, five-day-a-week, early-morning boot camp classes with one of my favourite things for a weekend treat - cocoa dressed up as a baked good.

I chanced upon this excellent recipe one day when all I had in the way of gluten-free flour was potato flour. Since potato flour likes to be baked with friends, I figured that I needed to find a recipe which minimises flour usage. I immediately thought of brownies.

The original recipe is over at Joy of Baking filed under healthy, low-fat desserts; but I've reduced the sugar content substantially, de-glutenised it and have used real butter/sour cream (I'm SO not one for using low-fat/artificial substitutions because I figure that treats are supposed to be exactly that - TREATS - not soulless imitations of the real thing!) Therefore, I am by no means asserting that these are low-fat, but rather lower sugar and lower fat than, say, a normal cake recipe. As always, moderation is key I suspect.

Quick tip: These are beyond excellent frozen. Yes, that's right, eaten right from the freezer after being frozen for about 12 - 15 hours. It's like some sort of ice-creamy-biscuity-chewy effect which is quite the taste sensation. Try it - you might like it :-)

Chocolate Brownies
(gluten-free)

Ingredients:

• 80 grams sugar
• 75 grams butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
  
• 1 large egg
• 45g flour (I used potato flour)
• 35g cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarb + 1/2 teaspoon creme of tartar
• 60 millilitres (4 tablespoons) sour cream

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees Celsius.
2. Butter a 20cm square pan/oven dish.
3. Beat sugar & butter together.
4. Beat in egg & vanilla.
5. In a seperate bowl, mix together flour/cocoa/raising agents.
6. Fold flour mix into sugar/butter/egg mix.
7. Stir in the sour cream.
8. Bake for 15 - 20 minutes (till edges pull away from tin slightly, but centre is still soft).
9. Remove once cool & place on a wire rack to cool OR leave it in the glass baking dish pre-portioned and loosened, cover with foil/cling wrap and freeze (can be frozen for 1 - 2 months apparently, but it wont last that long unless you have the iron will of, well, Iron Man?)
10. Makes around 6 decadent slices, or 12 littler ones, which I can't handle because it seems cruel to dole them out little-by-little.

Born up a gluten-free-tree and viva cocoa-filled weekend treats!