Gluten Free, Dairy Free Brownies

Shhh... don't make too much noise, you might scare the blogpost away! So it's been a little while since I last blogged. And since I read any blogs. And basically since I've been anywhere near a computer except for work or writing my dissertation. Tonight though, the when I got the urge to bake, I decided to not only bake, but actually blog about it too!

If you've ever been on this blog before, you'll know how much I love brownies. You can find classic, orange, blood orange and beetroot... there's a lot of brownie love! You'll also know I've never really had to think much about food intolerances in the past - I don't think I've ever featured a free from recipe before (despite the fact that Ben is allergic to pretty much everything under the sun). But a lovely person in my office is gluten and lactose intolerant, which has made me think a little bit more about baking for special dietry requirements - I feel awful when I take a tin of goodies in and I know they can't tuck in too.

I found the recipe for these gluten and dairy free brownies here at Scientifically Sweet - it uses ground almonds, lots of egg white and icing sugar to get that dense chewy texture and cocoa powder for the rich flavour that makes everyone love brownies. Whilst it is in no way healthy (check out how much icing sugar there is!) it is fat free, and the ground almonds are an excellent source of protein. I highly recommmend you give them a go (as in really very highly - I don't normally post about recipes from other places, but I am making an exception). And don't be scared by the free from-ness of them. They really are pretty spectacularly close to traditional brownies.

Beetroot and Blood Orange Brownies

You might remember a couple of weeks ago I wrote about visiting Bettys in Harrogate, and I spoke about a salad I shared with my parents. The salad had beetroot and blood orange in it and the combination of the two flavours was delicious, absolutely the highlight of the salad. Tangy and light alongside deep and earthy.

Like I said at the time it triggered a bit of a cake thought in my head. Beetroot cake is nothing new, but I've never tried it, so I thought it was high time I did, with some bonus blood orange just as we reached the end of the season.

I had a good Google and read so many chocolate beetroot cake/brownie recipes I thought my head was about to explode. I took something from almost all of them, and came up with my own version, as none of them had quite the combination I was looking for - melted chocolate and cocoa powder for ultimate chocolate-ness, meted butter not oil and fresh beetroot. The end result was am incredibly rich, dense, gooey brownie that was refreshingly different from my normal brownie recipe (which you can find here).

Beetroot and Blood Orange Brownies

85g Dark Chocolate
240g Butter
300g Caster Sugar
3 Eggs
300g Cooked Beetroot
30g Cocoa Powder
150g Plain Flour
50g Ground Almonds
1tsp Baking Powder
1 Large Blood Orange

1. Cook your beetroots. I washed mine, boiled them until quite soft (time depends on size of beetroot) then washed them in cold water and rubbed off the skin before finally grating them.
2. Preheat the oven to 180oC and line your tin. Size doesn't really matter, the thicker the mixture is in the tin the longer it will take to bake!
3. Melt the chocolate together with the butter and then add the caster sugar.
5. Add the eggs one at a time followed by the grated beetroot.
6. Sift all of the dry ingredients together and then add to the wet mixture, folding in gently.
7. Chop the blood orange into rounds and cut the skin off.
8. Pour the mixture into the tin and place the blood orange on top.
9. Bake for around 45 minutes, or until a knife comes out nearly (very very nearly) clean).

Chocolate Orange Brownies

It's never once crossed my mind to make brownies with anything other than plain dark chocolate. But when I was pondering in the supermarket yesterday, a bar of dark chocolate flavoured with orange caught my eye. And then, slowly, an incredibly obvious idea started forming. I could make brownies with flavoured chocolate. And then the brownies would have that flavour!

I know. Give the girl a prize.

The idea started buzzing in my head, and it wouldn't go away. So I picked up the chocolate, an orange to make the brownies pretty and a bottle of Cointreau to give them a kick. I then sliced the orange and boiled it up with some sugar, water and a healthy glug of Cointreau.

Once most of the liquid had evaporated, I whipped out the slice, lay them out to cool on a rack and got on with making the brownie mix. Once that was finished, I lay the orange slices on the top of the brownie mix and popped it in the oven. It really couldn't be simpler.

Of course, the boozy orange slices aren't necessary, but I like how chewy they are and I love how they look. You could choose to boil them just in sugar and water, or you could leave them out altogether. I've used the Hummingbird Bakery recipe for brownies, which I've detailed below and is my absolute go to, and I've explained how I went about candying the orange slices.

Candied Orange Slices
1 Orange
75g Sugar
Water 
Cointreau 

1. Slice the orange into slices about half an inch thick

2. Put in a small non stick pan and cover in water and Cointreau. How much of each you put in is up to you, just make sure the orange slices are quite well covered.

3. Add the sugar and bring to the boil, occasionally flipping the orange slices.

4. When the liquid has reached a thick (but still runny!) syrup, pull out the orange slices and leave to cool.

Chocolate Orange Brownies
200g Orange Flavoured Dark Chocolate (it has to be dark chocolate, milk chocolate won't work because of the higher fat content)
175g Unsalted Butter
325g Caster Sugar
130g Plain Flour
3 Eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C and line the brownie tin
2. Melt the chocolate and the butter together, then stir in the sugar.
3. Fold in the flour, then finally add in the eggs, one at a time.
4. Bake for around 35 minutes, until a knife comes out mostly clean, but still with a little bit of chocolate goop on it. That way, your brownies will hold their shape, but will be lovely and gooey on the inside.

P.S. Sorry about the date stamps on the photos. I borrowed a camera!

Mini Egg Brownies

Today I have a delicious brownie recipe for you. But you won't find it here at Dear Baker. Oh no. Pop over to Scot Bloggers, which is where I'm being featured today. Very exciting! It's a great network that supports and brings together bloggers in Scotland, and is definitely worth keeping an eye on for discovering new blogs.