A Tale of Two (Gluten-Free) Brownies

Y’all know my friend Marge, right?

Of course you do.  Everyone knows Marge.

When we were out in Seattle, she made us some delicious, chewy, moist gingerbread cookies.  SO. GOOD.  And gluten-free—like many, Mary Margaret has stopped eating gluten.

I wanted to return the favor, so I perused the gluten-free baked goods of one of my favorite bloggers—Evan, Mr. Wanna-Be Chef.  Evan’s gluten-free recipes always look delicious, but alas, I’m not gluten-free, so I usually just admire them from afar.   But baking a holiday gift for Mary Margaret was the perfect excuse to get my hands dirty (with batter) and create one of his gluten-free treats.

He listed his brownies as one of his “readers’ favorite” recipes, so I knew it had to be good. 

One problem?  Evan’s brownies are made with almond flour, and when I got to the store, they were out.  They DID, however, have many other gluten-free varieties.  So I decided to do a little baking experiment. 

I picked up a bag of Bob’s Red Mill All-Purpose gluten-free flour, as well as some brown rice flour. 

First up:  the all-purpose flour, which I baked into traditional brownies (in the pan):

Verrrrry tasty.  Really fudgy and dense.  I tasted a hint of a bitter aftertaste with these, which was the only negative aspect of the brownies.  But these, in the (obviously necessary) taste test, were my favorite.

Ryan, on the other hand, liked the brownie bites:

….which I made with the brown rice flour.  They had a little bit more of a gritty texture, which I wasn’t as crazy about.  But again, they were Ryan’s favorite, and they were very tasty—lighter and not as dense as the regular brownies.

So there you have it.  A tale of two brownies—both delicious! I’d wholeheartedly recommend giving Evan’s recipe a try if you have a hankering for some gluten-free baked goods!  Isn’t that what we all want right now, two days after Christmas?  More baked goods?

I thought so.