Success Report: Brownies! (Eggless, Wheatless, Dairyless)

The products linked here are merely what I used or recommend, you can substitute similar ingredients where you are.

9 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips, dairy free
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped up, dairy free
3 tablespoons flaxseed meal mixed with 5 tablespoons water
1 1/4 cups applesauce
1/4 cup sugar syrup*
1/4 cup brown rice syrup — I just happened to have some leftover so I used that, which was good because the sweetness was just right
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 cup sweet brown rice flour or Mochiko
1/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup amaranth flour
1/4 cup quinoa flour
1 tablespoon alum-free baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt chocolates in liquid measuring cup in microwave, stirring every 30 seconds and stopping when the chocolates are about halfway melted — the heat will continue to melt the rest of the chocolates, or switch to microwaving in 5-second intervals. (Or do it the old fashioned way, on top of a double boiler.) In a bowl, combine chocolates with applesauce, flaxseed meal-water mixture, sugar syrup and vanilla extract. In another bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Fold dry ingredients into chocolate-applesauce mixture until well-incorporated. Spoon into mini-muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes. Makes approximately 48 bite-sized brownies and 1 regular sized one.

This recipe came out very well, but it does need a few adjustments. We like our brownies chewy, moist and with a somewhat dense center. This brownie was moist but probably wouldn’t hurt to add a couple more tablespoons of applesauce. An additional 1/4 cup of a flour might also help to increase density. And a decrease in leavenings may be in order to reduce the amount of lift-then-sag. Overall, for a first-try of a real-brownie-tasting brownie but without eggs, butter, and wheat, this got the thumbs up from everyone, including the people at the party to which we brought this (so my kids could have something baked that they could eat).

I used a combination of semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate to approximate the flavor of bittersweet chocolate, which I ran out of.

The original recipe I was patterning this from (a favorite brownie recipe from Alford and Duguid’s Homebaking) calls for corn syrup, which I was out of — cooks.com had a recipe for a corn syrup substitute, so I used that, but only a fraction of the amount called for by the Home Baking recipe, which specified 1 1/4 cups of corn syrup. We don’t like our brownies overly sweet, so adjust this as needed.

If you have a large Pyrex liquid measuring cup, it’s really handy to melt the chocolates in it and just add the applesauce, etc. instead of transferring to another bowl. Saves that chocolate from getting wasted too!:D

Inspired by:

Tags: wheatless, eggless, dairyless, brownies, allergy-free