I Run; Therefore, I Am: RECIPE: Who needs gluten when you have nutella?

A few months ago, I went on a gluten-free kick to see if wheat/gluten was the underlying cause of some of my tummy troubles. After a few weeks, I didn’t see any difference in the behavior of my lovely stomach and stopped my ban.

My sister Jacqui, however, has found out that gluten is in fact the root of her digestive woes. So lately I have been dabbling with gluten-free baking, just to see if I can get the hang of it.

Whether it’s the caring sister in me, or the need to conquer every non-traditional challenge that I can be faced with (it’s both), I’ve been experimenting and coming up with some tasty results.

I made a batch of gluten free nutella brownies yesterday on a whim and they were a huge success. All of my housemates (none of whom are GF and some of whom think gluten-free = taste-free) gobbled them up. That is the definition of a gluten-free win.

So I decided to make another batch today and make a photo guide so that you can enjoy these moist, delicious treats yourself.

***DISCLAIMER: I... interpret recipes very loosely. Stuck between british and american measurement units, I do not measure. I sort of create as I go and add things by feel, so I’ve done my best to give you some sort of quantities to reference if you try making these.***

Okay. Here we go!

Sarah's Measure-Free Gluten-Free NUTELLA Brownies

(dedicated to Jacqui)

Things you will need:

Light brown sugar (approximately 1/2 cup)

2 eggs

Some vanilla extract (a teaspoon or two)

A bunch of nutella (most of a 300g jar)

Butter, melted (approximately 1/2 cup)

Gluten-free flour mixture (approximately 1/2 cup)

**I used Doves Farm Plain White Flour Blend- I’ll go over the components to it later**

Salt (~1/4 teaspoon)

A dash of milk (lactose free, soy, normal, or whatever)

A few drops of water

Brown sugar of some quantity, 2 eggs, and some vanilla

Beat together brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. I don’t have an electric mixer so I just went at it with a spoon until it was blended together. It looks runny, icky, and awful after this part. That’s okay.

Next, add nutella. A LOT of nutella. The first time, I used about 3/4 of a 400g jar. Shay said the nutella taste wasn’t really distinct (even though the brownies were bitchin’) so this time I used nearly the whole jar. Just enough left over the spread on a banana.. mmm =]

Nutella all mixed in!

Anyway, beat that in until everything is combined. Now it’ll start lookin good... really good.

Now it’s time to add in the melted butter. I am guessing I used about 1/2 cup, but really, the best measurement I can give you is “about this much”:

"this much" butter. Or.. ~ 1/2 cup.

You alternately add in the flour and butter a little at a time, stirring very well each time.

Doves Farm gluten free plain white flour bend

This is the flour I used. I am not sure if this particular brand/blend is available in the states, but here are its contents:

Rice, potato, tapioca, maize, and buckwheat flours

Okay, so, like I said, add a little bit of the melted butter, mix really well, add a sprinkle of flour, and repeat until the butter is gone and there is enough flour in there so that it looks like cake batter. Oh, add the salt and mix really well at some point, too.

So, here is where I got a little experiemental. As you could see in that picture of the flour bag, there is an advisory that the recipes will need more liquid than typical with normal wheat flour.

I added a splash of milk to thin it up a little.

Now, while wheat isn’t an issue for me, milk is. I used soy milk in the brownies last night and today I used lactose free. The main purpose of this addition is just to thin the batter up, so it doesn’t really matter what kind of milk you use.

The milk added to the batter

Sorry for the gross picture. I just wanted to reference how much milk I added

To thin it up just a little more, to be safe, add a few drops of water. Only very little water at a time, stirring completely before adding any more. I stop adding water when I am happy with the consistency- it should be runnier than normal brownie batter, but only slightly.

Ahhh.. that's just right.

Aww yeah. You might be thinking at this stage that the batter really looks good enough to eat... and you’d be right ;)

Then grease up a tin. We don’t have the right size (I’m pretty sure this recipe lends itself to a 9” tin), so I just use this slightly smaller one and load ‘er up, expecting thick brownies (nothing wrong with that).

Drop that bad boy into a preheated oven (150ºC on convection.. approximately 300ºF). It takes about 40 minutes to bake, though I think that varies. You will know it’s done when it has puffed up a good bit, doesn’t jiggle when you shake the tin, and that beautiful brownie crust starts cracking ever so slightly across the top.