Peppermint Fudge Brownies

It's taken me two days to post this. I spent yesterday's nap time photographing/editing the pics, and I woke up at 5:30 to hopefully finish everything up. Then I got distracted and decided to clean the car. Here I am an hour and a half later, finally posting the recipe (and I still have 2 other recipes I need to post!). I decided that at the rate I'm going, I should probably post a Christmas recipe first :).

Please excuse the delay, again. I've moved to the park. Well, I spend a couple of hours there each day, so it feels like it ;). A little munchkin I know loves to swing...and eat these chocolate brownies (well, taste them). I probably shouldn't have introduced her to chocolate this young, but I'm looking forward to baking with her in the future. I'm hoping the taste will provide enough of an incentive for her to develop an interest in gluten-free baking ;). And if not, at least I still have a taste-tester.

The toddler approves, though, so I'm sure you will too. After all, if it were up to her she would only eat blueberries and cheese. You can trust her very discriminating palate. ;)

Peppermint Fudge Brownies

makes 14-18

2/3 cup fine brown rice flour (Bob's Red Mill. I've found that other brands are too grainy.)

2/3 cup tapioca starch (also Bob's)

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

1/2 tsp xanthan gum

4 large eggs, at room temp

1 1/2 sticks melted unsalted butter

2 cups sugar

3/4 cups heavy cream

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, melted

For the topping:

14 peppermint Ghirardelli peppermint bark squares*

1-1 1/2 cups peppermint candies, chopped (I actually found these already chopped up in the baking aisle @ HEB.)

*I don't believe they have gluten. I haven't had problems with them.

Instructions:

In a large bowl, cream sugar with eggs and melted butter. Stir in cocoa; mix in vanilla extract and heavy cream.

Mix together flours, xanthan gum, and salt in a medium bowl.

Melt chocolate chips, then slowly stir them in with wet ingredients.

Slowly mix in the dry ingredients with the wet ingredients, mix well.

Pour brownie batter into a greased 3 quart baking dish.

Break up Ghirardelli chocolate mints. Arrange over the brownie batter.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree on the middle rack for 30 MINUTES.

Sprinkle over a cup of chopped peppermint candies. BAKE 10 MORE MINUTES on middle rack.

Allow to cool completely before slicing brownies (otherwise it'll be messy :).

Gluten-Free Triple Chocolate Fudgey Brownies

Nearly 5 years ago, a boy was bold enough to sincerely pour out his heart in a Facebook message to a girl he had never spoken to before.

It was such a pleasantly shocking message, she would have to re-read, print, and then save it (just to have tangible proof of its existence when pinching was no longer enough to convince her she wasn't dreaming).

It was also the sort of message that would make Jane Austen's characters jealous, particularly Elizabeth Bennett. The girl was convinced that the boy had somehow taken a lesson from Mr. Darcy. (After all, what kind of boy refers to himself as a potential "suitor" these days?)

So the girl was smitten. It was love at first read. She decided that all the silly poems she'd written in college about love really amounted to nothing more than artery-clogging fluff, like cookies with preservatives instead of the homemade kind. What she found in this message was something much more delicious and satisfying, but it was only the beginning. This was just the appetizer; dessert would be even tastier.

This boy knew how to use the secret ingredients. He worked his magic. The message lured her in. They spoke for hours on end... upon first meeting at 2 am, in the cold hallway of a college dorm whose architect designed prison cells. Symbolic? Yes. She thought so. The boy was there to set her free...with chocolate, of course.

A few days later, this same boy walked up and down the candy aisle of a Whole Foods in a nameless city to find a chocolate bar for the girl. And this was not just any chocolate bar.

It was the chocolate bar that would initiate the start of something good. But doesn't all chocolate? You ask. (It gets even better...)

Shortly after the purchase, he would cleverly tell the girl, "I bought a chocolate bar for us to share the next time we see each other." Smooth. Just like velvety chocolate syrup melting in a warm glass of whole milk.

Ah, a next time... She said to herself. Yes, she was excited about that.

And nearly every time they met thereafter, he would offer her another chocolate bar and she would save the wrappers.

She still has them, to this day...

She still has the boy!

The girl baked him a batch of gluten-free triple chocolate brownies for breakfast on Valentine's Day 2010 because, years later, they share so much more than bars of chocolate. Let's just say that their diet might be gluten-free, but they aren't missing anything :).

How do we know?

She lets him lick the bowl. He washes the dishes and doesn't complain.

Gluten Free Paula Deen Rocky Road Bars

Happy Father's Day!

So if you haven't seen these amazing brownie bars over at Taste and Tell, head on over now! If you're not on a gluten free diet, you'll want to follow her recipe to the T; it's a good one!

I really really wanted to make these for Father's Day/my husband's birthday, so this past week I made a gluten free version. I mailed some over to my parent's house and they were a hit. We also had a couple left over last night and even though they were 5 days old, my mother in law & sister in law gobbled them up too =o).

I've yet to find gluten free graham crackers, so I had to improvise there. I combined gluten free Mi-Del Cinnamon Snaps and crushed Gluten-Free Rice Chex to make a modified version of the graham cracker crust. The other change I made is that I used white chocolate chips instead of toffee; I didn't have toffee :P. Because the brownie part of the recipe is different, I noticed that I had to cook my brownies a bit longer, so the cookie crust came out a little crispier than expected, but still tasty.

Step 1: Step 2:

The brownies/bars are super moist. If you make these Gluten Free Paula Deen Rocky Road Bars, then you'll want to closely monitor the brownies when you're baking them (I kept checking them every 10 minutes or so). Also, don't expect the knife/toothpick to come out clean when you're checking for doneness because they're going to be like fudge in texture :P! It's best to let them cool for about an hour before diving in, they'll stay together much better that way. :)

OOPS! ALMOST FORGOT TO POST THE RECIPE :P