Chocolate Brownies #GlutenFree

Chocolate, coffee and almond meal make this brownie rich in flavor and moist in texture.  This brownie is a gluten free treat that will fool your friends.  I have topped it with  caramel and a few toasted nuts.

Recipe: Chocolate Brownies
Serving size: 12-16 brownies depending on size of each one

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 25-30 minutes


1/2 cup of white sugar
1/2 cup of brown sugar
1/4 cup of light olive oil
4 large eggs
1 cup of almond meal (store bought or made at home)
2 teaspoons of vanilla
1 cup of cocoa powder
2 teaspoons of finely ground coffee
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup of nuts, chopped

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium size bowl, combine sugar and oil. Using a hand mixer, blend ingredients well. Adds egg and mix on high speed for 2 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine vanilla and coffee powder. Stir and set aside.

Add almond meal, salt and cocoa to sugar/oil mix. Using a spoon or spatula mix together until smooth.

Add coffee/vanilla. Stir well.

Fold in chocolate chips and nuts.

Line a 12 X 8 ,or pan of your choice, with parchment paper.

Pour batter into pan and spread evenly. Bake for 30 minutes or until brownies puff up in the center.

Cool on wire rack. Once cooled, brownies will settle.

Carrot Cake

I did not grow up eating carrot cake.  I don't even remember my grandma making a carrot cake, EVER.  So I was caught off guard when I had the urge to make one myself.

I could not stand eating cooked carrots as a kid.  Just the smell would send me running to the bathroom in horror.  Raw carrots were okay once in a while, just not the cooked ones.

I can remember being at a church event about 20 years ago and being presented with the opportunity to test someone's "famous" dish.  Not wanting to say no or be unkind, I agreed.  We walked back to the kitchen and there before me was a HUGE bowl of cooked carrots that had been prepared with a ginger flavored sauce.

I found myself in an uncomfortable position….what to do, what to do.

Mentally I was freaking out, and outwardly I had the appearance of a refined lady.  I smiled, took the plate and took the first bite.  I waited.  I expected the carrots to remind me that they were not accepted by my body and to take off running to the nearest bathroom.  

I waited some more…and nothing!  I had been cured of my aversion to cooked carrots.  YEAH! 

To this day, I don't go out of my way to make them often, but I did get the recipe for the carrots I tasted above and have served them several times through out the last few years.  I will search for that recipe and share them this summer when I get some fresh carrots from the farmers market.

My feelings for this vegetable might explain why my family never made carrot cake…LOL  

I chose this recipe to make because it had so many fun ingredients: coconut, pineapple, pecans and carrots.  I felt like it would be a tropical paradise in every bite…and it was!    The title for this recipe has the word "best" included in it.  I can tell you for a fact that every recipe with this word does not make it the best every time.  I have been disappointed and so went into this with an understanding that it may or may not be the BEST.

I can tell you, after the fact, that it is pretty close to being the perfect carrot cake recipe.  I delivered half of this cake to my neighbor and he LOVED it, my husband ate the other half (just about) and the kids thought it was good too.

The cake is beautiful when cut, holds it's shape, stays moist and as it sits for a few days in the fridge, becomes a little bit better.

My daughter who is 5 is always telling me, "Mommy, when I am older, I will like that food".  She is much wiser then I ever was at her age.  She is right.  Our taste buds change and develop as we age and it's always a good idea to try new things throughout your life time.  I am glad that I did and the carrot lesson taught me to revisit some food items from my past that were not my favorites.  Since then I have discovered that I enjoy: beets, grits, beans, blue cheese and of course, carrots.

Enjoy your day!

Recipe:  Carrot Cake 

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups grated carrot
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple, drained
1 (3 1/2-ounce) can flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

Line 2 round cakepans with wax paper; lightly grease and flour wax paper. Set pans aside.

Stir together first 4 ingredients.

Beat eggs and next 4 ingredients at medium speed with an electric mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Fold in carrot and next 3 ingredients. Pour batter into prepared cakepans.

Bake at 350° for 35 to 40 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool in pans on wire racks 15 minutes. Remove from pans, and cool completely on wire racks. Cut the cakes in half so that you have four layers.  Spread Cream Cheese Frosting between layers and on top and sides of cake.  See below to frost your cake with out having a ton of crumbs to deal with.

Recipe:  Cream Cheese Frosting

12 oz cream cheese, softened

1 stick of butter, softened

5-6 cups of powdered sugar

1 tsp of vanilla

3-4 T. milk,  I used coconut milk

Pictures below of instructions:

I shredded my own carrots.  One cup was about 2 medium size carrots.

I filled the cake pans this full and they baked wonderfully.  I was able to cut the cakes in half and this gave my my four layers.

Having the parchment in the bottom of the pans is amazing!  Your cakes will never stick.  Use a pencil to trace the bottom of your pan onto the parchment paper and cut out the circles.  Place them in the bottom and spray with oil and flour.  When your cake is done, turn them over onto a rack and peal off the paper.

Stack your slices and add the frosting to each layer.  Take a basting brush and dust off any crumbs on the plate and on the sides of the cake.  When frosting a cake you do not want lots of crumbs in your final layer of frosting.  By brushing off the crumbs you will eliminate some of this.

The next step is the under layer of frosting.  This is important because this the layer that traps those final crumbs.  I usually do a thin layer to fill in any holes and gaps, level the cake, and insure that the crumbs are all under control.  I take this cake and place it in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.  When I add the final layer of frosting it is amazing out simple and easy the process is.  

Jaffa Cake (cookie or cake is the question)

I have been hearing about Jaffa Cake from my kids for a few years.  They have been wanting me to make some for a while and I keep agreeing, then I forget to buy the marmalade or something else comes up.

Jaffa Cake is a store-bought treat that you can buy in England.  Some call it a cookie and others call it cake.  In my opinion, it's kind of both because it's the size of a cookie and the texture is like a very airy yellow cake.  Whatever you choose to call it…IT is good!  LOL

Yogscast is a gaming channel that is from England and this is where my kids have learned of this delicious treat.  Could I make it at home was my question?

I found very few recipes from scratch.  VERY FEW!  I basically had to take the few instructions and ingredients and mesh them together and HOPE that it all turned out okay.  Most sites encouraged you to buy sponge cake, cut them into your shapes and then add the marmalade and chocolate…BORING!

If you follow my directions you should have a successful batch.  The key to success is the first part in making the batter over a warm bowl.  Secondly, don't over bake them.  Know your oven.  Use good marmalade and chocolate.

Good luck with making the Jaffa Cookies and let me know how yours turn out!

Recipe:  Jaffa Cake

4 large eggs
1/2 cup of sugar
1/2 cup of flour

Marmalade
Dark Chocolate, for melting and topping

Preheat oven to 325.

In a large pot, add hot water.  Find a bowl that fits inside of this pot large enough to hold about 4 cups of batter.

In the large bowl, add your eggs.  Let them sit for 5 minutes to warm up.  Add your sugar.

Using a hand mixer, mix the eggs and sugar for 3-4 minutes.  This is an important step because you are making the bubbles for the sponge cake.  Your eggs should be very frothy and lemon in color.

Sift your flour TWICE.  Remeasure your flour to equal a 1/2 cup and sprinkle all over your egg/sugar batter.  CAREFULLY mix in the flour.  You do not want to break down your bubbles.

I used three sizes of pans and they all worked.  A cupcake pan, a mini cupcake pan, and an 8in spring foam pan…you choose.

Whichever pan you use, lightly butter.  With a teaspoon, add the batter to the bottoms of your pan.  This does bake and rise, so you want to use just a little bit, enough to cover the bottom.  Remember it's kind of like a cookie.

The cook times are all different for the three size pans you use:

Cupcake or Muffin pan…bake for 12 minutes
mini muffin pan…………bake for 8 minutes
8in spring pan…………..bake for 20 minutes

When you remove the pans from the oven, have a rack ready to transfer the cakes too.  I used a sharp knife and gently went around each one to help them come out of the pan.  You will notice that they hold their shape really good and are springy.

Once they have cooled, add the marmalade to each top.  I used a knife and frosted the marmalade on.

Melt your chocolate.  I use the double pan method.  The mini muffin's I was able to hand dip and the rest it was easier to frost the chocolate with a knife.

Put the cookies/cakes in the fridge to set.  ENJOY your homemade Jaffa Cookies..or cakes..or..YEAH.

NOTE: If you let the cakes/cookies sit out over night they are even better and more authentic to what you get in the package.  The exposure to the air allows the spongy cake to dry on the outside a bit giving you this cookie-cake-biscuit texture that is absolutely to die for!

Pictures for each step and more are below!