gluten free, brownies, recipe, dessert, chocolate, peanut butter

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Brownies
1/2 cup oil
2 tbsp water
3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup Bob's Red Mill 1-1 Gluten Free Flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt (table)
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
3/4 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350˚. Prep a square, 8-inch pan with grease and parchment. Be sure to grease both the top and bottom of the parchment.

In a large bowl, mix oil, water, and sugars until combined. It will look like a dark caramel.

In a separate bowl, whisk eggs and vanilla until foamy. Set aside.

In a third bowl, sift together flour, cocoa, and salt and mix until everything is evenly distributed. Add to oil mixture and completely combined.

Add egg mixture to the oil bowl and mix. Try not to overmix! Just stir until it comes together in a batter-like consistency. Add both chocolate chips and peanut butter chips and stir briefly to distribute.

Pour your brownie batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes at 350˚. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before serving.

I'm a big fan of comfort food. Rice, bread, cheese. Anything with a lot of substance that isn't too fiddly. That's probably why brownies are my sweet comfort food. They're a no-nonsense hunk of chewy, melty chocolate yum. But I will say, I don't know what the point is without peanut butter chips inside. I mean, if you MUST, you can leave them out, but I'm going to give you the stink eye.

This recipe makes fudgy, dark brownies with a crispy top. I'd recommend increasing the sugar a bit if you are going to skip the peanut butter chips since the chips give them a bit more sweetness, and without I think these have more of a dark chocolate bitterness.

The key to the crispy, crackly top is the mini chocolate chips. I was annoyed at first when I was testing brownie recipes because I didn't want to add chocolate chips. I've had brownies before that have big, solid chunks of chocolate inside, and that just isn't all that appetizing to me. So, using the mini chips insures that they completely melt into the batter and you aren't left with cold chunks at the end. This melting process releases fats from the chips that create the crackle at the top. While you can achieve crackle without this method, I tried like a million times and this was really the best, most consistent, and easiest way to get crackle everytime.

Whisking the eggs before adding them to the batter also helps the crackle process. Making them real fluffy will create an airy meringue that will rise to the top of the brownie batter as it is baking, creating a shiny, crispy layer.

I sent a batch of these brownies to my dad, and he didn't even know they were gluten free! I'd call that a huge success.