Wednesday, 4 April 2012

White Chocolate Brownies

The gluten free brownie has often left a lot to be desired, in my experience.  Coffee shops, in particular like to stock a gluten free offering and very often that is a brownie.  Not a rich, chewy brownie, with just the right amount of slightly gooey centre.  No.  They are usually dense and sickly, with a cakey centre.  It is no surprise that I went off the notion of brownies for a while and I'll admit to approaching this challenge with more than a little trepidation.




During my research for this months' Gluten-Free Ratio Rally (hosted by Mary Fran of Franny Cakes), I found hundreds of brownie and blondie recipes, each with a different ratio.  I was completely overwhelmed!  In the end I put down the research and started baking - after all, that's the fun bit, right? My poor husband and his workmates almost drowned in the deluge of experimental brownies that I forced on them to test.  My husband claims to have gained weight last month as a result (I'll just add more salads to his packed lunches this month...) but happily, I found a ratio that I was confident with.  The ratio that I had most success with is 2:1:1:1:1, that's 2 parts chocolate : 1 part fat : 1 part sugar : 1 part egg : 1 part flour and it yielded good results with plain, milk and white chocolate.  I used marshmallow and chocolate to make up the "2 parts chocolate" in my recipe, but it works so I don't mind bending the rules a wee bit!




White chocolate brownies? Blondies?  What do I call these? As far as I can tell, blondies and brownies are made using different methods  and a blondie does not necessarily have chocolate in the recipe.  So, despite the fact that I used white chocolate in my recipe, I used the brownie method to make them and I stand by the name "brownie".  At most, I'll concede that they are "blonde brownies".

Whatever you want to call these, I hope you'll agree that these are deliciously chewy, fudgy and they taste great!

White Chocolate & Marshmallow Brownies

195g white chocolate
45g marshmallows
120g butter
2 eggs
120g light brown sugar
120g gluten free plain flour mix (I used Doves Farm)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt

  • Melt the chocolate, marshmallows and butter together in a bowl placed over just simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl doesn't touch the surface of the water).  Don't be too particular about melting the marshmallows completely.  Set aside to cool
  • In a bowl, combine the eggs, vanilla extract and sugar then add the flour and salt. Mix well until smooth.  Add the melted chocolate, marshmallow and butter mixture and combine. 
  • Pour the mixture into a greased and lined 20x20cm tin (even if you use a silicone mould, I recommend greasing it, too).
  • Bake for 25-30 minutes at 170°C.  Allow to cool in the tin before turning out and cutting, you'll get about 16 squares from this recipe.


Here are the rest of the fantastic recipes from the Ratio Rally gang:

Adina from Gluten Free Travelette made Chocolate Brownie Pie with Orange Zest 
Angela from Angela's Kitchen made Gluten & Dairy Free Cream Egg Brownies 
Brooke from B & the boy! made Triple Chocolate Brownies 
Caitlin from {Gluten Free} Nom Nom Nom made Peppermint Brownie Bars 
Caneel from Mama Me Gluten Free made Triple chocolate brownies 
Charissa Luke from Zest Bakery made Slutty gluten-free brownies 
Claire from My Gluten Free Home PB&J Brownie Whoopee Pies 
Claire from This Gluten-Free Life made St. Patty's Day Marshmallow Swirl Brownies 
Erin from The Sensitive Epicure made Mexican Cocoa Brownies with an Almond & Pepitas Crust 
gretchen from kumquat made salted caramel brownies 
Heather from Discovering the Extraordinary made Nutmeg Blondies 
Irvin from Eat the Love made Blueberry Citrus Marble Brownies 
Jean from Gluten-Free Doctor Recipes made Blue Ribbon Brownies 
Jenn Cuisine made Grain free brownies with no-bake ricotta cheesecake cream 
Jonathan from The Canary Files made Vegan Marbled Banana Walnut Brownies 
Karen from Cooking Gluten Free! made GF Chewy Crackled Top Brownies with Raspberry Puree 
Mary Fran from FrannyCakes made Gluten-Free Hazelnut (Nutella) Brownies 
Morri from Meals with Morri made Oaxacan Brownies & Mesquite Cacao Blondies 
Mrs. R from Honey From Flinty Rocks made Black Bean S'More Brownies 
Pete and Kelli from No Gluten, No Problem made Caramel Mexican Chocolate Mesquite Brownies 
Rachel from The Crispy Cook made Co-Co Nut-Nut Blondies 
Shauna from Gluten-Free Girl made Gluten-Free Brownies 
Tara from A Baking Life Mint made Chocolate Flourless Brownies 
TR from No One Likes Crumbley Cookies made Gluten Free Berry Fudge Brownies



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12 comments:

  1. Wow. I'm going to have to try these!

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  2. These look great! I took became overwhlemed at all the various ratios in the bid world wide web... and I think our ratios turned out to be about the same!!
    Blessings, ~Mrs. R

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  3. Oh wow, these look REALLY delicious! Great job on these!

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  4. These sound amazing!! I have not made blondies before, but wow yum!

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  5. charissa (zest bakery)4 April 2012 at 22:42

    I also attempted a white chocolate brownie (blondie), but wasn't happy with my results. Glad to see you were successful!

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  6. These brownies look SO good I have to keep coming back and looking at your post!

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  7. I am *so* there with you on the 'blonde brownies.' My contribution this month looked like blondies, but the texture and the taste would tell you brownie through and through. Alas, at the end of the day, it's just semantics, right? Your brownies look amazeballs, and I'm willing to bet they taste even better. Thanks for sharing, Caleigh!

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  8. white chocolate and marshmallows?!... love!

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  9. gluten-free[k]6 April 2012 at 14:53

    Thank you for your kind comments, these blonde brownies were a lot of fun to make! (and eat, of course!)

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  10. I love your ratio for a blondie. I tried making mine a second time with 6 parts "sugar", and it was like a pecan pie filling.

    This is a great recipe, dudette. I tip my brownie to you. :)

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  11. i love your recipe, but i live "across the pond" and i'm struggling with the grams. i failed once converting by volume. i'm trying again converting by weight. i'll let you know if it succeeds.

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  12. keukenwerkblad8 October 2015 at 17:50

    Couldn't be written any better. Reading this post reminds me of my old room mate! He always kept talking about this. I will forward this article to him. Pretty sure he will have a good read. Thanks for sharing!

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