Strawberry Brownie Sundae

This blog may not be about travel, but finding good gluten free recipes is definitely an adventure.  With more and more people going on gluten-free diets all the time, there is a great need for gluten-free recipes good enough anyone can eat them.  When my daughter last came for a visit, she stopped in for lunch with her dad at Forest Ridge School where her uncle, Chef Ron works.  They came home raving about the brownies, so I asked Chef Ron for his recipe.  He said it isn't really his, it's pastry chef Stacey's, but he sent it anyway.

This isn't your average school food, but an upscale private school with real chefs.  John and Sheri said the lunch there tasted better than most restaurant meals.

The other secret to these brownies besides being gluten free is that they have beets in them.  That's right, sneaking veggies into a dessert so good people not only eat them, they rave about them and pay to get them.

Beet brownies taste a lot better than they sound. Girls at Forest Ridge who are not on gluten-free diets buy these brownies.

I've never actually roasted vegetables before, but I would have eaten these beets fresh from the oven by themselves without the brownies.

I made two separate batches, one following Chef Stacey's recipe, and one substituting a non-dairy spread for the butter to make lactose free (no dairy) gluten free brownies.  There seems to be more of a difference in the texture than the taste between the batch with butter and the batch without.  At least that was what I thought.  I used a canola based spread, but any non-dairy spread, vegetable based shortening, or cooking oil would work for people who can't eat butter.

Puree beets

Even with the addition of beets and applesauce, this is still a dessert, but since people eat dessert anyway, it might as well have some redeeming qualities. 

baked brownies

These are very rich and dense brownies, so making two batches at a time probably was not a good idea since I don't have a large family to feed them to.

frosted with dark chocolate almond nut

spread

They don't really need frosting since they are so rich on their own, but if frosting is desired Nutella or Maranatha dark chocolate almond spread work well without adding as much sugar as actual frosting.

These brownies taste great on their own, and they also make excellent brownie sundaes.  I tried both strawberry and chocolate sauce over vanilla ice cream on them.  I thought the strawberry tasted best because the lightness of it contrasted well with the richness of the brownie.

I asked my niece Mel, who hates all vegetables, to try the two types of brownies and see if she could tell the difference between the ones with butter and the ones with the canola spread.  I did tell her they were gluten free, but did not mention the beets.  She commented that they looked a bit reddish,

brownies ready to eat

and said they both tasted good, but slightly different from each other. She liked them enough to eat a brownie sundae, choosing the butter brownie with double fudge brownie ice cream and chocolate sauce.  After she finished eating it, I told her about the beets. She still liked them well enough to take some of the brownies made with canola spread home to share with her mother who can't have gluten or dairy.  She reported back that her mother liked the brownies.

I would never have thought of vanilla as something that would have gluten in it.  Both the brownie mix package and the vanilla package mentioned gluten free vanilla though so perhaps some vanilla does have gluten in it.

Chef Stacey's Beet Brownies

Bob's gluten free brownie mix

8 oz fresh beets, peeled and medium diced

1 tsp granulated sugar

1 1/2 tsp vegetable/canola oil

1/2 cup applesauce

1 oz vegetable/canola oil

1 package Bob's Gluten-Free Brownie Mix

3/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

1 egg

2 tsp gluten free vanilla extract

1. Toss beets with sugar and oil.  Roast at 375F for 20 minutes or until tender.  Take out and cool completely.

gluten free vanilla

2. Preheat oven to 350F.  Prepare 9″ x 13″ pan with a light coating of nonstick cooking spray or parchment paper.

3. Once beets have completely cooled, process (blender, food processor, hand blender) with applesauce and 1 oz oil. Make sure it is a smooth puree with no beet chunks remaining.

4. Place brownie mix in a KitchenAid mixer.  Beat in melted butter, egg, vanilla, and beet mixture until combined. (I don't have a kitchen aid mixer, but it worked anyway)

5. Pour into prepared pan.   Bake for 20-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Remove from oven and cool 2 minutes.  Then flip out of pan and cool completely.

chocolate brownie sundae

Chef Ron says the key is definitely having the beets soft enough that they puree without any solid pieces left.  The school has a better blender than most people would, so he said it is OK to steam them first so they roast up softer without burning, or even just steam them.

Hannah enjoys a beet brownie at Forest Ridge school

Tags: Brownies Gluten-free Gluten Free Baking Veggies In Dessert