Flourless Chocolate Cake - Easy Gluten-Free Recipe

Flourless Chocolate Heaven-

Perfection for a Gluten-Free Diet

Dense, sexy chocolate deliciousness on a plate. This is such an easy recipe, especially if you use a food processor to do the work. Serve this to non-gluten-free folks with no apologies. None. Zip. Nada.

And for gluten-free folks? Hand out seconds (we deserve it, don't we?).

And the best part is- the recipe is inherently gluten-free and wheat-free. No substitutions. In fact, this is the same flourless cake I've been making for years. It never contained flour. The only thing I've tweaked post-celiac diagnosis is adding more coffee and vanilla.

Just because.

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Karina's Nirvana Layer Bars: Chocolate Coconut Bliss

Divine Gluten-Free Layer Bars

This dessert is a family favorite- my chocolate-coconut layer bar recipe. Simple to make. Sweet and gooey and bliss inducing. And most important? You can offer them at any gathering without a gluten-free apology. (Would that be, Don't ask, don't tell?)

Bummed about the dairy in it? My son Alex has created his own casein-free version using condensed coconut milk. See our Dairy-Free Nirvana Bars recipe here.


Chill before serving, if you like, for a snappy, cold burst of sweetness.

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Gluten-Free Fudgy Brownie Cupcakes

Fudgy Brownie Cupcake Love

Lately we've been experimenting with baking brownies in a cupcake tin. Just for a change-up. We felt like tweaking again. We're using Baker's chocolate now (semi-sweet and unsweetened). And we're favoring hazelnut flour. We boosted the baking soda a tad. When they bake they rise and fall and crack like little flourless chocolate cakes.

What's not to love?


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Gluten-Free Chocolate Recipe Love

Celebrate love with these fabulous gluten-free chocolate recipes.

I've said it before. Chocolate is love. And any excuse to celebrate love (or chocolate) is high on my priority list. Here are some of my hand-picked favorite gluten-free chocolate recipes for Valentine's Day- or any day you feel like celebrating love.

Which, in my corner of the world, ought to be every day.

Cacao! conquers all.

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Gluten-Free Chocolate Muffins

Rise and Shine, Campers

Happy Groundhog Day! 

Today's post is short and sweet and all about muffins. Not just any old muffins, either. Gluten-free chocolate muffins. Because as any gluten-free goddess knows, chocolate makes breakfast better.


Especially with six more weeks of Winter looming.

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Karina's Four Must-Try Gluten-Free Recipes

Four Gluten-Free Recipes You Must Try- Now

Looking back was never a favorite pastime for me. I prefer looking ahead. Imagining the new. Rather than rehashing the past (excuse me while I yawn). Or at the very least, enjoying what hipster philosophers deem The Now. The Present. Here. Today. This minute.

It's all we've (really) got. This. Moment.

And here, where I sit, in the now, in the stream, rowing (ever so) gently, I am conjuring four lip smacking recipes. All gluten-free. All dairy-free.

And the best part?

These favorite recipes are so darn good you won't be pining for the past- those wheat-infested glory days of a bygone gluten era. Nope.

Babycakes, you'll be so in The Now as you taste (devour?) each forkful of this Flourless Chocolate Cake.

Or nibble the golden crisp edges of these Buckwheat Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Or sink your teeth into these fudgy, rich, and tender Dark Chocolate Brownies.

Or surrender to the creamy, silky, peanutty bliss that is (my favorite) vegan ice cream, ever- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Ice Cream.

So as the New Year dawns, all shiny and brand new... conjure a little kitchen magic and rustle up these recipes pronto.

Now is where it's at.

Karina's Chocolate Truffle Cake

Rich, easy, gorgeous truffle cake.

To celebrate a bright New Year, I say we bake a cake. A flourless cake. A cake so rich it tastes like a truffle. Not the infamous pig snuffled treasure. No, Darling. The chocolate truffle. That heavenly impostor, hiding in the guise of that woodsy French piggery fungi. Spoonfuls of deep, dark ganache rolled in cocoa powder (to look like dirt, of course).

And I didn't want just a chocolate cake topped with ganache, either. I wanted to bake the ganache itself. I wanted the cake to taste like a sweet and satiny truffle- I wanted the cake to live up to its name. Truffle Cake inspires expectations.

So I fiddled around with my Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe and rustled up a divine and creamy chocolate cake so special you'll want to share it with company. It's simply too good to keep to yourself. Try it. It's shockingly easy to make. Just give yourself time to make it ahead. It is at its best chilled overnight.

Silky satin chocolate cake with a dusting of dirt- I mean- organic cacao powder with a secret ingredient. Raw maca powder. Throw in a little superfood magic. Why not?


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Gluten-Free Chocolate Gingerbread Recipe

Delicious chocolate gingerbread loaf. Gluten-free yum.

Chocolate Gingerbread, Gluten-Free Goddess Style

In the deep midwinter, I cheer my fragile spirit by baking. I put on Yo Yo Ma and stir cocoa laced batter with a wooden spoon, imagining my fellow gluten-free bakers- all of you- out there- standing in your humble kitchens, beating strange flours and non-traditional ingredients with an odd blend of dread and hope. Crossing fingers and scooping tea bread, cake and muffin batter, rolling cookie dough between nervous palms, praying to the kitchen gods.

By Winter Solstice- I will celebrate my twelfth thirteenth anniversary of living gluten-free. Yep. December 19, 2001 was the day I decided to shun gluten forever. What timing. Right before Christmas. I could have waited until December 26th. Or even the New Year.  But I didn't. 

I couldn't.

As soon as I connected the dots- from my plague of symptoms to their instigator gluten- I couldn't wait to begin my new life. If I had eaten my very last buttery croissant, so be it. If I had unknowingly crunched my last iced sugar cookie, so what. I was done.

Few of us have to make such choices.


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Gluten-Free Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

Crunchy outside, chewy inside, 
gluten-free vegan chocolate cookies.

Double Chocolate Yum

(and some gluten-free baking advice) 

I have a new cookie recipe to share today. A cocoa infused cookie studded with semi-sweet chocolate chips. A cookie that tastes like a brownie- if a brownie was slightly crispy and crunchy on the outside, and chewy soft on the inside. You could say, it's a brownie with a cookie texture.

Chocolate cookies that remind me of brownies. Vegan and egg-free.

Karina's Gluten-Free Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies - A Vegan and Dairy-Free Recipe

Recipe originally published April 2011 by Karina Allrich.

I used a mild organic cocoa in these chocolate chocolate chip cookies. The cookie's flavor is subtle, like cocoa, with lovely bittersweet bites of dark chocolate chips. The men in the house like these babies straight from the freezer, ice cold.

Ingredients:

Whisk together:

1/2 cup GF buckwheat flour or certified gluten-free oat flour

1/2 cup sorghum (jowar) flour

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch or potato starch (not potato flour!)

1/3 cup organic cocoa

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

1 teaspoon sea salt

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 cup organic cane sugar

1/3 cup light brown sugar

Add in:

1/2 cup organic coconut oil or Spectrum Organic Shortening

1 tablespoon bourbon vanilla extract

1/2 cup vanilla rice milk, coconut milk, or almond milk- more as needed

As you beat the dough pay close attention to the consistency. Add more rice milk a tablespoon at a time, and beat to combine, until you achieve a smooth but sturdy cookie dough. I added two more tablespoons of rice milk to my dough.

Add in:

1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper or an Exopat liner.

Stir in the chocolate chips as best you can (the dough is stiff).

Roll a golf ball sized wad of dough between your palms, and place the ball on the lined baking sheet about two inches apart. Repeat this process to make 18-24 balls. Use your palm to press down on the dough and flatten slightly- not too much- unless you like your cookies thin. Press a few extra chocolate chips into the tops of the cookies, if you like.

Bake in the center of a preheated oven for about 15 minutes until the cookies are set. They will still be slightly soft in the center. If you bake two pans at once, rotate the pans half way through baking.

Remove the pans from the oven, and allow the cookies to cool and "set" for a few minutes; then use a thin spatula to move the cookies to a wire rack. The cookies will get crisper as they cool.

Cook time: 15 min

Yield: 18-24 cookies

Recipe Source: glutenfreegoddess.blogspot.com

All images & content are copyright protected, all rights reserved. Please do not use our images or content without prior permission. Thank you. 

Karina's Notes on Baking:

In this recipe- use eggs, if you prefer.

Texture is a big deal in gluten-free baking. It's no secret that giving gluten the boot also means giving texture, stretch, and structure the old heave-ho, right along with it. First timers bite into gluten-free goodies and pause. They chew. Their eyes widen and dart to the side as they search for a word to describe exactly what it is they are chewing. The word most often used to describe something gluten-free? Gummy. Or worse. Hockey pucks. Cardboard. Dirt. Attributes one does not necessarily associate with um, pleasure. With nourishment. With flavor.

Which is why I am here.

It was nearly ten eleven twelve thirteen years ago (December 2001) when I broke up with the abusive protein known as gluten.

Our love affair had been a passionate, tumultuous ride. Thrilling and deliciously seductive. From twirling garlic laden Italian pasta to rustic bread baking, we had nurtured a decades long love affair. Four and a half decades, in fact. And I'm not embarrassed to admit, I was deep into it. Head over heels. And dizzy in denial. Until symptoms could no longer be ignored.

And it turned out I felt better without gluten. Not just better. Transformed. 

So I bought a gluten-free cookbook and started baking (and no offense to the wonderful woman who was- literally- a gluten-free pioneer and wrote several best selling gluten-free cookbooks, but). I determined- quite quickly- that white rice flour and starches do not a gourmet treat make.

Truth is, ten years ago, baking gluten-free meant using rice flour and starches, or just plain cornstarch (this was Julia Child's advice). We didn't have the higher protein, whole grain gluten-free choices we have today. Oh, they were there, lurking. Buckwheat flour and almond meal have long, delicious traditions in the old country (I loved the cookbook Fabulous and Flourless). But packaged blends and gluten-free mixes favored cheaper rice flour and starches (and even today, most g-free mixes rely on this old school stand-by, with predictably gummy results). So the cardboard moniker stuck.

And me?

My hopes for baking without gluten deflated like a sad little souffle.

Until Bob's Red Mill brought us whole grain gluten-free grains. Grains with protein and fiber. Grains with nutrition. Grains with flavor. And yes- texture! Milled with artisan care in a gluten-free facility. And no, this is not a sponsored endorsement. This is personal.

By now you should know I'm not the kind of blogger who can be seduced by a coupon offer. Or a free t-shirt. I've been doing this awhile, Darling.

I have an opinion. An informed opinion. Based on thirteen-plus years of gluten-free baking (which ought to be worth more than a coupon or a  five dollar sample).

So I tell it like it is.

Readers sometimes ask me for recipe substitutions. These can be grouped into a handful of popular themes: 

1. I use too many different flours- they want to use one (or a baking mix).
2. I use buckwheat flour- they wouldn't touch buckwheat flour like they wouldn't wear Crocs.
3. I use sorghum flour- they can't find sorghum flour (for that, I am truly, sympathetically sorry!).
4. I use almond meal or coconut flour (fabulous protein and fiber)- and they are allergic (once again, profoundly sorry!).

So they sub. They use rice flour and starches in my recipes. And return to tell me the texture is gummy. Or as dense as cardboard.

Exactly.

Flour choices matter.

And so does execution.

So I thought I'd address this today, and offer some quick, short advice on gluten-free baking- and substitutions.

Truth? Gluten-free baking is more of an art than a science.

What this means- there is no one perfect, exact, preset formula for a gluten-free recipe. And you don't need a scale to measure things in grams.

Why?

Without stretchy gluten, flours can be finicky, and far less forgiving.

There is weather, Bubela. You know, humidity. And winter heat dryness. And there is how you store your flours (in the cold fridge- or in the cupboard next to the stove?). Dampish flours need less liquid added. And some g-free flours are super thirsty (coconut flour grabs on to fat and liquid like a parched and greedy camel).

With gluten-free baking, the relationship of dry ingredients to wet is crucial. Even two tablespoons more/or less liquid can make the difference between a gummy center, and a fluffy crumb.  

Here's what I do- I add my liquid to the whisked dry ingredients slowly, a little at a time, and beat until it comes to the right consistency. Don't dump all the liquid in at once. Sometimes you need a tablespoon less liquid. Sometimes, a few tablespoons more.

Then there is temperature. The temperature of the ingredients themselves (ice cold eggs?). The ambient temperature of your kitchen (is it drafty and damp, or hot and humid, or do you use air conditioning?). And then, perhaps the most influential of all, there is the temperature of your oven-- which, surprisingly, can actually vary. Not only for those of us using cheap stoves in rental apartments, but also in your shiny newly installed appliance-- it may not be calibrated correctly. This is a big issue for many a reader, by the way). Which is why I recommend using an oven thermometer, and checking your 'preheat' temperature. Temperature influences baking time, big time. 

How to judge the right consistency?

Intuition and experience helps. But in general, cake and cupcake batters are slightly thicker than wheat based cake batters. You're not looking for velvety thin ribbons of batter like the old days. I find the best gluten-free cake batters tip toward a muffin batter consistency.

Bread dough and pizza dough is more like muffin batter. 

G-free cookie dough is stiff and sturdy and a bit sticky. Roll it into balls with wet or oiled hands.

For baking substitution help (because of course, I know how hard it is to bake gluten-free with allergies- you know I love you, my multi-allergic sisters and brothers, I'm one of you!) please use my post on Baking Substitutions and Help as a guide to subbing problematic ingredients in my recipes.

And for vegans, and non-vegans, I have found my recipes perform well with eggs and without, using an egg substitute. For a powdered egg sub I use Ener-G Egg Replacer- if you use a different one, you may need to adjust starches/liquids. Many readers report good luck using flax seed gel; I have limited expertise with flax, but I do think it adds a nice touch to gluten-free baking. And yes, for dairy and non-dairy, I find it's an easy one-to-one sub. (I must be dairy-free, so I write up recipes that way, but if you prefer using butter and milk in my vegan recipes- that will work just fine; my husband and sons have tried them both ways, with success). 

For detailed info on gluten-free flour choices and how to make your own g-free flour blends that don't suck, see my Gluten-Free Baking Tips post.

Finally- to repeat it--- experience counts.

Even our failures bring us one step closer to better results. They teach us. Baking gluten-free is a process. It is not a finite, closed experiment. It is more like jazz than strophic form. Learning an intuitive sense of improvisation is worth the effort.

So, go bake some cookies with whole grain flours and share them with someone you love, okay?

Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Zucchini Brownies

Zucchini adds moisture to these fudgy gluten-free brownies.

Baking Therapy

In the thick of joy and the slow drain of heartache, I bake. I've mentioned this before. Baking is my way. I tie on my apron and rustle up my inner domestic goddess and cope with the world. Because joy tastes sweeter shared with those you love, gathered around a clatter of plates and clinking glasses and spoons licked clean. And heartache...

Well, heartache may not be soothed or tamed by a cookie or slice of cake.

But it doesn't hurt to try.

As for me, I've been reading several (new to me) books this summer. And I suppose, if you were to analyze the connecting themes, you might discern a search not only for meaning in a sticky, complicated post 9/11 world, but also for release. Release from the grip of societal expectations, collective assumptions, and the yoke of consumerism (I am, after all, post estrogen dependence; priorities do not include miracle-push-up bras, nail polish decals, waxed nether regions or upper lip injections).

I am more interested in keeping my mind agile than my thighs firm.

Hence the books I'm reading. Newest (to me) is Buddha's Brain. I'm learning about the amazing plasticity of the mind, and the neuro-scientific practice of creating new "wiring" (especially as we age) by gently training our mind to release ancient, habitual (so often, negative and critical) thought patterns (what the PhDs call neural pathways but what I like to refer to as my teeth-grinding mental squirrel in a cage wearing my grandmother's wig) and cultivate more self compassion. Which in turn makes everyone happier, apparently.

I guess if you're feeling at peace with the energy ebb and sometimes tumultuous flow of your days and nights, and baking brownies with those surplus zucchinis, and watching the magical late afternoon sunlight dappling the backs of a pair of wild turkeys guiding their brood of nine into the blackberries below the kitchen window, you can feel pretty blissed out.

Or maybe it's the chocolate talking.


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Gluten-Free Chocolate Layer Cake

A rich, devil's food style chocolate layer cake for the holidays.

Angel Food, Devil's Style...

Sharing food in winter is one of life’s quiet joys. As poet Edith Sitwell noted, “Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.”

I contemplate her words and feel an ache that is dangerously flirting with longing. As we invest more and more of our (fleeting, precious!) time into our virtual lives, connecting not by touch or even by voice, but via endless shallow streams of social media- texting, downloading, uploading, scrolling through visual tidbits of other people’s lives (often strangers), privy to their breakfast, their political opinions, and goofy pictures of Fido and Kitty- I yearn to throw a party. To embrace the old fashioned ritual of baking from scratch, lighting candles, and inviting some human beings over for an evening of conversation and real time companionship.

Laughter and chocolate cake are good medicine, feeding not only our sweet tooth, but our sun deprived spirit as well. The spirit of connectivity, friendship and inclusion.

Yet for those of us living gluten-free (and dairy-free), the deep mid-winter season- with its twinkling celebrations centered around sharing food- too often feels the opposite of convivial. It feels gated. Off limits.

Look. Don't touch. Or taste. Smile graciously.

When you need not be hyper-vigilant about each and every forkful, the food centric holidays are, as the saying goes, a piece of cake. But to those of us with celiac disease and dairy allergies, a table heaped with food (glorious food) is a big steaming reminder of how different we are, a symbol of separation. Of not belonging.

This is when a gluten-free dairy-free chocolate layer cake is more than just dessert. It is a marvelous, beautiful thing. Bordering on luxurious.

Because to indulge (and share food) without worry is a true gift.

So pick a date. Text family and friends an invite. Or pick up the phone and call. Fire up your oven. Gather plates and candles.

Conviviality, connection, and cake await.


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Gluten-Free Chocolate Recipes for Love + Valentine's Day

Romantic chocolate recipes- gluten-free.

How do I love thee, Dear Reader? Let me count the ways. And if you wouldn't mind indulging me (just a little) let me count them in chocolate- that buttery dark bitter sweetness that coaxes even the no good very bad surliest day to soften its grip.

Consider this my gluten-free chocolate valentine to you.

For starters, let me thank you with a wake-up call. How about velvety Chocolate Muffins in bed? Served with your favorite morning beverage, of course. And for your mid-morning pick-me-up, let me tickle your fancy with a plate of crunchy pecan studded chocolate biscotti (you can dunk or not, Darling, it's up to you).

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Dark Chocolate Brownies- The Best Gluten-Free Recipe

Why bake a gluten-free brownie from scratch and not a mix?

Chocolate Brownie Love.

While baking mixes are perfectly acceptable in a pinch, and no doubt a boon to busy cooks on a gluten-free diet (well, honestly, who isn't busy these days, I ask you?), your taste buds will tell you why. In a heart beat, Darling.

A dark chocolate brownie made from scratch is deeply delicious and decadent. Impressive, even. Company worthy. Dare I say, date night worthy. I'm not kidding. This brownie recipe is swoon inducing.

You know what they say about chocolate.

But here's the best part. Throwing this recipe together takes only a few minutes longer than opening up a box. You can whip up these luscious gooey babies in a mere ten minutes. In less time than it takes you to scan your Pinterest feed. Or catch up on Facebook. Seriously.

So what is more rewarding? Watching kittens on YouTube or stirring together this rich, tender, dark chocolate brownie recipe, one of the most loved recipes here on Gluten-Free Goddess? 


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Gluten-Free Chocolate Cupcakes

Gluten-free chocolate cupcakes.

Cupcakes for the In Crowd...

Gluten-free cupcakes are hot. Or should I say, HAWT. Tack on vegan status, too, and you've got a trend worthy of the most BoHo WeHo GoGo. So I'm reprising this chocolate cupcake recipe to tempt you into baking this weekend.

These little beauties remind me of Devil's Food Cake. Dark, moist and chocolatey.

So grab your inner Domestic Goddess by the hand and stir up some trouble.

But before we get to (what happens to be my favorite) chocolate cupcake recipe from the archives, I want to share something. Maybe it's the waxing moon, that cyclic siren pulling us toward wholeness, to embracing our shadow, urging us to let go, shed the outworn for the sake of authenticity. Or maybe it's the fresh start of a new school year, possessing me with cravings for newly sharpened pencils and thick stacks of paper, clean as a cloud. Fall always wakes me up. It conjures images of new beginnings.

And yes, there will be baby pictures.

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Mexican Hot Fudge Sauce - Dairy and Gluten-Free

Decadent dairy-free hot fudge sauce. Vegan and gluten-free.

Now that there are some super fabulous gluten-free vegan ice creams out there (have you tried the coconut milk and almond milk based ice creams?) and we don't have to settle for less than delicious, I thought I'd reprise this silky chocolate sauce recipe from the archives. Because, you know. You may have missed it. And life is too short to live without fudge sauce. In my book, anyway.

Happy last days of summer. Now go make a sundae.

Mexican Hot Fudge Sauce

Who can resist the combination of coffee and chocolate? This is a simple hot fudge sauce to drizzle over ice cream, flourless cake, or gluten-free brownies - you name it. It's lip-smacking sexy good.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup coconut cream
2 tablespoons raw organic agave
5 ounces dark chocolate, in pieces
1/4 cup Kahlua (omit for alcohol-free)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract

Instructions:

In a saucepan, heat the cream until it starts to simmer. Remove from heat and add the agave, and pieces of dark chocolate; stir until melted. 

Stir in the Kahlua, cinnamon and vanilla. Taste test (the fun part). Adjust sweetness level to your liking. If not using right away, pour into a glass storage container and cover.

Store the covered sauce in the refrigerator. This sauce may be made ahead and reheated gently over low heat before serving.

Lovely for drizzling over cake wedges, brownies, ice cream and holiday treats.

This recipe makes about a cup of sauce. Adjust the ingredients to make it thinner/thicker, and less sweet/sweeter to your liking.

For a Mexican Hot Fudge Sundae

Chill four fancy stemmed glasses.

Drizzle the warm sauce over a scoop of coffee, espresso chip, or coconut vanilla ice cream and a thin wedge of Dark Goddess Cake or a small square of my favorite Dark Chocolate Brownies.

Chocolate Sorbet- Dairy-Free

Rich chocolate sorbet- without dairy. Pass the spoon.

Chocolate Dessert

Two trends are sneaking in to recipe searches this week. The first? Super bowl recipes. You know, guy-style chicken chili and Crock-Pot crowd pleasers. Party food for the Big Game. Guacamole and hummus. Nachos. The second trend is a search closer to my own heart and its tender sensibilities.  You may have already guessed it. Because you, Wonderful Reader, are smart, savvy and, well. Let's just gush a minute with appreciation. You are downright fabulous (with impeccable taste and discernment, I might add).

The second big trend is a search for romantic recipes and Valentine's Day inspiration. You're not surprised, are you? (See, I knew you were brilliant).

I'd much rather conjure up chocolate recipes than beans and burgers. Sexy food is more interesting than AstroTurf and lines of scrimmage and backfields in motion. And what the Hail Mary is a down, anyway? First down, fourth down. All these downs and off sides. It makes my head spin.

The simple pigskin truth is, all I know about football I learned from watching The Replacements. It's my favorite football movie. And if your intuition serves you well, you know it isn't because of the football theme. It's because of a certain favorite actor, who- if you watch with gentle attention- is one of the best listeners in the acting game. Most actors simply wait for their turn to speak. Keanu Reeves inhabits the moment. His eyes listen.

Some folks apparently don't value such a quality. They prefer those scenery chewers who vamp and beg for attention and aggressively steal every scene they're in. (How else do you explain why the remarkable Jeff Bridges has not finally won an Oscar? At 60.).

As in life, there are givers and there are takers. Quarterbacks and receivers. Oh wait. That's football again, isn't it. So be it. Here's what I know about football, thanks to Shane Falco.

Pain heals. 
Chicks dig scars. 
Glory lasts forever.

Okay. I admit it. Maybe it's kinda sexy. Especially when he says it. And maybe it's even about love, after all. So serve this sexy dessert for Valentine's day. And watch The Replacements. You get romance and he gets football.

It's win-win.

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Chocolate Quinoa Brownies- Gluten-Free and Vegan

Vegan gluten-free brownies made with quinoa flakes.

Your stubborn and chocolate obsessed gluten-free goddess has been working overtime. In between shooting photographs of the holiday lights and skaters in Santa Monica and battling the return of the flu I fought off some weeks ago (I believe in recycling, Darling, but this is a wee bit ridiculous) I have been utterly possessed. Haunted by the ghost of chocolate brownies. Vegan chocolate brownies, to be exact (because I've already served up the best egg-based gluten-free brownie I can think of, so if you haven't tried my Dark Chocolate Brownie recipe or the Chocolate Brownie made with pecan meal, Darling- Go!).

Baking failures do not sit pretty with yours truly. Especially when I am achy and voiceless and my head feels like a giant damp wad of gluten-free dough with too much xanthan gum added (you gluten-free bakers know exactly what I'm talking about). I feel like the goddess of sticky, thick and dull. And there ain't no cure. Except maybe a hot toddy. Or three.

Lucky for me I have a husband who likes to bake. A husband who says (as his brittle, grumpy hot-flashing wife is muttering expletives and scraping another gooey not-in-a-good-way gluten-free vegan brownie failure into the perky polka dotted trash can), So. 

How can we make this work?

For a split second I panic and think, He's over it. He's finally tired of living gluten-free. Living without baguettes and bagels and croissants out of love, a sense of duty, or comradeship and support. 

He's done. Finished. He's out the door, no looking back.

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Gluten-Free Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Gluten-free chocolate chip cookies with chunks of dark chocolate.

My Ode to Cookies

Quick question. Which camp are you in? The You Can Never Have Too Many Cookie Recipes camp- or the Enough with All the Cookie Recipes contingent? You already know which faction I belong to. I don't even have to say it. In fact, I might even rename my culinary caucus. Something like, You Could Never In a Million Spectacular Carbon Infused Star Struck Years Have Too Many Cookie Recipes, Goddess Forbid.

Why all the cookie love? Life is short, number one. And just because I have celiac disease doesn't mean I surrender to a life without chocolate chip cookies and coffee laced cookies and mint chocolate chip cookies. I'm not giving up on warm-from-the-oven melty chocolate goodness. I'm most definitely not settling for any month old pre-packaged gluten-free poor excuse for a cookie. No way. Not gonna happen.

Because a good cookie is no small thing.

A good cookie can make you smile, even after a long, achingly crappy day. A good cookie might even bring you a kiss. Or little arms of appreciation wrapped around your neck. A good cookie might make you a new friend. Or prove to the class that you're not a total, allergic freak living on weirdo food that you have to feel sorry for and throw bread balls at.

A good cookie can make you feel like you belong.

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Gluten-Free Blueberry Brownie Bites

Tasty little vegan chocolate brownie bites.

Brownies with Blueberries

The idea for blueberry brownies came to me in the middle of shampooing my hair. I was thinking about a chocolate bar I'd seen the day before (what, you don't think about chocolate in the shower?). It was a slim dark chocolate confection with dried blueberries. I'm a fruit and chocolate combo fan, you see. I love berries and chocolate. Orange and chocolate. Pineapple and chocolate. Actually, is there anything that doesn't taste better with some chocolate on it?

Such are my ponderous meanderings.

I'm still waiting for my Babycakes cookbook to arrive (I pre-ordered it from Amazon) along with pastry bags and icing tips. Ever since my unexpected success developing my first gluten-free and vegan Orange Creme Cupcakes I've been dreaming up cupcake flavors and imagining sweet little gems galore. Although I was less than thrilled to learn that Babycakes bakery uses bean flours (yuck), soy milk powder (um, why?) and spelt (spelt is not gluten-free) in their recipes, I'm still stoked to get the book, hoping it will at least inspire my own gluten-free vegan beauties.

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Vegan Flourless Chocolate Cake

A dairy-free vegan flourless chocolate cake- no tofu.

Vegan Chocolate Cake

A deep dark chocolate cake recipe. Just in time for Valentine's Day. And the best part? It's not only gluten-free, but vegan as well. And it's technically a flourless chocolate cake (which for some retro-fueled reason still conjures the term sexy thanks to Sarah Jessica Parker).

In full disclosure (hey, I vet my recipes okay?) I added a scant amount of buckwheat flour to help it set up without eggs, but buckwheat isn't technically a grain, is it? More of a groat, a fruit kernel. In fact, buckwheat is a cousin to sorrel and rhubarb. I could try to impress you with shout-outs to the Polygonaceae family, dropping botanical distinctions like actinomorphic and calyx as fast as Madonna drops post-Guy Ritchie boyfriends, but I'd rather leave all botany urges behind and get back to chocolate and celebrating the dream of true love. 

All in the nick of time for Valentine's Day.

One important lesson I've learned after three years of blogging original recipes and building an on-line audience which insists I keep playing in the kitchen developing recipes that are not only gluten-free, but often dairy-free (and those voracious vegan readers- they're sprouting up everywhere these days, not to mention the increasing number of devoted mothers writing in daily to request soy-free, and nut-free recipes for their food sensitive kiddos) is to experiment.

The challenge for a gluten-free (or wheat-free) vegan is how to create certain flourless and creamy recipes without eggs. The answer- in every vegan cookbook I've ever perused- is tofu. Vegan cooks love their tofu- tofu custards, tofu ice cream, tofu pumpkin pies, tofu stuffed lasagna. Tofu works. It lends an egg-free recipe body and silkiness. But what if- like so many of us ingredient challenged individuals- you are allergic to soy? What then? Then, my friend, tofu is no magic bullet. Tofu is the enemy. In fact, I am sorry to tell you, tofu sucks.

What if, I started to imagine, I melted Belgian dark chocolate and tweaked my pumpkin pie to turn it into a flourless chocolate cake? (See how my fevered little associative thinking brain works?) I could use pumpkin for the eggs/tofu. Why not?

So send me a kiss when you've baked this chocolaty confection. And most of all, be sure to kiss the one you love. Young and old. Seasoned and brand new. Straight, gay and in between. Celebrate love in all its generous forms this Valentine's Day.

And don't forget to love yourself.

Because that, Babycakes, is where the seed of true love begins to grow.

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