Gooey Quinoa brownies to die for

Sometimes I get confronted with my kids special 'condition'. Him being the only celiac in the kindergarten classes is an accepted fact by the school and his classmates. They know he eats differently and other than that he is just Thijmen. But this semester's theme is food. And now it gets more and more obvious to Thijmens classmates what being a celiac actually means. To them it is normally limited to a different sandwich at lunchtime and his own treatbox.

But last week the kids were asked to bring some carton packaging of foods they eat to school. So there were the boxes of chocolate sprinkles and milk and cornflakes and so on and Thijmen? He brought the boxes of glutenfree candy, glutenfree flour and glutenfree falafel to school. Suddenly it was more than clear to his classmates that his eating pattern is very different.
And yesterday they talked about the letter of the week. The Q. The kids were asked to name things with a Q. And what did Thijmen say? Quinoa. Its becoming an increasingly big part of his (and our) diet and so it was a natural response. And his teacher? She had no clue what it was. So I will be handing him a packet of it to show in the class and I've baked Quinoa brownies for him to show him how proud I am of him and how faithful he is to his diet, his way of life. If he wants, he can give a piece to his teacher, to show her what can be made with Quinoa. A little education goes a long way, right?

Here is the recipe for the brownies. Its not mine, it's by NatureCrops whose Quinoa is always stocked in my glutenfree cabinet. I just added fiber husk and some xanthan gum to keep the brownies from crumbling too much.

Ingredients:

• 250 grams (9 oz) of glutenfree dark chocolate
• 200 grams (7 oz) of butter
• 300 grams (10.5 oz) of powdered sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon of xanthan gum
• 1 tespoon of fiber husk
• 250 grams (9 oz) of Quinoa flour

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade (400 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Chop up the chocolate and melt it together with the butter in a bowl over a pan with boiling water. Stir well so the butter and chocolate blend well.Let the mixture cool a bit. 
3. Beat the eggs lightly with the powdered sugar. Add to the chocolate mixture once it is cooled a bit. 
4. Put in the flour, xanthan gum and fiber husk and mix well for a few minutes. 
5. Pour it into a lined and greased brownie pan and bake into the oven for about 20-30 minutes. The inside will still be a bit gooey, but that makes them even better.
6. Let it cool a bit before you serve it.

Chewy brownies filled with nuts

I have a love/hate relationship with brownies. I love to eat them, they are the ultimate comfortfood to me, but baking them is another thing. Somehow I can't bake them properly, even though they are amongst the easiest things to bake. I blame it on my lack of patience, I think I mix the eggs with the melted chocolate too soon... Or something like that. More often than not I end up with collapsed brownies, or worse, brownies that don't seem to set in the middle. I guess brownies have turned into my 'angstgegner'. 

But... I never give up. Because I dislike not being able to do something so I'll just try until I can do it. And today... I had another try.
I had promised my colleagues cupcakes at the next editorial meeting on Monday but my brownie complex made me decide to try again. And so I took out the never fail recipe book (Great Gluten-free Baking by Louise Blair) and found this brownie recipe. And I baked with my toes crossed and I finally succeeded.

Here's the recipe of my victory brownies!

Ingredients

• 75 grams (2.75 oz) of glutenfree dark chocolate
• 100 grams (3.5 oz) of butter or margerine
• 200 grams (7 oz) of light caster sugar
• 2 eggs beaten 
• The seeds of one vanilla pod
• 50 grams (1.75 oz) of ground almonds
• 25 grams (1 oz) of rice flour
• 150 grams (5.5 oz) of mixed nuts, chopped

Instructions

1. Grease and line a baking tray of 28 cm x 18 cm (I just grabbed a tray I had nearby). 
2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (350 degrees centigrade). 
3. Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl on top of a pan with boiling water. Stir until all is mixed. 
4. Mix in all the other ingredients, I stirred the eggs in last, as you want the mixture cooled a bit first. Otherwise you cook the egg in the chocolate mixture. Then you end up with a failed brownie like I did so often. 
5. Pour the complete mixture into the baking tray and bake for about 30-36 minutes until the middle is firm but bounces back a bit when you press it. 
6. Let it cool before you cut it into pieces to enjoy your brownie with a cup of coffee or tea. It also makes a great dessert if you pair it with some glutenfree ice cream.