Monthly Archives: May 2015

Valerie Brownies – gluten-free, dairy-free, and awesomely yummy!!!

Posted on by May 21, 2015
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valerie brownies

This is the recipe that I’ve sent to a zillion potlucks and bake sales at my kids’ schools.

I put a lot of work into testing and perfecting this recipe — a process that was a LOT of fun!!!

Valerie Brownies in a ringThis recipe very reliably makes really wonderful brownies.

My theory of potlucks is that people see the words “gluten-free” and get scared off. So I counteract that by adding lots of good adjectives to the sign on my brownies, so that the good words outnumber the words “gluten-free.” So the labels that I put on my brownies for potlucks call them, “Valerie’s Amazing Awesome Gluten-Free Brownie.”

Wall to Wall Valerie Brownies - Yum!For potlucks, I keep a sheet of label images on my computer so that I can print them off on my printer. I keep snack-size ziplock bags on hand. To package up the brownies, I put each brownie into a snack-sized ziplock bag, zip it, then tape on a printed label. That way the brownies are protected from cross-contamination by other foods at the bake sale.

This recipe was long-ago based on a brownie recipe from an old edition of the Betty Crocker cookbook.

Yum!!!

Valerie Brownies - gluten-free, dairy-free, and awesomely yummy!!!
 
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Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
This recipe very reliably makes awesome gluten-free, dairy-free brownies.
Author:
Recipe type: dessert
Cuisine: American
Serves: 16 brownies
Ingredients
  • 1/2 cup brown rice flour (I like Arrowhead Mills brand) (if you are not gluten-free, replace this with regular flour)
  • 1/3 cup potato starch (I like Bob's Red Mill brand but would fervently like to find an organic gluten-free potato starch) (if you are not gluten-free, replace this with regular flour)
  • 1/2 cup baking cocoa (I like NOW Foods brand)
  • 1 cup sugar (I like the big bags of organic sugar from Costco)
  • 1/3 teaspoon xanthan gum or guar gum (if you are not gluten-free, leave out this ingredient)
  • 1 cup chocolate chips (I like Equal Exchange semi-sweet chocolate chips)
  • 2 eggs (preferably free-range)
  • 1 teaspoon gluten-free vanilla extract (I like Nielsen-Massey brand)
  • 1/3 cup canola oil (I like Spectrum organic)
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Oil (with canola oil) and flour (with potato starch) an 8x8 inch square pan.
  3. Put all dry ingredients into a mixing bowl. Mix.
  4. Add all wet ingredients. Mix
  5. Pour the mixture into the pan. Smooth out the top with a spatula.
  6. Bake for 25 minutes.
  7. Let cool.
  8. Cut into 16 squares.
  9. Best served at refrigerator temperature.
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Muffin Bread – awesomely healthy sugar-free banana bread – gluten-free and dairy-free

Posted on by March 19, 2017
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Muffin Bread

My son Corbin named this recipe, when he was little. You can bake it as muffins, a loaf, or cupcakes. Usually I bake it on a cookie sheet and then cut it into squares. I have some awesomely nonstick cookie sheets — which unfortunately are not sold anymore. Baking on the cookie sheet is the easiest and quickest way to make this recipe.

Corbin takes muffin bread with him to school every day. At home sometimes it is all he wants to eat.

Luckily, it is a 100% healthy food, and even fairly well balanced. So it is okay for Corbin to eat as much as he wants.  :)Roblox HackBigo Live Beans HackYUGIOH DUEL LINKS HACKPokemon Duel HackRoblox HackPixel Gun 3d HackGrowtopia HackClash Royale Hackmy cafe recipes stories hackMobile Legends HackMobile Strike Hack

Because this recipe contains no refined sugar, it is much less sweet than the typical sugar-bomb banana bread recipe. Its sweetness is more comparable to a loaf of slightly sweet whole wheat bread than to a typical banana bread.

Because this recipe is less sweet than most, the amount of cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves looks low compared to other banana bread recipes. But the amounts listed here work really well for this recipe — more would be overwhelming.

Tip: This recipe works great as French toast! Bake it, cut the muffin bread into slices, dip the slices in beaten egg, and fry each side in a little bit of oil. Serve with maple syrup. Yum!!!

This recipe is originally adapted from a cookbook called Sweet and Sugar Free – An All-Natural Fruit-Sweetened Dessert Cookbook by Karen E. Barkie. I really like that cookbook, because it replaces refined sugar with natural sweeteners or just leaves it out entirely.

I normally make this recipe nut-free, so that I can send it to school or feed it to Corbin in the mornings before school. But if you don’t have those restrictions, it would be great with 1 cup of chopped nuts (eg. walnuts) added to it.

This may be the single recipe that I have made the most in my life. I make it for Corbin so often that have it memorized.  :)

Muffin Bread - awesomely healthy banana bread - gluten-free and dairy-free
 
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Prep time
10 mins
Cook time
19 mins
Total time
29 mins
 
A super-healthy gluten-free vegan banana bread. No refined sugar! Sweetened entirely with ground-up raisins (it doesn't taste raisin-y) and bananas.
Author: Valerie Mates
Recipe type: snack
Cuisine: American
Serves: 16 squares or 1 loaf
Ingredients
  • 3/4 cup raisins
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 overripe bananas, broken into chunks (frozen and defrosted is okay)
  • 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/8 teaspoon cloves
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder (or 2/3 teaspoon cream of tartar + an additional 2/3 teaspoon baking soda)
  • either 2-3 tablespoons ground flax seeds, or 1 1/2 teaspoons of xanthan gum or guar gum
  • 2 cups gluten-free flour mix (I usually use 1/2 cup each of: quinoa flour, teff flour, garbanzo flour and either potato starch or tapioca starch)
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/3 cup canola oil
  • optional: 2-3 cups frozen chopped kale or spinach, defrosted
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
  2. Put the raisins, eggs, and bananas in the bowl of a food processor. Run it for a few minutes, until the raisins are broken down into tiny pieces and everything looks mixed.
  3. Add all of the other ingredients, except for the kale or spinach.
  4. Run the food processor until everything looks mixed.
  5. Add the kale, if you are using it.
  6. Run the food processor until the greens are in small pieces and everything looks mixed.
  7. Pour the batter either onto an awesomely non-stick cookie sheet and spread until it covers the sheet, or into muffin cups or a loaf pan. You can decorate the top with artfully arranged pumpkin seeds (without shells on!) or sunflower seeds -- I like to make muffins with pumpkin seed flowers on top.
  8. Bake for 19 minutes for the cookie sheet or muffins, or 45 minutes for a loaf.
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