Fudgy Nutty Brownies that are Gluten-Free

Andrew

and I watch a fair number of cooking shows on TV. In the baking category, we’re tuned into

“Cupcake Wars” and “Unique Sweets”. For

quite a while now, we’ve scoffed, more than saluted, the number of bakers who

turn out Gluten-Free items. We simply could not imagine anything Gluten-Free

matching up to the sheer decadence of Baked’s Brownies (http://www.chewingthefat.us.com/2011/01/baked-brownies.html)

or Lisa Yokelson’s “Dark Shadows” (http://www.chewingthefat.us.com/2012/02/they-may-look-like-brownies-to-you-but.html),

both of which are outstandingly rich and irresistible. But, as readers of Chewing the Fat know,

we’ve got more than one friend who didn’t just choose to be Gluten-Free, she

had to be. So when Andrew volunteered to

bring dessert to a recent party, he pulled out all the stops to find a truly

fudgy, nutty brownie that could pass Gluten-Free muster. And boy, did he succeed.

The

recipe for these Fudgy Nut Brownies came from Martha Stewart’s “Everyday

Food”. The Reader’s Digest-sized

magazine disappeared as a free-standing publication earlier this year. It’s been folded into “Martha Stewart Living”

and I doubt that many people miss it.

The thing about “Everyday Food” was precisely that it was so

everyday. I don’t know about you, but I

go to food magazines and cookbooks to find fresh ways of cooking the familar,

“Everyday Food” since we started “Chewing the Fat”, only one recipe has earned

so much as a mention here. And then, only after we’d merged it to another

magazine’s recipe. But to paraphrase

Julia Child, ‘a cookbook is only as good as its worst recipe’, if only Everyday

Food was always as good as this recipe. The magic here is replacing wheat flour with cornstarch. As Andrew pointed out, truly fudgy brownies don't contain all that much flour to begin with--think Flourless Chocolate Cake and you're in the same ball park. The original called for pecans. Andrew substituted walnuts. You can choose between the two or, for that matter, go with whatever nut you fancy. Here's the recipe:

Recipe for Gluten-Free Fudgy Pecan Brownies from Martha Stewart’s

Everyday Food

Prep Time: 20 Minutes. Total Time:

50 minutes plus cooling. Makes 16 brownies.

1 cup chopped toasted pecans or walnuts.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly butter an 8-inch square

baking pan and line with parchment

paper,leaving a 2-inch overhang on all sides.

Whisk together cornstarch, cocoa, cinnamon, salt.

In a large microwave-safe bowl, microwave butter and

chocolate in 30-second increments,

stirring each time, until melted and smooth, about 2 minutes.

Stir in sugar and vanilla. Stir in eggs, one at a time,

until combined. Add cornstarch mixture

and stir vigorously until mixture is smooth

and begins to pull away from side of bowl, about 2 minutes. Stir in walnuts or pecans.

Pour batter into pan and smooth top. Bake

until a toothpick inserted in center

comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes, rotating pan halfway through. Let cool completely

in pan on a wire rack.

Using paper

overhang, lift cake out of pan and cut into 16 squares.