Gluten Free Brownie Bake-Off Contest

This morning, I ended up making three different pancake recipes for three different dietary needs. It was chaos, but it was interesting to compare the recipes side-by-side.

I'll go into detail in another post, but we've had Jason off dairy for a few weeks (he had "pancakes" consisting of 2 eggs and a non-ripened banana in the blender - surprisingly good!) and as of Friday, I took the boys off gluten/wheat/flour. They've been fine with it! I made four-ingredient Greek Yogurt Pancakes with Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free All-Purpose flour and everyone enjoyed them, even Mike. For me, I made my go-to: Biggest Loser Oatmeal Pancakes. 

This afternoon when I was in the mood to bake and everyone was craving a sweet treat, I suggested that we have a brownie-making contest. I am embarrassed to say that I have SEVEN flourless brownie recipes on my Pinterst board and have been wondering which is best. I've made the Clean Eating Brownies and they were good (souffle-like), but I wanted to compare them to another recipe or two. We couldn't make this recipe because we were out of bananas and this one required pumpkin. But I had plenty of recipes left to choose from.

We started with boys vs. girls making three recipes and added a fourth when the kids asked if they could switch parent partners after the first recipe. 

Brownie #1 (Chef Kaylin and Chef Mommy)

"Zucchini Paleo Brownies" made with almond butter, grated zucchini, honey, egg, vanilla, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and chocolate chips.

Brownie #2 (Chef Ryan and Chef Mike)

"Best Gluten Free Brownies Ever" made with almond butter, eggs, agave nectar, vanilla, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder and chocolate chips.

Brownie #3 (Chef Ryan and Chef Mommy)

"Sweet Potato Paleo Brownies" made with melted chocolate (chips), cooked sweet potatoes, honey, eggs, vanilla, baking soda, salt, and just 1 T each coconut oil and coconut flour. I left out the cocoa powder (we ran out) but adding a little extra coconut flour (unsweetened, shredded coconut in a coffee bean grinder) and some chocolate chips on top.

Brownie #4 (Chef Kaylin and Chef Mike)

"Chickpea Brownies" made with Starbucks Via, chickpeas (garbanzo beans), eggs, baking powder, salt, chocolate chips, sugar (we used agave nectar) and canola oil (could use coconut, but we followed the recipe for this ingredient).

We measured, mixed, baked, cleaned, waited, cut, tasted, and voted. At one point, Mike said, "I wonder what we should have for dessert?" Smart alec.

Brownie #2 was the only one that got a "thumbs up" from all of us. Of course, Jason voted all four brownies a "thumbs up" - the only "thumbs down" was from Ryan on Brownie #4. He HATED the coffee flavor. Mike wants me to add a Starbucks Via to Brownie #2. It was a little strong for my taste, but a little might enhance the flavor of the chocolate.

This bake-off was a fun family activity. It was fun for me, obviously, because I love to bake, but Mike and the kids even got really into it. Mike committed to his two recipes without complaining and Ryan didn't check out until Jason woke up from his nap and was ready to wrestle. We need to all work together in the kitchen more often!