Matt's gorgeous bride is a celiac which I imagine has proven wedding cake shopping a little difficult! So there was no surprise that in with the wedding invites was a little hand written note announcing the great celiac bake off. All guest have been invited to bring a gluten free cake to share with the wedding party. Of course I jumped at the chance to start researching appropriate recipes to trial and then present. I've always found in the past when I have catered for gluten free the end products are very dry and I was determined to avoid this when I set out on this creative journey.
After months of research I settled on two recipes, one being from a book - sweet potato brownies and another being an amalgamation of different ideas and processes I had picked up throughout my research - gooey chocolate bites.
I decided to bake the gooey chocolate bites today and have straight away decided I do not need to make sweet potato brownies to compare. The bites are very rich and very moist! There we go, I said it! They are moist.
In my "brain prep" to making these goodies I decided I would try using a new measurement method which has become increasingly popular in the UK recently. I purchased some cup measuring spoons from sainsburys and found them just as successful as using scales. So now I am set to try some new adventurous cup recipes. Mean time, here is my first cup measuring success story.
Ingredients for circa 30 bites.
Chocolate bites
- 1 x 80g bar doisy and dam date and pink himalayan salt
- 2 tblsp coconut oil
- 2 tblsp ground flax seeds
- 1 cup rolled oats
- 1 cup ground almonds
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup raw cacao powder
- 1/3 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup goji berries
- 1 orange - grated zest only
- 1/2 cup coconut yoghurt
Frosting:
- 40g bar doisy and dam crunchy almond butter - melted
- 1 cup dairy free spread
- 1 tblsp raw cacao powder
- 1-2 tblsp maple syrup
- Preheat your oven to 170 Fan / 190 C / 375 F / Gas 6 and line a 24cm x 18cm (9 x 7 inch) baking tray with parchment, covering the base and sides
- Break the chocolate into chunks and melt along with the coconut oil in a microwave or over a bain-marie (a small dish set over a barely simmering pan of water). I used a microwave as it is quicker.
- While that's melting mix the ground flax seeds with 5 tblsp water in a mug and set aside - this creates the binding agent instead of using eggs
- Next put the oats into a food processor or blender and whizz until you have a fairly fine flour - albeit mine was more like breadcrumbs which gave the bite some texture
- Tip the ground oats into a large bowl along with the ground almonds, baking powder, cacao powder, coconut sugar, goji berries and orange zest. Stir until well mixed
- Stir in the melted chocolate mixture, the coconut yoghurt and the flax egg and mix everything together lightly but thoroughly
- Pour into your prepared tray and bake for 30 minutes. Don't worry if it seems quite soft, it will firm up as it cools
- Cool completely before spreading over the frosting - I mean cool completely, next time I am going to frost the morning after!
- To make the frosting simply whisk or beat together the dairy free spread, melted chocolate, raw cacao powder and maple syrup - just like butter icing
- Thickly spread the frosting over the cooled bake, pushing it out to the edges until the brownie is completely covered - I've left the brownie in the tin up to this point. Think about what ratio of bake to frosting you want, as too much may not present well with your taste buds
- Use the baking paper to lift the bake out of the tray then cut into squares. It's important to store these in the fridge in an airtight container to prevent the frosting from melting away.
Upon reflection, these gooey bites are very rich, very chocolaty, took about 40 minutes of ingredient prep, and I used nearly every utensil in the kitchen! They also were not cheap to produce, the ingredients on the list are not my staple pantry ingredients, and certainly are not commonly found on the shelves at Aldi!
On the other hand they are for a very special occasion, they are gluten free and can easily be made dairy free and vegan depending on the chocolate choice, and they also contain very little processed sugars which suits my sister in laws digestive system.
I will be making these bites again for the wedding, however post wedding I think I will need another special occasion to want to make these for. I enjoyed experimenting with the bake, it has been a while since I made something adventurous, and I've very much enjoyed sampling the outcome, but for me baking is about relaxing, indulging in an activity which does not require much thinking. Whereas these bites used many different methods and a lot of brain power!
Sometimes you just cannot beat the all in one method!
Happy baking ♥
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