Carob-Honey Brownies

I was out to dinner the other night with some friends and a few of them had brownies for dessert. I watched in envy. So....I decided to make some. But since I'm also intolerant to cocoa I searched for a recipe with carob. I found this one and substituted gluten free flours for the whole wheat flour they had listed.


1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup carob powder
1 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup oat flour
1/4 cup soy flour
1/4 cup rice flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 350*F
2. Blend together melted butter, carob powder, and honey in a bowl. Add eggs and vanilla; mix well.
3. Add a sifted mixture of whole wheat flour, baking powder, and salt; mix well. Stir in chopped walnuts. Pour into a greased 8-inch baking dish.
4. Bake for 40 minutes. Cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

Honey Banana Bread

I just made some more red velvet cake the regular way (with food coloring and all) for my boyfriend's birthday. I'll see how this one turns out compared to my version. I can't taste it so I'll have to trust his opinion.

I just got some new recipes from a really close friend of mine who's wife was also on a wheat-free diet so my next goal is to try some of those. I learned a lot from looking at her recipes so hopefully I can put those concepts to good use when baking my stuff. Today's task is Honey Banana Bread. I remember Kathy making this and loving it so much I could probably eat the whole loaf in one day.

Here is the recipe as she wrote it:

Dry Ingredients:
½ cup soy flour
½ cup oat flour
½ cup white rice flour
¼ cup potato starch flour
¼ cup rye flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

Wet Ingredients:
2 eggs
3 ripe bananas (medium to large)
½ cup honey
¼ cup oil
1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

Optional:
½ to 1 cup of nuts mixed with 1Tbsp tapioca flour

Method:
Grease 9 by 4 loaf pan and set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together dry ingredients. Set aside.
In a blender beat the 2 eggs, add the bananas and blend, add oil, honey, and lemon juice and blend.
Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Mix only enough to moisten everything.
If using nuts, mix nuts with tapioca flour and stir gently into mixture.
Bake at 350 degrees for about 50 min. If top gets too brown cover with foil.
Remove from oven and let cool in pan for about 10 min.
Turn out into wire rack and cool completely. Wrap and store overnight. Banana bread is usually better the second day.