Peanut Butter Blondies (gluten-free)

 

You'll have to trust me on this one. I've been eyeballing black bean brownie recipes for a while (I was reminded of them after reading about garbanzo bean brownies by my friend Victoria over at Easy Gluten Free). And for longer than that, I've been meaning to make a pot of beans (either black or pinto) and haven't gotten around to it--I want to start a crockpot of beans one morning and come home to it in the evening. Why haven't I? Good question. You'll know when I make them, I'm sure.

This recipe came about because I intentionally bought black beans so I could make black bean brownies. But when I got home, I discovered I hadn't bought black beans after all, but pinto beans. Sigh.

Look at the chocolate and peanuts!

Okay, I'm sure pintos would've worked just fine in brownies. They're pretty mild, after all. But black beans definitely wouldn't work in blondies and since I had a set of beans that would work, I decided to go with it. The pinto beans replace the flour in this recipe and add protein, without leaving a bean-y taste (at least if you've rinsed them well.). You'll notice in the picture, I have a carton of coconut milk--but I decided once everything was mixed together that it didn't need the couple of tablespoons of milk called for in the recipe I based this on. 

These blondies are also pretty low fat (for peanut butter blondies). I used up the last tablespoon of butter E and I made recently, mostly to get it out of my fridge, and because I wanted to up the peanut butter flavor by increasing the peanut butter from the 1/3 cup called for in the original recipe to 1/2 cup.

These blondies, when warm, practically melt in your mouth. They're super-moist, and nicely peanut buttery. The peanuts and chocolate on top add a nice bit of spunk (both presentation and flavor-wise), but if that's not your thing, then by all means leave the topping off.

Peanut Butter Blondies

1 can pinto beans, well rinsed

¾ cup granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1 tablespoon butter, melted and cooled slightly

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

2 tablespoons ground flax

1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks, chopped

2 tablespoons unsalted peanuts, chopped

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.

Place the pinto beans and sugar in a food processor and process until smooth.

Blended Pinto Beans & Sugar

Transfer into a medium-sized bowl and add the baking powder, salt, peanut butter, butter, vanilla, eggs, and flax and combine well.

Combining well

Pour into a lightly greased 9” pie pan (or 8 x 8 baking dish).

Sprinkle the chopped peanuts and chocolate chips on top of the batter.

Adding Chocolate and Peanuts

Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs clinging. Cool in pan on a wire rack.

Yum!

Deep Chocolate Brownies

Let's face it. Sometimes we crave chocolate. According to some people, chocolate cravings--especially cravings for dark chocolate are indicative of a magnesium deficiency. I've been craving dark chocolate, but unadulterated by anything else. 

Brownies, up close and personal

A word of warning: These brownies aren't vegan. Or gluten-free. If you're looking for something healthy--also not it. This is death-by-chocolate, rich dessert. After all, they're deep chocolate brownies. And this type of indulgence is just the type of pick-me-up that you might want for a rainy (literally or figuratively) day, or for a fun baking project for a day with frost on the windows and snow falling outside.  

So, these aren't brownies that I can eat (or should eat, perhaps, since I know if I did they'd make me feel icky). Why'd I make them? E asked me to make brownies and so that's what I did. I made "normal people" brownies, because I have yet to find a GF brownie recipe that I particularly like. Part of this, I think, has to do with the grittiness of many GF flours. And part of it, in all honesty, has to do with my lack of love of most brownies.

I spent some time trying to figure out a good recipe for chewy, fudgy brownies because that's what E wanted. Thank goodness. I have no patience for chocolate cake or cakey brownies--just make cake, if that's what you want. And maybe, possibly, don't make it chocolate. But you read about my chocolate cake biases in the pumpkin cake post. Long story short, I found two recipes I thought looked pretty good and which provided lovely explanations for how the authors got to the recipes they did. One had more chocolate -- and three types. One had brown sugar (entirely, instead of white sugar) and a lot less butter. I combined these two recipes, pulling out what I considered the best aspects and created this recipe. E and our friend Caitlin swore this was a good recipe, so you'll have to take their word for it--plus a few co-workers, who also had the opportunity to try them. One described these brownies as "not too cakey, not too flat, not too fudgy. You could put frosting on it and call it cake." They smelled absolutely lovely as it baked (and all night).

With whipped cream

I served these with fresh whipped cream after making/serving a lovely butternut squash stew (more on this in another post) and a variation on Mark Bittman's no-knead bread, as the conclusion to an autumn dinner party. If I'd had it (and if E liked it), I might have put small curls of candied ginger. If I were to make more whipped cream and had a lemon on hand, I might put lemon zest on the whipped cream, because lemon and chocolate are a lovely combination.

I love baking new projects and E's a willing subject, especially if it involves chocolate (thanks E!). If you have suggestions for things you'd like to see, let me know! 

Deep Chocolate Brownies

6 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
8 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into quarters
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 tsp. vanilla extract

½ tsp. salt

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (5 oz.) all-purpose flour

Place an oven rack in lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 350° F.  Grease a 9" pie pan.

In a heatproof bowl set over a pan of barely simmering water, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth.  Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth.  Set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt; whisk until combined, about 15 seconds.  Whisk in the warm chocolate mixture until incorporated.  Then stir in the flour with a wooden spoon until just combined.  (It took me a while to get the flour evenly incorporated and I was worried it would affect the texture of the brownies, but they turned out fabulously – no need to worry.)  Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and spread with a spatula to make an even layer.  Bake until slightly puffed and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a small amount of sticky crumbs clinging to it, 35-40 minutes.  Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let cool to room temperature, about 2 hours.  

Slice as you would a pie, creating about 24 slices.  Store in an air-tight container.   

Baked Butternut Squash Oatmeal with Quinoa

My friend Rachael recently came to visit and we spent lovely days baking, cooking, hiking, and talking. One morning, we went out to breakfast. One morning we cooked together. One morning, I made this dish, based on a baked oatmeal recipe from a cookbook Rachael brought with her called Simply in Season. It seemed like a delightful base recipe to prep us for a long hike and it's nice to eat seasonal foods, even when some of my ingredients come from a can (more on this later).

Why this dish? When we were planning our day, the evening before Rachael said she'd never had baked oatmeal--not true, I reminded her. When we both still lived in the Midwest and ate breakfast together on Friday mornings with two other friends, I'd made a baked oatmeal recipe a handful of times. Baked oatmeal was something introduced to me a year ago this past summer, at a retreat center I stayed at while on a field trip focused on sustainable agriculture.

One of the lovely things about baked oatmeal is that it's warm, hearty, and can be prepped the night before. The recipe from Simply in Season did not recommend mixing everything the night before and then just sticking it in the oven. But, you could do this, I think, based on my previous baked oatmeal experiences. This is especially good if you're rushed in the morning. And, you could make this vegan by substituting the egg for either a commercial egg replacer, or a flax seed egg. You don't have to use the quinoa, if you don't have any on hand, but I wanted to include it to up the protein a little. If you decide to leave it out, you should increase the oatmeal to 2 cups.

We used butternut squash, because that's the puree I had on hand. At times, I might make my own rather than buying processed, but honestly I could pick up these cans of organic butternut puree for ridiculously cheap and it wasn't nearly as labor-intensive, and when I have butternut squash I've baked, I really just want to eat it. Immediately. You could also use pumpkin for this, or applesauce (as the original recipe suggests).

You could use pumpkin pie spice for this, if you didn't have these spices on hand, or leave the spices out entirely--the original recipe didn't use spices. I might have also added cardamom, if I'd thought about it early enough, but this combination of spices created a lovely taste reminiscent of autumn.

Note: although I've labeled this gluten-free, some people with Celiacs and gluten-sensitivity also do badly with oats, including gluten-free oats. If you are one of these people, or preparing this for someone who is gluten-sensitive or gluten-intolerant, please check to make sure GF oats are okay.

Baked Butternut Squash Oatmeal with Quinoa
Dry Ingredients
1 3/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats (GF)
1/4 cup quinoa
1/4 cup demerara sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 cup raisins (or other chopped, dried fruit, optional)
3 tablespoons chopped almonds (optional)*

Spices
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves

Wet Ingredients
1 cup milk (I used coconut)
1/2 cup butternut squash puree
1 tablespoon oil
1 egg

Combine the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix in the spices.

Add the wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated.

Bake in an oven preheated to 350 degrees, in a greased 8 x 8 pan (or equivalent) 25-30 minutes, until a knife stuck in the center comes out moist, but clean. Serve warm with milk.

*I didn't incorporate the almonds, but left them chopped, on the side to be added later. You could also use walnuts or pecans, if you prefer.

Huevos Rancheros with Garlic Smashed Black Beans and Goat Cheese

Growing up, I ate Mexican food fairly often. My dad was raised in Texas and although my mom moved around a lot, she spent high school and college in Texas. When my dad was transferred to North Carolina in the mid 1980s, we discovered we discovered a lack of Mexican food. In city I grew up in, Mexican food options consisted of not much--and the only place even remotely close to the part of the city we lived in microwaved their entrees. Tex-Mex wouldn't even describe it--Taco Bell was a more authentic experience.

Fortunately, my parents had learned how to make Mexican food a decade earlier, when they lived in DC and had gone to Pizza Hut for the "Mexican Pizza" just because that was as close as they could get to the food they were used to finding everywhere. We made tamales, fish tacos, beef tacos, carne verde, and other dishes--including things like enchiladas and nachos that most restaurants would serve. We had Mexican or Tex-Mex at least once a week. Fridays, for years, were "taco night," at my house.

But huevos rancheros. That was a meal we had at least once a month, on a Saturday or Sunday, when my dad liked to make large breakfasts. Eggs and I don't always get along and so for years I'd get him to scramble mine, or just opt to eat refried beans and tortillas. I frequently opted for just beans and tortillas (and for that matter, still do).

The one restaurant we make sure we eat at when we visit family in San Antonio, Texas is The Original Donut Shop ("Hot Donuts" is what we call it), which has been in business for around 60 years. My dad ate there from time to time as a small child, and as my grandmother moved toward dying, the hot glazed donuts were one of the few things she would still eat voraciously. For years, The Original Donut Shop was only a donut shop (there are an unbelievable number of donut and kolache stores in Texas) but at some point it expanded into a cocina Mexicana as well and serves everything Mexican-breakfast from egg tacos to menudo (only on Saturdays) to, you guessed it, huevos rancheros. All meals are served with hand-patted flour tortillas (which I'll miss terribly now that I'm not eating gluten. Even thinking about it makes me a sad) that melt in your mouth.

There are dozens of ways of preparing huevos rancheros--but the way I enjoy them most involves poached eggs and no ranchero sauce (which I swear is just an invention of the Tex-Mex aisle in grocery stores, like "curry powder" to Indian food). This is the way my family made them (except when I requested scrambled eggs). We topped them with Paces Picante sauce, or with a homemade salsa, depending on what we had on hand. This is the way The Original Donut Shop in San Antonio makes them, except with fried egg and with bacon and browned potatoes on the side. This is the way my friend Anna made them when I was in Columbia, Missouri with Annie for True/False (a film festival) earlier this year.

Anna's variation interested me because unlike the versions I grew up eating, she smashed whole beans and simmered her eggs in store-bought enchilada sauce rather than a traditional water-poaching. We ate our huevos on top of stove-top crisped corn tortillas, smoothed with black beans, topped with and egg, and drowned in the enchilada simmer sauce. The meal presented beautifully and was filling--good for a day of wandering around Columbia and watching documentaries.

I resolved to make a variation of this for Friday breakfast the following week. Friday breakfast is an almost three-year tradition with my friend Rachael. Annie and Brenna joined this tradition about six months later. Friday breakfast forces us all to eat a real meal at breakfast once a week, gives us an opportunity to talk about our frustrations and success for the week, to discuss weekend plans, or boys. Rachael, Annie, and I are moving to separate cities soon and the thing I'll miss most about living where I do now may well be the tradition of breakfast with these three women.

Huevos Rancheros with Garlic Smashed Black Beans
Serves 4
2 teaspoons olive oil (just enough to coat the bottom of your pan)
2 garlic scapes, chopped (or about 1 tablespoon minced garlic)
1 14-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 teaspoons whole cumin
Water

1 8-ounce can tomato sauce
Taco spices
Water
4 eggs

4 corn tortillas*
Soft goat cheese (optional)

In a small sauce pan, heat the oil over medium heat and then add the garlic scapes or garlic, Saute 1 minute and then add the black beans. Heat, stirring occasionally, until bubbling. Smash the black beans with the back of a fork or spoon and add the cumin seeds and 3-4 ounces of water (or until desired consistency) and heat through.

Black Beans with Garlic Scapes

Meanwhile, heat the tomato sauce, 8 ounces of water, and taco spices (to taste, I used about a teaspoon of a taco seasoning mix my dad makes) in another small saucepan, or a skillet big enough to hold four eggs. When just simmering, crack the eggs into simmer-sauce, being careful not to break the yolks. (If the yolks break, no worries--you just won't have a runny yolk, but it'll still taste fine.) Return to a simmer and then cover the pan and reduce the heat so the sauce continues to just simmer for 3-5 minutes, depending on the size egg you're using, until the white appears cooked.

Heat your corn tortillas and spread one quarter of the black beans on each tortilla.

Smashed Black Beans Spread on a Tortilla

Using a large spoon, carefully remove your poached eggs from the simmer sauce and place one on each tortilla, the cover in remaining simmer sauce.

Topped with Egg & Simmer Sauce

Top with goat cheese (in the picture below, I'm using a soft herbed goat cheese). Serve hot.

*If you're not trying to create a gluten-free meal, feel free to use small (6") flour tortillas instead.