Gluten-free and guilt-free cashew brownies

The first flowers bloomed in my garden! I could not resist plucking a few to go with these brownies (I’m sorry, bees!) I’m taking these sweet treats to The Novice Gardener’s Fiesta Friday party, come join us there!

Ah, yet another brownie recipe, you say. But look closely, this one has no egg, no gluten,  and no added sugar. Did I mention it has a delicious cashew taste? This can be easily made vegan by substituting regular butter used here, with vegan butter.

I have tried using different flours to go with the brown rice flour, but oat flour works best and serves to hold the cake together or it gets too crumbly (as one can imagine, with no wheat gluten). It has a slight crunch from the rice flour and moistness of maple syrup blending well to make it delightfully tasty.

Scroll down for full recipe. These are some ingredients:

Melt 6 pieces of semi-sweet chocolate and butter in a pan:

Mix butter + chocolate mixture, applesauce, cashew paste, maple syrup, vanilla in a bowl.  Add dry ingredients (rice flour, oat flour, cocoa powder, starch,baking powder, soda) to wet. Add 2 pieces of chocolate cut into small bits. Spread in a baking sheet greased with canola oil. Flatten with spatula.

After baking at 350 °F for 43 minutes:

• Servings: 20
• Time: soak time + 50 minutes
• Difficulty: easy
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Ingredients:

wet:

raw cashews – 1 cup

water or milk- 1/2 cup

maple syrup- 1/2 cup

butter- 1/4 cup

Baker’s semi-sweet chocolate (56% cacao)- 6 pieces + 2 pieces (divided)

unsweetened applesauce- 1/8 cup

vanilla extract- 1 tsp.

dry:

brown rice flour- 3/4 cup

GF oat flour- 1/2 cup

baking powder- 1 tsp.

baking soda- 1 tsp.

tapioca starch- 2 tbsp.

unsweetened cocoa powder- 1 1/2 tbsp.

Method:

* Soak cashew in water for a few hours, preferably overnight. Drain water, rinse cashews and use a blender to make a paste with 1/2 cup water or milk.

* Melt butter and 6 pieces of the baking chocolate in a pan and stir to combine. Pre-heat oven to 350 °F.

* Mix all wet ingredients (butter, + chocolate mixture, applesauce, cashew paste, maple syrup, vanilla) together in a mixing bowl.

* Combine dry ingredients (rice flour, oat flour, cocoa powder, starch,baking powder, soda) in another bowl.

* Slowly add dry ingredients to the wet and mix with a spatula. Stir in roughly broken bits of the 2 pieces of baking chocolate.

* Spread in a greased baking dish, I used a glass 2.2 qt rectangular dish. Flatten the top with a silicone spatula.

* Bake for 40-45 minutes or till a clean knife inserted in the middle comes clean.

* Wait till it is completely cool, before cutting into smaller pieces!