Friday, February 3, 2012

Coping with intolerance


I'm sorry to say this, but I have some intolerant friends.  The kind of intolerance where they go for complete avoidance.  As a highly tolerant person I sometimes find this tricky, but as a good friend I'm happy to make allowances.

What may you ask are they so intolerant of?  The answer is gluten.  Gluten and I are great friends who enjoy each others company immensely but I understand that not everyone shares this close and loving relationship.  So a couple of years ago I sought out some recipes that I could make when entertaining my sadly intolerant friends.

One of those recipes was for Chocolate and Pecan Brownies.  What a find!  These are now my default brownies of choice - even when I'm cooking for people with no gluten issues - because they are absolutely delicious.  If you omit the white chocolate and carefully select your dark chocolate these can also be diary free - ticking off two intolerances in one delicious brownie!

My tips - the baking time in the recipe is waaaay to short, you will eat them with a spoon if you bake for that time.  I bake them for nearly twice the stated time and they are still very moist.  They get better with age, so try to leave them a day before eating.  And finally, don't add the white chocolate when the recipe says or it will melt to nothing.  Add it right at the end, just before baking.

It can be hard to find really delicious gluten free baked goods, but I can guarantee that if you don't tell people these are gluten free, they will have no idea.


If you are looking for any recipes I've posted, I now have a page right at the top of the blog which contains links to them all.  Putting it together has made me realise I'm quite heavily biased towards sweet recipes on this blog, which is odd because in reality I cook more savoury stuff.  I will try to rectify this!

6 comments:

  1. My blog recipes are also heavily biased towards sweets... but that's because my life is biased towards sweets :P Yay for intolerant-friendliness!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well your blog name includes the word chocolate - I would expect nothing less! Yes I was so thrilled to find such a delicious treat that also worked for the glutards in my life. I hate people feeling like they get second best because of an intolerance.

      Delete
  2. Almond meal is often a saving grace with gluten-free baked goods. I love it, it makes everything so amazing!! Yum.
    Heidi xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, I really think it is what makes these brownies, they have such a gorgeous nutty flavour that goes so well with the chocolate.

      Delete
  3. I'll definitely tuck this away - I'm like you with gluten and don't personally know any gluten intolerant people, so haven't really had to experiment with gluten free baking.

    My recipe page is biased towards sweet things, but so am I, so I figure it's appropriate :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Kari it is amazing how useful this recipe has been. I brought some in to work (just because I'm nice) and mentioned that they were gluten free only to discover that one of my colleagues had just gone GF! Always useful to have nice recipes that cater to intolerances on hand.

      Delete