Gluten Free Brownie Bites

Ever since I was a kid and would help my mom make brownies for the local soup kitchen, I have known I love brownies. Cake-like brownies are okay, but give me a gooey fudgy brownie and I'll...well, ask for another. Sadly, not everyone can eat brownies and for my friend who cannot eat gluten I made these brownies using almond meal. It was harder to make them super-fudgy, but they are moist, chewy, and dense and very inviting. I would say they have a subtle almond flavor and it would be very hard to eat just one.

Gluten Free Brownie Bites
How I Did It:

(makes 15 brownie bites)

1 cup almond meal
3/4 cup powdered sugar
4 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/16 tsp salt
1/3 cup egg whites
1 tsp vanilla
6 tsp melted butter, slightly cooled

1. Preheat oven to 400. Grease a mini muffin tin and set aside.

2. Whisk together almond meal, powdered sugar, cocoa, and salt until well combined.

3. Stir in egg whites and vanilla.

4. Stir in butter in three parts. Stir a few times with each addition, and with the last addition stir until fully combined and smooth.

5. Fill mini muffin tins almost to the top with batter. Fill any empty tins under halfway with water.

6. Bake for about 10 minutes or until brownies puff up and spring back when lightly touched. Do not overcook or they will be dry. Remove from oven and let cool.

Banana Almond Whoopie Pies

If you can't tell from the picture, these aren't your traditional, sugar and fat filled whoopie pies.  I saw very tasty looking banana chocolate chunk cookies over at Spoonful of Sugar Free and I knew I would have to make some version of them for my mom's belated birthday celebration. We were planning on celebrate via some sort of outdoor picnic during our mini vacation so cake of any sort wouldn't make it unfortunately. Well, once we all tried them all thoughts of "mom friendly" cake vanished!

I made a few changes to cater to my family's taste and food sensitives and they turned out great! Just sweet enough and the almond flavored center with the banana was perfect! These could easily be part of your breakfast or a great midday pick-you-up snack!  I left some without the filling and they are great like that as well. As an extra bonus the batter is quite tasty uncooked and of course perfectly safe to eat!

Sunning itself before being consumed during the birthday picnic

Banana Almond Whoopie Pies
How I Did it:

Cookies:
(makes one dozen single layer cookies)
2 cups oats
2 very ripe bananas
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup chopped dates
1/8 cup raisins

Filling:
1 cup almond butter
2 tbs almond milk
1 1/4 tsp vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350. Cover baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.

2. Grind oats in a food processor until they become flour-like. Set aside.

3. In a mixing bowl, mash bananas with a potato masher. Mix in vanilla and salt.

4. Add in oat flour, baking powder, and baking soda and mix until well combined. Stir in water.

5. Add in dates and raisins and mix to distribute evenly.

6. Place heaping tablespoonfuls of dough onto prepared baking sheets. It won't change size/shape too much so depending on your preference you can make them flatter or more fluffy as you are putting them on the cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes - they will turn light brown and you will be able to pluck them right off the sheet. Let fully cool.

7. While your cookies are cooling, make the filling. Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and beat well. Cover and place in the refrigerator (to firm up) until cookies are completely cool.

8. Once the cookies are fully cooled, try to pair up by size so each are matched with a cookie whose bottom is similar in size. Generously spread the filling on the flat bottom one of the matched cookies, allowing it to pile up more in the middle. Take it's partner and slightly press down to secure it on top. Repeat for the rest of the cookies. Store in a container in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature for best test before eating.