These brownies have secrets! I baked them, passed them out to my family, my neighbors and my friends to see what they thought. I didn’t say anything, just asked for their honest opinions and this is what I got… “they are so RICH,” “beyond decadent,” “Amazing,” “Great, can I have another one?” (he is 9) and on and on. Not a bad review in the bunch. No one guessed that they were gluten free and from a King Arthur Flour mix.
Yep, two things I rarely play with are gluten-free desserts and mixes. The reason for this tasty little experiment has to do with a young boy I met in upstate NY when I was teaching classes at the Battenkill Kitchen. He suggested that I make them and I couldn’t refuse. I added some dark chocolate ganache, blackberries and possibly the best Mint Leaf Ice Cream I’ve ever had. Gluten-free or not this is one fabulous dessert!
If you want to make brownies from scratch, here’s my brownies recipe.
I’ll start with my ice cream which actually tastes like fresh mint, because that is exactly what it is made with. No hyped up extracts that resemble Trident Spearmint Gum, just natural, summery mint.
Brownies with Ganache + Mint Ice Cream
To make the Mint Ice Cream:
I used a Mortar & Pestle to muddle (mash) the mint. You want to release the oils and essence of the leaves, so they will flavor your ice cream base. *this lovely mortar and pestle was designed by my friend Suvir Saran.
Mash the mint in a couple of small batches to make sure all the leaves are broken up.
Add the mint to the cooled down ice cream base and refrigerate overnight. I prefer to add it when the base is cold so that the mint doesn’t have a cooked leaf flavor.
Once you are ready to churn the ice cream you want to strain the mint leaves out. I used Chinois Strainer
How I came to bake King Arthur Flour’s Gluten-Free Brownies…
Last month I was invited to teach classes for the non-profit organization Battenkill Kitchen, which supports local farmers and educates children about the importance of great food. It was a community event and King Arthur Flour (just a few towns over in VT) donated the flour, baking stones and pizza peels for the classes. We went to pick up all the donated goods from Mike, the GM of flour at King Arthur. As we were loading up our 50 pound bags Mike’s son arrived with a tower of boxes in his hands. He presented them to me and said “you have to try these, they are REALLY good!” By the look on his father’s face I could tell his son had come to this plan all on his own and Mike couldn’t have been prouder. I had to explain to the young lad about the airline’s cruel weight limit and that I wouldn’t be able to get that tower of boxes in my suitcase. He said he’d get his dad to ship them to me and that is exactly what he did.
He sent me their entire line of KAF Gluten-Free products to try, so far I’ve only had a chance to make the brownies. Based on that mix alone, my sons are eager for me to try them all. There are also flours and other ingredients to create the breads from our GF chapter in Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day. The recipe for our Gluten-Free Crusty Boule is a perfect match for the new line of KAF flours, give it a try!
One bowl, a couple of eggs, butter and water is all you need to get the job done. I used an 8″ non-stick cake pan to bake them in.
After they were cooled off I made the ganache. Heat the cream and salt in a medium sized sauce pan to just barely a simmer, turn off the heat and dump in all the chocolate and the butter, swirl the pan so the chocolate is all submerged in the cream, allow it to sit for about 3 minutes then gently whisk the ganache until smooth. Pour the ganache over the brownies and spread it smooth. Allow it to set up. If you refrigerate the brownies they are easier to get out of the pan in nice shape. You can eat them cold or let them warm up to room temperature.
Add a big scoop of the mint ice cream and some berries.
Ingredients
- 1 box King Arthur Gluten-Free Fudge Brownie Mix
Ganache
- 6 oz bittersweet chocolate finely chopped
- 6 oz heavy cream
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter cold
- pinch salt
Mint Ice Cream
- 1 cup mint leaves
- 1 batch Ice Cream Base
Instructions
- Prepare your brownies and your ice cream base. Chill both.
Mint Ice Cream
- Mash the mint in a couple of small batches to make sure all the leaves are broken up. I used a mortar and pestle for this.
- Add the mint to the cooled down ice cream base and refrigerate overnight. I prefer to add it when the base is cold so that the mint doesn't have a cooked leaf flavor.
- Once you are ready to churn the ice cream you want to strain the mint leaves out. I used Chinois Strainer so that the ice cream would be free of leaves, but any fine mesh sieve will do the trick. Freeze according to your Ice Cream Maker's directions.
Ganache
- Heat the cream and salt in a medium sized sauce pan to just barely a simmer, turn off the heat and dump in all the chocolate and the butter, swirl the pan so the chocolate is all submerged in the cream, allow it to sit for about 3 minutes then gently whisk the ganache until smooth. Pour the ganache over the brownies and spread it smooth. Allow it to set up. If you refrigerate the brownies they are easier to get out of the pan in nice shape. You can eat them cold or let them warm up to room temperature.
yummy! I’d love to try it!
They look and sound amazing. I’d love to try a box, my cousin has celiacs and we are always on the lookout for great GF products.
Looks so good!
Your photographs are so gorgeous; I’m drooling over here. Cannot WAIT to try these!!
Awesome! Those look delicious!!
These sound so good! (And they look amazing, too!)
I’d love a box, they look delish! And woohoo! Red Sox Fans!
Way to go to make a GF mix over the top! This looks amazing.
How funny … my co-worker and I were just talking about a gluten-free diet today. We both loves brownies!!!
yumm…. I want to try some of those brownies and the ice cream looks wonderful too!!
Great post. Chocolate + mint, the perfect combo. I have been hearing about these mixes, but have not had a chance to try them, would love to!
Thanks!
Who doesn’t love a chocolaty brownie and with mint ice cream and a ganache topping.. well be still my beating heart!
I have a few people in my neighborhood that need gluten free diets which has raised my awareness to how much we eat every day that has gluten in it. I’d love to win these brownies and give them a try (I might even share them with my neighbors that can’t eat the regular ones).
I love King Arthur! Would be really neat to try the gluten free. 🙂
Love your blog….you are a baking inspriation =o)
Oh my dad is gluten free, i’d love to have these for him.
Oh how fun. 🙂 I have a dear friend who is gluten-intolerant and I’d love to whip up a batch of these for him. 🙂
Ooooh, those brownies look so good! My little brother can’t take wheat & I think he would love them!
I have no doubt that these brownies are delicious. I love King Arthur Flour and think all of their products are amazing.
I keep seeing all of these incredible ice cream recipes on all of the food blogs I read, but I don’t have an ice cream maker. The thought of fresh mint ice cream is definitely making me consider buying one…
Although I eat pleanty of gluten, these would be lovely to take to my gluten free friend’s home.
Oh My God..these look amazing!
Wow, all of that looks amazing! I’ve never been a fan of mint in desserts, but maybe it’s just because I haven’t made them. Trident-y desserts? Yeah, notsomuch. And those brownies sound like a winner!
These look beautiful! And I’d looove to try them!
Thank you for showing us a picture of how much to muddle the mint. I’ve never known exactly when to stop muddling—til now. A picture really is worth a thousand words!
That looks fantastic and like summer!