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.
I want them!!! Preferably NOW. At my desk.
the brownies look delicious! do you know where would be the best place to buy these gluten free mixes and and the gluten free flours?
Hi Michelle,
There are links to the KAF website in this post that have a way for you to find the mixes locally in your area.
Thanks! Zoë
looks so beautiful & delicious! you have inspired me to make some homemade ice cream this weekend!
I am a Family and Consumer Science teacher. With everything I read lately concerning gluten and how it affects children I would love to increase the variety of products I use in my classes.
I (and my two sons) LOVED LOVED LOVED your gluten free chapter!!!! I would be thrilled to try anything you sent my way!! Your the best~
I LOVE brownies!
How very chivalrous of King Arthur to have GF products! Thanks for the kick-in-the-butt (and inspiration) to start making some summer goodies.
These look soooo delicious! I rarely use box mixes–I even did a New Year’s Challenge on my blog to make things only homemade for 90 days. But these look too good and would be great for parties or get-togethers. Thanks for the review–and I’ll be checking back here frequently from now on 🙂
will you be willing to ship outside the US? 🙂 these look awesome and I’m intrigued but unless I get some here, not much chance of trying them out otherwise. 🙂
My mom has been gluten free for over 20 years and it’s nice to see all the products hitting the shelves now. The prices are a little prohibitive but I understand the research that has to go into these products. We usually make brownies with oat flour and they are delicious. My mom can eat oat flour though where some can’t. I have been itching to try this mix, and especially the cookie mix. Betty Crocker recently came out with a cookie mix and while it’s okay, it’s still gritty. I’ll be interested to have opinions on the KAF cookie mix. Love your site – I’m adding it to my favorites!
Zoe, fresh mint ice cream is wonderful! And paired with chocolate… Yum!
Those are some luscious brownies.
WOW! King Arthur does gluten-free?! I will cross my fingers for the brownie mix give away, but I am going to order some of their gluten-free flour right now. I haven’t had a decent slice of bread in years…. it’s good to know that the best flour producer around is making products we can try out. I haven’t been able to eat a decent slice of bread in years… Lately I have had a craving for flat breads….do you think that it might be possible to do a gluten free flat bread with their products? Thanks for a great post. I am going to check out your Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp recipe next.
Hi Paula,
The flours will be excellent and it really is possible to bake a great loaf of gluten-free bread. My second book has a chapter dedicated to g-f baking and people seem to be loving the breads they are baking. You can check out one of the recipes at my other website: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1396 and here is a naan done with g-f dough: http://www.artisanbreadinfive.com/?p=1440.
Happy baking! Zoë
I am glad to know that King Arthur is making gluten-free desserts. A family friend has been gluten-free for two years now and would be thrilled to have “real” desserts again. If possible, I would like the boxes to be sent to his family to enjoy. Thank you for the post.
Sensational post Zoe… ever so pretty! YUM!!
oh my, I’m completely drooling here!!
That’s the best looking brownie I’ve seen in quite some time! I’d love to try those! The mint ice cream is definitely getting made this weekend.
These look excellent….My soon to be sister-in-law has a gluten allergy, so I will definitely be trying these!
That mint ice cream looks delicious. I wish I had an ice cream maker!
Love brownies. Hands down, my go to dessert.
These look incredible. And I love your pictures!!
Pick me, NOW!
Mmmmmmmm! Yes, please!
I love all of the King Arthur recipes I’ve tried. Great stuff!
Those brownies look soooo good! I am going to try that ice cream, too!
Beautiful picture of the brownies, they look delish! I love the way you instucted to make your ganache. I am going to try that the next time I make it. It looks really good on top of the brownies. Thanks for your newsletter, I love getting it!