Brownie Lady Brownies (good enough to eat in church!)

These are the BEST brownies in the world. At least I think so. Stacy found the recipe on an online discussion board. The story goes that a lady walked into church with a 9x13 pan of brownies and a knife. She sat down in the pew, cut the brownies, and proceeded to consume the entire tray by herself. Everybody watched this woman hoover the brownies but nobody was brave enough to ask her about the incident.

Sometime after the second time this happened with the same woman in the same chapel, one soul was brave enough to approach the Brownie Lady as she became known behind her back. Turns out that the Brownie Lady was a pregnant lady and was succumbing to cravings. Now these are the kind of cravings I can get behind! Obviously a recipe for brownies that cause cravings so severe as to break a pile of rules of etiquette needs to be shared. So the Brownie Lady shared her recipe and it has been passed around along with the legend until it arrived at our appreciative home.

After hearing the story I immediately decided that I wanted to eat those brownies but I also dismissed the idea just as quickly because brownies have wheat flour in them. And gluten free brownies usually taste terrible.

Until now. Since this brownie recipe only contained 1 1/2 cup of flour, Stacy decided to substitute with our mix of gluten free flours. I almost literally held my breath while this thing baked. And the fudgey yumminess that came out of that warm little box became my favorite brownie of all time. Even better than the good stuff I had eaten before the family went gluten-free.

Here's the recipe in all of it's glory:

Brownie Lady Brownies
(good enough to eat in church)

2/3 C Cocoa
2/3 C Shortening, Melted (Not butter flavored)
4 Eggs
2 C Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 1/2 C Flour (Gluten free mix below)
1 tsp Baking Powder
1 tsp Salt
1 1/2 C Miniature Marshmallows
1 C Chopped Nuts (we substitute chocolate chips here)

Mix cocoa and melted shortening in bowl. In seperate bowl beat eggs, sugar and vanilla. Add to cocoa mix. Add dry ingredients EXCLUDING marshmallows to cocoa mixture. Mix well. Stir in marshmallows. Pour into 9x13 pan and bake @ 350 for 25-35 minutes. Your fork or toothpick won't come out super clean because of the marshmallows.

Gluten Free Flour Substitution
1 1/2 C Flour =
1/2 C Rice flour
1/2 C Tapioca starch
1/2 C Corn starch
1 1/2 tsp potato flour (not starch)
3/4 tsp Xanthan gum

OK, so that' s a little more than 1 1/2 cups, but it works.


Once you have this recipe perfected, you can start to improvise. As good as the brownie is, I like to use it as a platform for flavor. These are great with ice cream, fudge, and caramel. I have made two 9" rounds and sandwiched a peanut butter and chocolate filling between them making an incredibly huge Reese's Peanut Butter Cup concoction that is still referred to at work.

Oh the things you can do!