Food and Drink – Recipes are Merely a Suggestion

gluten free dark chocolate brownie with pecans and coconut — Gluten free dark chocolate brownie with pecans and coconut

I don’t have a big sweet tooth. Ask my family. I’d much rather indulge in salty fatty treats any day. Bring on the fries and the Pringles and the chili cheese Fritos. And most of you are well aware by now of my strong opinions about the superiority of savory breakfast. You can keep your waffles and pancakes and danish, I’ll be over here with the eggs, bacon and potato crowd. I’m just a savory girl.

When the rare yen for sweets appears, I do enjoy key lime pie, blackberry pie and a soft, perhaps even underbaked cookie with tons of stuff in it (the more the better).

But brownies. Brownies are my best loved sweet treat of all time. As such, I always have one eye open for a good recipe. Not that I’m gonna follow it! But I like getting ideas. I had a lot of fun tinkering with this one and the result was better than expected. Might be my favorite brownie ever, and that’s saying something!

Fight me if you don’t think these are the richest, chocolatiest, nutty nuggets of awesomeness ever. Look at that crackly top and fudgy center! And, they happen to be gluten free! Warning: must love coconuts and pecans if you’re gonna try this one.

1/2 cup butter (cow or vegan), softened

1 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 tsp each vanilla and coconut extracts

1/2 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder

1/2 cup oat flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or not, depends on your taste)

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans

Preheat to 350.

I use a stand mixer for most things because I have one and I’m lazy, but you could certainly mix this by hand as well.

Cream butter and sugar together.

Add egg, coconut and vanilla extracts and cocoa powder, mix thoroughly.

Add oat flour and baking powder and mix briefly til combined.

Stir in coconut, chocolate chips and nuts.

Spread batter in a well-greased 8×8 glass baking dish. Could also use parchment to line pan.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Center will still be slightly gooey.

Best if left to cool completely before cutting. I like them refrigerated.

I keep small chunks in a bag in the freezer for whenever that sneaky sweet tooth strikes.

When life gives you tomatillos, make salsa!

recipes are merely a suggestion — Fresh tomatillos dressed in their papery skins

Last week I stumbled across a batch of perfectly lovely fresh tomatillos whilst perusing all of the other south of the border delights in a Mexican tienda. We were actually dive bar hunting (one of my other writing gigs, check it out here) when we came across this wonderful market. I love shopping in international markets, home or abroad, whenever I get the chance. They are like magnets that just pull me in. I feel like grocery shopping is a universal task that unites us as humans and I love seeing what fun ingredients people in other countries have to work with.

These tomatillos just called my name. I knew they would make a delicious roasted salsa. And I was not wrong!

Here’s how I made it:

Peel the papery skins off of the tomatillos. Rough cut a small white onion into chunklets. Coat tomatillos and onions in a light oil and sprinkle with coarse salt.

Roast ’em on a sheet pan at around 400 degrees until everything gets soft and browned in spots. The tomatillos will make a lot of liquid – that is normal. And delicious!

Cool a bit and then transfer the veg and magical juices to a food processor or blender.

Whir them up until your desired chunkiness is reached. This is how I like mine:

Check for salt but mine didn’t need any. It was just a bright, almost citrusy flavor with a touch of tannin. This was amazing on carnitas tacos and also stirred into a bean stew. Easy as can be, go make it.

Category: Food and Drink

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