Gooey Gluten Free Brownies

Chocolate and I have carried on a long time love affair. Chocolate and I understand each other. Chocolate and I have a bond that cannot be broken. That's why you may notice that nearly all of the recipes I post have chocolate in them. When I think sweet, I think chocolate. Brownies are the ultimate chocolate dessert. I have tried a lot of brownie recipes in my day, but this one might just top all other brownies. First of all, they are made with my favorite flour to bake with: oat flour (xoxo). Secondly, you can change up the sugar and use either cane sugar or coconut sugar (my other fave baking buddy). Both result in ridiculously delicious brownies, but for different reasons. I'm not really a fan of cane sugar, and I reaaallllyyy try to keep that refined babe out of my sweets... but using white sugar creates a crazy beautiful and satisfying crust like nobody's business. The brownies will puff up when baking and then sink when you take them out of the oven, creating cracks of crusty goodness hugging a shy, gooey center. That was my first experience with these brownies, following the original recipe (sans coffee), which you can find here. My second time baking these brownies, I swapped out the refined sugar for coconut sugar. This resulted in a more dense, fudge-like brownie with crazy-complex flavors. The coconut sugar and butter create a sort of (ah-mazing) caramel base, and when they are baked and cooled (I always put my brownies in the fridge or freezer), they taste faintly of coffee. Don't even get me started on the crazy-good and chewy texture with studs of dark chocolate. I cut these babies into bites and store them in a ziplock in the freezer. I eat them cold, but popping a few in the micro for 10-15 seconds is something I can't (and won't) argue with.

Ingredients

1 1/3 cups oat flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 (1 1/2 sticks) cup unsalted butter
1 1/2 cups coconut (or cane) sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips or chunks

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line an 8x8 ceramic baking dish with parchment paper. In a separate bowl, mix together the oat flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In a microwave safe bowl, melt the butter. Mix in the sugar and then microwave for another minute. Whisk by hand with a wire whisk or fork until smooth and creamy. Add in the vanilla and cocoa powder. Mix in the eggs one at a time until smooth. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet until just combined. Don't over mix! Top with dark chocolate chips or chunks and bake for about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool at least 10 minutes before cutting.

*NOTES:

I baked these in a ceramic baking dish and they turned out beautifully. I also tried a batch in a metal pan, but they turned out dry and cakey.

These are best a bit under-baked. They will look too gooey when you remove them from the oven, but they will firm up as they cool.