King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Brownie Mix

King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Baking is a fairly tricky thing to accomplish as someone who requires wheat or gluten-free food since wheat flour is essentially the lifeblood of just about every traditional baked good. There are virtually no recipes outside of a flour-free cake (which is very dense) that offers a wheat free experience as far as the baked goods world is concerned even though there seem to be many companies that have tried to offer gluten free baked goods in the past (most of them have had the consistency of chalk or cardboard). 

To get a baked good that tastes good, substitutions and changes that are fairly significant in how much they change the consistency of the finished product must be made. And this can be hard for people who don't have a lot of experience in baking as finding a mixture that offers a result that's close to the "real" thing can be a challenge. 

King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

One company who offers up a lot of different wheat-free baking options is the King Arthur Flour Company who ships a variety of gluten-free flour options to grocery stores across the United States. For the purposes of this review, we'll be using King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Brownie Mix.

One of the pluses of using a baking mixture is that most such recipes call for nothing more than a few eggs and a few other ingredients such as butter and that's exactly what this mixture calls for. So it's pretty easy to dump the mixture, the eggs and some butter into a bowl and swirl it around a bit. Remember to melt the butter for just a few seconds in the microwave before you toss it in the bowl. It doesn't have to be completely liquid.

King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

The cooking time is approximate to a regular batch that uses traditional wheat flour, but it's worth noting whether your oven runs hotter or colder than the temperature suggests because it's pretty easy to make these things too gooey or too dried out. Keeping an eye on them for a bit is usually important to make sure that they don't cook for too long.

Upon coming out of the oven, the brownies should look the same as regular wheat-style brownies and just like a regular batch, it's best to let them cool a bit before you dive into them. Letting them stand allows them to solidify just a tad and will usually ensure that most of the brownies end up in your stomach and not all over the floor in the kitchen.

King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

Taste-wise, these brownies will deliver well as they do taste quite good and should satisfy the baking urge anyone might have for something that's mushy and chocolaty. 

Anyone who likes their brownies particularly cake-like might find the consistency a tad bit closer to pudding than cake (but just a tad). 

Either way, if you're restricted from eating gluten and need an alternative baking option, these brownies should do the trick. Generally gluten-free baking can result in some fairly strange creations that either turn out to be something that is quite mushy and strange, even if it tastes good. 

Often gluten-free baking results in a treat that is either spectacularly dry or is kind of like a baked soup. These brownies are kind of mushy, but they do have a mild cake-like texture, which is nice. And the fact that they taste good and chocolaty is a rather nice bonus.

King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

One major plus is that you can probably offer them to people who don't have a gluten allergy and they'll likely be unable to tell the difference in taste. Note that the brownies do have a rather hefty 170 calories per brownie and so it's probably best not to eat half the batch immediately. Just a few should suffice.

King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Brownie Mix Report Card

King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Brownie Mix
Photograph Copyright 2012 by Kelsey Wyatt

The Good Stuff:

This mixture tastes like a traditional batch of brownies and as long as you cook it for the appropriate amount of time, you should be fine with your batch. It's also recommended that you let them cool a fair bit since they have a tendency to fall apart if you try to toss them down the hatch three seconds after you've removed them from the oven.

Another perk of these brownies is that they're easy to make and cleanup should include nothing more than the baking pan and the bowl you used to stir them up prior to baking them.

What Could Change:

Well, like many gluten-free items, this mixture is expensive! But it does make a whole batch of brownies, so if you're really aching for some baked goods, this mixture should offer you a brownie that is nearly indistinguishable from a wheat-flour filled brownie. 

They are also kind of rich and thick and this might not be suited to your tastes if you're more of a cake fan than a pie fan (but really, what sane person is?). Brownies are supposed to be a bit more like cake than these brownies tend to turn out. But this isn't really a huge detriment unless you're very particular about the consistency of your brownies.