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Gluten Free Pumpkin Brownies with Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips Frosting

Peanut Butter Bash

 

Gluten Free Pumpkin Brownies?  Yes, pumpkin in brownies!

A note about Peanut Butter Bash:  I was invited to participate in the Peanut Butter Bash Facebook Group by Dianna over at Stop Living and Start Existing.  Thank you, Dianna, for sharing this fun group with me!

Peanut Butter Bash is a monthly dessert challenge that uses peanut butter and a “mystery” ingredient.  Each month the “mystery ingredient” changes.  Yes, group members are told about the ingredient in advance.  When I joined the group, the October challenge had just finished.  October’s special ingredient was chocolate.

Note:  This post does contain affiliate links.

November’s challenge:  The special mystery ingredient is pumpkin!  Pumpkin and peanut butter?  I know what you are thinking:  Is it possible to combine these two ingredients together and still have a good tasting dessert?!  Yes, it is possible!

For my contribution to November’s Peanut Butter Bash, I chose to make my Grandma Olive’s Big Pan Brownies that can be found in my book, The Gluten-Free Way: My Way.

I decided to use canned pumpkin instead of the oil to work the pumpkin into the dessert.  The batter turned out thicker than normal and did not rise as much as it usually does.  Next time, I will probably use half of the oil called for and pumpkin for the rest.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Brownies
Gluten Free Pumpkin Brownies – fresh from the oven (Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan)

4.5 from 2 reviews
Gluten Free Pumpkin Brownies
Author: 
Recipe type: Gluten Free Brownies
Cuisine: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12-16
 
Gluten free brownies that do not taste gluten free.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • ¾ cup canned pumpkin
  • 1 cup (140 grams) of gluten free flour
  • ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350F.
  2. Grease 13 x 9 x 2 baking dish.
  3. Combine ingredients and stir until mixed.
  4. Pour into greased pan and bake until toothpick comes out clean.
  5. Let cool. May serve warm. Top with optional ice cream, whipped cream, or frost with favorite icing.
Notes
May substitute the ¾ cup canned pumpkin for ¾ cup oil May also use both pumpkin and oil for a combined total of no more than ¾ cup.

Crust on top of brownies tend to crack. If the crust cracks, it is most likely done.

Original Gluten-Free recipe by and found in The Gluten-Free Way: My Way by Adrienne Z. Milligan.

 

The frosting is Alton Brown’s Chocolate Frosting using Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips instead of semi-sweet chocolate chips.  Please check out the recipe at my Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips Frosting post.

Gluten Free Reese's Peanut Butter Chips Frosting
Gluten Free Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips Frosting (Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan)

On the top, I placed quartered Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in the center of each potential piece.  That finger in the photo is my son’s as he is excitedly pointing out the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup pieces all over the frosting.  He was waiting for his piece.

Gluten Free Pumpkin Brownies with Reese's Peanut Butter Chip Frosting and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups on top
Gluten Free Pumpkin Brownies with Reese’s Peanut Butter Chip Frosting and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups on top (Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan)

 

Here is my piece that I enjoyed.  I hope you will try this recipe and see how well gluten free, pumpkin, and peanut butter all go together!

GF Pumpkin Brownies with Reese's Peanut Butter Chips Frosting
Gluten Free Pumpkin Brownies with Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips Frosting and Reese’s PB Cups (Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan)

Please share about how you have combined peanut butter and pumpkin in your dessert adventures.  Are you interested in joining us for the next Peanut Butter Bash?  Follow the link in my note at the top and join today.  I look forward to seeing your dessert next month!

#peanutbutterbash


 

Gluten Free Reese’s Peanut Butter Chip Frosting

Gluten Free Reese’s Peanut Butter Chip Frosting is fast to make

Note:  This is the frosting that was used with the Gluten Free Pumpkin Brownies for November 2014’s Peanut Butter Bash.  This post contains affiliate links.  Please see my Disclaimer for more details.

While watching Good Eats (via our streaming service) a couple of nights ago, we watched Alton Brown make his Devil’s Food Cake and Chocolate Frosting.  The frosting recipe was so simple that I just had to try it – like THEN.

I made a batch of my Gluten Free Brownies and the frosting.  After sharing (almost reluctantly), with the other five family members, I decided that this was the way to include the peanut butter for November’s Peanut Butter Bash.  (My Gluten Free Brownies do not normally call for canned pumpkin.  Pumpkin was the special ingredient for this month’s challenge.)

Instead of using the semi-sweet chocolate chips, I used the Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips.  The frosting is lighter in color using the peanut butter chips than the semi-sweet, though it is not white.  It has a nice light peanut butter tint.

Gluten Free Reese's Peanut Butter Chip Frosting
Gluten Free Reese’s Peanut Butter Chip Frosting (Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan)

Here is the recipe for the Gluten Free Reese’s Peanut Butter Chips Frosting.

Gluten Free Reese's Peanut Butter Chip Frosting
Author: 
Recipe type: Frosting
Cuisine: Dessert
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 2-3 cups
 
This recipe is based off of the Chocolate Frosting recipe by Alton Brown (http://altonbrown.com).
Ingredients
  • 3 ounces Reese's Peanut Butter Chips (read label to verify Gluten-Free ingredients)
  • 5.5 ounces unsalted butter (at room temperature)
  • 1 ounce Gluten-Free mayonnaise
  • 8 ounces powdered sugar
  • Pinch of Kosher salt
Instructions
  1. Melt Reese's Peanut Butter Chips in the microwave.
  2. Place butter and mayonnaise into mixer bowl and beat on high 3-4 minutes. Beat until fluffy and creamy.
  3. Drop mixer speed to low and add in melted chips.
  4. Add in powdered sugar and salt slowly (adding in about a third of powered sugar each time). Beat on high 2-3 minutes or until frosting is light in color and fluffy.
  5. Use on brownies, cake, cupcakes, etc.
  6. Refrigerate remaining frosting and any products not eaten due to mayonnaise content.
Notes
The original recipe by Alton Brown calls for 3 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate chips. All other parts of the recipe are as originally stated.

I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Please let me know if you try this recipe with different baking chips and how the recipe turns out.

~Adrienne

Dawn Dish Soap is Gluten Free

Dawn Dish Soap
Dawn Dish Soap (Copyright Adrienne Z. Milligan)

Dawn Dish Soap is Gluten Free and has many uses in addition to being a dish soap!

Note:  My friend, Dianna, over at Stop Living and Start Existing invited me to a Dawn Beyond the Sink Tweet Chat at 9pm EST today (10/28/2014).  She suggested we could each write a post about Dawn Dish Soap as our blog post topic for today.  Thank you, Dianna, for the invite and the suggestion!  

Dawn Dish Soap is a staple in my home.  I use it for more than just dishes!

As you can see in the photo above, there are three bottles.  Yes, I have three bottles of Dawn Dish Soap!  The two on the right are almost both empty.  (That means it is time to add them to the shopping list!)

The smallest one (far left) is the one that I keep in my shower.  (It also goes with us when we go to resorts with kitchens.)

The middle bottle is the one that I usually purchase the 90 fl oz bottle of Dawn at Costco.  As a family of six, we go through a lot of dishes.  This big bottle allows me to use my favorite dish soap for about four to six months without having to buy a smaller bottle more often.

The far right bottle is the one that gets refilled from the Costco bottle.  It’s place is next to the kitchen sink.  It gets used daily.

I prefer the Dawn Advanced or Dawn Ultra as it does a great job of cutting grease.  No other dish soap that I have tried has come close to the grease cutting power of Dawn.  We love to occasionally cook yummy goodies that are a bit high in grease.  When doing these dishes, this is when the awesome power of Dawn is most appreciated!

My friend that is a hair stylist once told me to use Dawn Dish Soap for hair as needed.  I asked her why and her reason was the grease cutting power that will actually clean the hair.  After you use it in your hair, you need to shampoo and condition as normal.  This will help to re-moisturize the hair.

I have used it in my hair – and that of the rest of the family – after a day at the beach, in the pool, after a fever breaks or bad night sweats.  I also will use it when my hair gets super greasy.

After working on one of the vehicles, both my husband and I go straight to the Dawn Dish Soap.  While there are specific products made for the cleaning of grease from automotive work, most of those products contain lanolin of which I am allergic to and therefore do not purchase.

I just found recipes No-Grate Homemade Laundry Soap and Homemade Stain Remover (“Shout”).  Both of these recipes use Dawn Dish Soap for the grease cutting properties.

As Alton Brown mentions often in his show, Good Eats, he believes in “products that are multi-taskers.”  Dawn Dish Soap, I believe, is such a product.

What do you use Dawn Dish Soap for in your home or office?  Please share so we can learn from each other.

~Adrienne

I found this on Dawn:  “Do your hand dishwashing liquids contain gluten? Answer: Gluten is not part of the formulation for any of our hand dishwashing products.”

Note:  This post contains my affiliate links for Amazon.com.  Please see my Disclaimers for more information.