Premier baker rethinks gluten-free

Peter Reinhart has long been considered one of the nation's premier bakers.

He takes a fresh approach to gluten-free baking in "The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking" (Ten Speed Press, $30).

Traditional gluten-free recipes turn on what Reinhart calls "the holy trinity" of starches — rice flour, tapioca and potato starch. Those starches work in place of gluten, but they also happen to be high in carbohydrates. He wanted recipes that blended low-carb and gluten-free.

His approach relies on finely ground flours of almonds or pecans.

Cocoa-nut brownies

Serves 12

Ingredients

2 cups pecan flour

1 cup almond flour

2 cups Splenda or Stevia Extract in the Raw,

½ cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder

2 teaspoons baking powder

3 eggs

½ cup unsweetened chocolate soy milk or chocolate almond milk

¼ cup salted butter or margarine, melted

1 tablespoon vanilla

½ teaspoon liquid stevia

Instructions

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then mist it with cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, combine the pecan flour, almond flour, Splenda or other sweetener, cocoa powder and baking powder. Whisk until well mixed.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, soy milk, butter, vanilla and liquid stevia until thoroughly blended. Add the flour mixture and whisk or stir with a large spoon until all of the ingredients are evenly incorporated to make a smooth, sticky batter.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan, spreading it in an even layer.

Bake for 15 minutes, then rotate and bake for another 10 minutes, or until the brownies are just slightly springy but still jiggly when pressed gently at the center. If you like fudgy brownies, remove them from the oven at this point. If you prefer them to be more cakelike, continue baking for a few more minutes, or until a toothpick inserted at the middle of the brownies comes out clean.

Let the brownies cool in the pan for at least 15 minutes. You can either cut the brownies in the pan, or transfer the whole piece to a cutting board before cutting. Cut them in a 3-by-4 grid to yield 12 brownies.

This recipe is from "The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking."

Per serving: 270 calories; 6 grams protein; 12 grams carbohydrates; 24 grams fat; 55 milligrams cholesterol; 140 milligrams sodium; 4 grams fiber; 2 grams sugar.