Gluten Free Chocolate and Red Currant Brownies & Beautiful Blogger Award

I wanted to make something easy. You know... To get things started with my "new kitchen"... Something that everybody in this house could eat... even Georgie's 93 year-old grandmother (her brain must look like soup from Alzheimer's, but amazingly her blood sugar is lower than mine!!!). 

I chose Brownies for Have the Cake. It's been a while since I stopped by Rena's blog. I made them gluten free because I still need to keep to my diet as much as possible. Walking everyday into a fully operational chef and pastry-chef school, you cannot imagine and I cannot describe what a temptation that is for me. 

Unfortunately, I did not have time for experimentation with a sugar and egg free version of this brownie, so I just kept out the main culprits, gluten and lactose. I replaced the pecans, with dried red currants, partly because I wanted to participate in this months Chocolate Party and partly because my biggest customer (the said 93-year-old grandmother), has no teeth!!! I soaked the dried currants in a couple of shot glasses worth of cherry liqueur to puff them up a bit. The recipe came together easily and the results were satisfying to all! So if you want a "kitchen warming" brownie recipe this is it!

Before I give you the recipe, I want to share a few words about an unexpected and very welcomed award I received. The Beautiful Blogger award was given to me by Jenbeansblog, a really beautiful blogger with delicious recipes and really tasty photography!!! Thank you Jenbean... you made my year by giving me this award!!!

When you receive this award there are a few things you have to do in order to thank the good karma that gave it to you....

1. Copy the Beautiful Blogger Award logo and place it in your post. 
2. Thank the person who nominated you, and link back to their blog.
3. Tell six things about yourself.
4. Nominate six other bloggers for their own Beautiful Blogger Award (and let them know you have done so)

The first two I've done...now for the rest:

1. I am studying to become a sommelier because I like to drink wine but most of all I love spending time with the people who make it and think of it as a work of art and not only the means to get you quickly on your way to a "fun" Friday night.
2. I had two lower back operations three years ago.
3. I know quite a lot about lower back pain and healing so if you want to ask me anything go ahead!
4. I quit smoking three years ago and I think it is the best thing I've done so far in my life.
5. I am trying to quit sugar but failing miserably...
6. I will continue to try to quit sugar....

Now hop over to these even more Beautiful Blogs and to read what they have to say about themselves...

Sissi from With a Glass 

Flannery & Katherine from Fashionably Bombed

Sarvani from Baker in Disguise 

Patty from Patty's Food

Angela from The Charmed Cupcake

Alice from A Mama, Baby and Shar-Pei in the Kitchen

And don't forget the brownie!!!! It is soooo delicious

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Gluten Free Chocolate and Red Currant Brownies

Adapted from Every Day Food, June 2012
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 50 minutes
Yield: 16 servings
Ingredients
85 gr unsalted butter, plus a bit more for buttering the pan
1/3 cup cornstarch, levelled
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
340 gr dark chocolate
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup dried red currants, soaked for 30 minutes in 60 ml of cherry liqueur
Procedure
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees C.
Butter a 20 cm square baking pan and like it with cooking paper, leaving about 5 cm of paper to hang on all sides - this will make lifting the baked brownie cake so much easier!!
In a medium bowl, whisk together cornstarch, cocoa powder, cinnamon and salt and leave aside. Melt the butter and chocolate in the microwave oven, using a large microwave-safe bowl or over a bain-marie (be careful if you go for the bain-marie that the boiling water in the pan does not come into contact with the bowl containing the chocolate and butter and that steam and water do not find their way into the melting chocolate!!)
When the chocolate and butter have melted, add the sugar and vanilla extract. Stir in the eggs, one at a time until absorbed.
Add the cornstarch mixture to the chocolate and eggs and stir vigorously until it becomes smooth. Drain the soaking cranberries - don't throw away the liquid, you can use it in another recipe or drink it and be happy :) and stir them into the mixture.
Pour the chocolate batter into the pan and smooth over the top.
Bake for about 30 - 35 minutes, depending on the oven - until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs attached.
Let it cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, then lift the cake and cut into 16 squares.

I am submitting this post to The Tuesday Talent Show from The Chef in Training, Funky Polka Dot Giraffe's Too Cute Tuesday, Mandy's Recipe Box Totally Tasty Tuesdays, Salt Tree's Open Call Tuesday , Crazy for Crust Crazy Sweet Tuesday, 33 Shades of Green Tasty Tuesdays
and

Crepes with Marinated Beef and Olive and Basil Tapenade / Κρέπες με Μυρωδικά και Μαριναρισμένο Μοσχάρι και Πάστα Ελιάς με Βασιλικό

Yesterday was not a good day for my cooking. It was a great day for my kitchen floor though! It got a pretty good taste of the Olive and Basil tapenade I was preparing for my French Fridays with Dorie entry and claimed the life of one of my favourite Delimano frying pans. They sure are earth and health friendly but they are not at all floor friendly.

Today, I woke up determined to change my bad karma in the kitchen. I burned some incense, planted a new basil plant next to the one I trimmed yesterday, and went ahead to sacrifice some grass fed beef to appease the angry carnivorous spirits that inhabit my tiny kitchen.