Gluten-Free Chocolate Bites or 'This Ones for You, Jolene'

Gluten-Free Chocolate Bites - Intense Chocolate Flavour!

Ingredients and Unbaked Chocolate Bites

Tonight's blog is for Jolene, one of my biggest supporters!  Jolene made a request for some gluten-free recipes.  I suggested the coconut macaroons I made a little while ago but alas she is tired of that old standby.  The other go-to option is Rice Krispie squares but they have gluten in them.  Why are they Rice Krispies and not Wheat Krispies then...that's why the company came out with a gluten free version.  Didn't they used to have a commercial asking people what they thought they were made of...Rice...hence the name Rice Krispies.  Not sure why they would need to add gluten...but I'm drifting...again!

So I found a recipe from way back and thought I would give it a try. Somewhere in my memory I recall whipping these up for a friend and having them turn out perfect...but now I am not so sure if that was a memory or just wishful thinking. 

Since there is no gluten in the recipe the batter does not come together the same as when using flour.  One thing I like to mention is to remember that a recipe without flour is not going to taste or have the same mouth feel as something with flour.  What you want to do, in my humble opinion, is make a great tasting item for the person in your life who cannot have gluten.  There are lots of food options for main courses and side dishes but desserts/treats are a little trickier!

Before I give you the recipe let me say I have not done a lot of gluten-free baking so give these a try and judge them for yourself.  They come together quickly and the original recipe says you need to form the dough (more like the chocolate sand) into little balls and press down with a fork to flatten.  Having made these 2 times lately the dough does NOT come together.  So I figured the easiest thing to do was to press the dough into a pan with a removeable bottom.  This seemed to work well and I ended up using 2 pans.  I pressed the dough lightly into the pan and baked it at 325 for about 12-15 minutes.  

There is not a big difference in the appearance of the batter after baking but it does firm up. When I took the pan out of the oven I let it cool then took a knife and cut it up. These still have a crumby or sandy texture but they do give you the hit of intense chocolate so make sure you use a good quality cocoa.

Baked Gluten-Free Chocolate Bites

Preheat oven to 325F.  

1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup Cornstarch
1/2 cup Cocoa
2/3 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups rice flour

In large bowl use electric beater to cream butter.  Add sugar and cream until light and fluffy.  Add in vanilla and mix in.

In separate bowl, whisk together cornstarch, cocoa and rice flour.  Add into creamed mixture and blend well.

Mixture will be very granular or sandy.  Make sure to scrap up the bottom of mixing bowl.

Press lightly into tart pans with removeable bottoms and bake in preheated oven for approximately 12-15 minutes.  Mixture will firm up.

While bites are still warm cut into slices or squares with a knife.

Hope you enjoy this recipe and I will certainly explore and test out a few others.  Maybe an English Toffee recipe...no flour or gluten there.