It was more than six years ago when Trader Joe’s released its first gluten free brownie mix. At the time, gluten free baking wasn’t as commonplace as it is now and the mix was one very easy way to quickly mix up a gluten free chocolate treat. Fast forwarding to today, Trader Joe’s has recently added a new Baker Josef’s Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Brownie Mix to their lineup of baking products. The original mix was primarily made with brown rice flour and evaporated cane juice, and was free of wheat, nuts, milk/dairy, soy and corn. The new mix has a slightly more conventional ingredient list that beings with regular sugar (like many brownie recipes, since sugar helps give them a fudgy texture), though it still uses brown rise flour, that I think reflects how mainstream gluten free baking has become. The new mix is also chock full of delicious chocolate chips – and it’s hard to argue with that in a brownie.
The brownies made with this mix are definitely rich, with a lot of chocolate flavor both from the mix itself and the generous number of chocolate chips in the batter. Like many other gluten free brownie recipes, particularly those made with brown rice flour, the brownies are very tender, rather than chewy. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but it can make slicing them a bit less precise than you might hope. I did think that they were a bit better when I prepared them with melted butter – as opposed to the oil recommended on the package. It’s nice to be able to prepare them both ways, however, and you’re still in for a great chocolate treat if you simply make them as-directed.
That said… if you don’t want to use a mix, give my amazing Gluten Free Fudgy Brownie Recipe a try for a completely homemade chocolate fix!
What do you think?