Japanese Pumpkin (Kabocha) Cocoa Brownies | Gluten-Free
Recently, I saw that Bon Appétit 's "basically" had featured a kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) flour by Hearthy Foods. I thought to myself, if it's good enough for them, it should definitely work for me! So I tried it out in a brownie recipe and lo and behold, they came out wonderfully! Though they lack the traditional crinkly top that brownies have (I am now left to assume that forms when wheat-based flour is present), they are just as moist, fudgy, and have a nice earthy undertone to them.
You can likely achieve this brownie with most of Hearthy Foods' flours (I recommend trying out their regular pumpkin, chestnut, apple, pecan, or even butternut squash). Try it out and let me know how it goes!
Ingredients
4 large eggs
300g (1 3/4 cup) light brown sugar, packed
120g (1 1/2 cup) dutch processed cocoa powder, sifted
8oz (1 cup) butter, melted
50g (2/3 cup) kabocha pumpkin flour, sifted (as best you can)
2 tsp vanilla extract (imitation/flavoring works great)
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
Optional: sea salt flakes for topping
Recipe
Preheat your oven to 300°F.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs using a hand mixer (stand mixer works great too, and even a whisk with a strong arm).
Pour in the brown sugar and mix until combined.
Add the cocoa powder (it will fly all over the place if you aren’t careful, beware). Switch from a whisk/the beater to a large spatula; gently fold the cocoa powder into the egg+sugar mixture.
When the cocoa powder is still messy and hard to blend, add in the melted butter. You can add the vanilla extract and salt at this point too (in the video, I added them at the end because I forgot them).
Stir with the spatula, starting with small circles and folding in the batter from the outside in.
When the batter is mostly mixed through, sprinkle the kabocha (Japanese pumpkin) flour in and finish off the batter with the mixer.
Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper (or grease it) and pour the batter in. Use the spatula to level it out as best you can.
Bake for 40-45 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean (some moist crumbs are okay/good; WET BATTER is not okay).
Optional: Sprinkle sea salt flakes all over while the brownies are warm.
Let the brownies cool for 20 minutes before cutting them into 16 squares.
