Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Brownies (Trader Joe’s)

I do this for you. All of you gluten-free junkies and freaks have a friend in the business. I could go out there and fuel up on delicious wheat filled products and stuff myself full of pastry as you drool at my screen wishing you could enjoy it as much as I did. Alas, you cannot and the food industry makes feeble attempts at re-creating dishes normally packed with gluten to cater to your needs. These wheat free concoctions have about a 20% success ratio, and if a restaurant had this rate of failure, there’s no way that I would ever go back. But, again, I do this for you. When I picked up Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Brownies I knew exactly the chance I was taking, and if the tone of this blog has steered you anywhere. You know exactly how this went:

First off, I toyed with the idea of picking these up. The price tag wasn’t astronomical, but for two brownies it was a little steep. Then I thought about the fact that you could probably throw chocolate into just about anything and I would like it enough to justify paying that much for 2 brownies. So, I took it home and ripped open the first of the two individually wrapped brownies. I set it on a plate and warmed it up in the microwave for about 20 seconds. These instructions aren’t on the packaging, so don’t go looking for them. This is just how I prefer my brownies. I took the chocolate chip square out, and snagged my first bite. It crumbled in my hand. I grabbed the biggest piece that I could and popped it into my mouth. The dry bits on the outside flaked in my mouth like bits of chocolate flavored chalk. Moisture followed, but it wasn’t the thick velvety texture that I was used to out of a brownie. But, this wasn’t really a brownie. It was fake attempt at one, and failed.

I’d leave this one on the shelf. There are plenty of other gluten-free goodies to choose from, and unfortunately this one is among the 80% of wheat-less items that fail miserably. There are just some things that aren’t meant to be gluten-free. Brownies aren’t one of them. So, FORK the fool who tries to push one off on me.

Maple Walnut Blonde Brownies w/Pecan Pie Ice Cream (Trader Joe’s)

I don’t normally eat dessert, but when I do it contains the elements of hot and cold working in perfect culinary bliss.  This combination is usually created using warm pastry and cold ice cream.  Pies, cakes, brownies, and cookies are the usual suspects that get the ice cream treatment.  And, after I made a trip to the fresh baked goods and spotted these delicious Maple Walnut Blondies, I had to find it’s complement.  Making my way to the frozen section, I had my mind made up on vanilla ice cream.  However, I spied a new product that I couldn’t possibly pass up as it sounded like the perfect thing for those blonde brownies.

 

So, this kinda thing is super simple.  First, take one of these delicious maple walnut brownies and place it in a microwave safe bowl and nuke for 15 seconds.  Then, get two heaping scoops of the creamy pecan pie flavored ice cream and dig in.

 

It’s disgustingly good.  The brownies are moist and contain large chunks of walnuts.  They are swirled with plenty of rich, sweet maple flavor.  As the warm brownie mixes with the creamy, melted ice cream, it’s complete bliss.  The ice cream is reminiscent of pecan praline with the difference being pieces of pie crust scattered in the mix.  There may not be a better pairing when it comes to ice cream and pastry.  It’s almost as if these two products were made for each other, although, quite good on their own.  FORK!  I think I may have just made myself another bowl.