Foodie Friday - Cheats Baking - A Review Of The Asda Free From Wheat Gluten Chocolate Brownie Mix

You know me I'm all for making things myself wherever possible but can I be honest guys? sometimes I just can't be bothered!

Gluten free baking as I've said on numerous occasions can be a bit of a bind, and I guess I can understand why so many people buy things ready made, but it isn't so hard with a bit of perseverance to make some gluten free sweet treats, such as my peanut butter and white chocolate blondies, or my microwave lemon sponge puddings.

I always try to make things myself but as yet I haven't found a decent gluten free chocolate brownie recipe or at least one that equals the yummy ones that you can find in Costa :) Recently though I was in Asda and I spotted a range of  Free From baking mixes. Okay it's not the same as making something from scratch but anything that gets people into the kitchen is a good thing as far as I'm concerned. The store I was in had mixes to make chocolate chip cookies, both chocolate and traditional sponge cakes and chocolate brownies!.

The Asda Free From Wheat And Gluten Chocolate Brownie Mix is suitable for coeliacs and contains real Belgian chocolate chunks - they sounded good so I bought packet and I thought that I'd make them up and review them for you x

In the box you can get one packet of mix, to which you add 1 egg, 50ml of water, and 40g margarine - I hate margarine so I used butter.

Then you mix it together either with a wooden spoon or preferably with a food mixer, for 2 to 3 minutes until it's smooth. Use a wooden spoon? really? this is baking for cheats so of course I used a hand mixer x well after I'd photographed momma demonstrating that is x

Then pop it into a 6 inch round tin - I'm using silicone as per usual but because brownies can sometimes be sticky I greased it and lined it as a precaution.

 The mix looks and tastes super rich and chocolatey and there are small chunks of yummy chocolate inside and no I'm not ashamed to say I licked the bowl mwahaaahaaa

Sorry there in no pics from this stage I'm feeling a bit yuck and I got a bit finger happy with my camera delete button but at this point you put it into an oven preheated to about 200 degrees for about 20 - 25 minutes, or until the top is cooked and it's still a bit sticky inside (pop a skewer in to check)

Voila, one round chocolate brownie. It didn't rise as much as I would have liked, and I'm not a huge fan of the round shape but yummmmmy this was good. It was very rich and very chocolatey.

I served mine warm with a little bit of one of my guilty pleasures squirty cream, and it was slightly crisp on the outside and warm and sticky in the middle.

Asda claim that this recipe will serve 9 people at 166 calories a portion, I would say that's probably a bit generous. I quartered mine, but I guess you could half each quarter to serve a small slice to 8 people. My and Mummy Lou are a bit chocolate obsessed though so ignoring the calories content this served us twice each. It was also nice cold as it firms up inside and goes a bit chewier.

I have to say this was a lot nicer than I thought it would be - a lot of gluten free food and wheat free products can be quite dry but this was moist, dense and very chocolatey. This is nothing better than making your own cakes and biscuits but this is a great store cupboard standby, I mean warm gooey brownies and a yummy smelling house in under half an hour what's not to love! This packet mix was £1.80 which to be honest it probably cheaper or at least on par with the majority of gluten free brownies on the market and it was definitely nicer than some of the pre packed ones that I've bought. Would I buy this again? yes definitely although next time I would probably make it in a square tin, and I might add maybe some chopped white chocolate or chips to give an extra luscious hit. Are you a fan of packet baking mixes? what are your kitchen time savers? let me know in the comments below x