Gluten Free Portland

Your go-to resource for all things gluten-free PDX.

  • Facebook
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • Twitter
  • Restaurants
  • Caterers
  • Events
  • Products
    • Local Products
    • National Products
    • Bread Machines
  • Blog
  • About
  • Contact

Dave December 14, 2009

Product Review: Trader Joe’s Gluten Free Brownie Mix

Chocolate! That’s what we’re talking about here. We’ve been making the Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free Brownie Mix for almost a year now and recently it came to my attention that we haven’t ever reviewed it on this site. This mix is really awesome. We don’t make it exactly how the package says you should, though, so I’m going to provide details about what we do.

Trader Joe's Gluten-Free Brownie Mix

The brownie mix is free of wheat, peanuts, tree nuts, dairy, soy, and corn, which is cool because that takes care of quite a few common allergy foods. Of course, it has chocolate, but that’s the point! Here is a list of ingredients: Organic Evaporated Cane Juice (sugar), Sweet Brown Rice Flour, Cocoa (processed with alkali), Tapioca Flour, Arrowroot Flour, Sea Salt, Xanthan Gum. I always list the amount of sodium in the Trader Joe’s products I review. The package says that it makes 12 servings. Each serving has 125 mg of salt.

Trader Joes Gluten-free Brownie Mix

The recipe on the package calls for 1 egg, 1/2 cup vegetable oil, and 1/4 cup water.

Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

We always put some of these awesome chips in our brownies. They’re the Enjoy Life Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips. Besides being delicious, they’re free of dairy, nuts, gluten, and soy, and are mini-chips. This makes them ideal for brownies.
As an egg substitute, you can add your own favorite (when we replace eggs, we use the Ener-G Food Egg Replacer because it is gluten-free.) We also replace half of the oil with some applesauce. This sounds kind of weird, considering you’re making brownies, but I think it really improves the brownies, and also the brownies are a lot more healthy. In case you’re wondering, it is possible to replace all the oil with applesauce and end up with edible brownies, but they definitely aren’t as delicious, and don’t seem to keep as well.

Ready to go!

One of the most important things about making brownies is to not overcook them. When you overcook brownies they end up rock hard when they’ve cooled off. It seems like the Trader Joe’s mix doesn’t suffer from this so much, which is cool. With a little bit of adjustment, this mix can also be used to make cookies. Instructions for these are on the package.

Finished Brownie

And here’s the reward. We have made these brownies and shared them with friends and family, and nobody has ever suspected that they are gluten-free. They’re awesome!

We want to know: Are there other gluten-free brownie mixes out there? Do you have any tricks or tips to make better brownies? Let us know in the comments.

Times we have visited: 8+ (so we feel confident about our score.)
Overall rating: 5 out of 5 stars
Price compared to “regular”: About the same

Filed Under: Product Reviews Tagged With: Baking, Chocolate, Desserts, Recipe, Trader Joes

Join the Gluten Free Portland Email List

First
Last
Sending

Comments

  1. Amy @ www.ourpeepshow.wordpress.com says

    December 14, 2009 at 12:55 pm

    Thanks for the review! Looks like we have similar brownie doctoring techniques 🙂 Here’s a link to my go at the Betty Crocker brownie mix. http://ourpeepshow.wordpress.com/2009/08/23/simple-pleasures/ Betty’s is my personal favorite. Thanks for all you do for us in Portland who are gluten-free!

  2. Lynne says

    December 15, 2009 at 7:25 pm

    I vote for Betty Crocker, too. I just cannot seem to get the Trader Joe’s brownies to work. They completely fall apart every time, which drives me nuts (I follow the directions with no deviations).

    However, I have to say that I don’t like the other Betty Crocker mixes as much. And really dislike the Betty Crocker cookies (which also fall apart). My 2cents 🙂

  3. Lynne says

    December 15, 2009 at 7:29 pm

    Oh! And I forgot-try Udi’s bread. It is A-mazing!!! I bake my own bread from scratch, and can’t even get close to this stuff. It’s like the Wonder Bread of gluten free. It’s incredible in that it stays fresh forever without either crumbling or getting gummy (so you can easily make sandwiches that last all day, even days after opening the loaf). However, much like Wonder Bread, I don’t think it has much nutrition. I’ve only tried the sandwich bread (as my local stores were out of multi grain) so I don’t know if that might have more nutrition. Regardless, I will never go without it again, it’s that good.

  4. Kate says

    December 19, 2009 at 5:35 pm

    I love the Babycakes NYC brownie recipe. It’s gluten-free and vegan as well. I add chocolate chips to it (as I do to everything), and I completely fooled family and co-workers. Her cupcakes are awesome as well.

    http://www.babycakesnyc.com/books.html

  5. Amaya says

    January 29, 2010 at 2:47 pm

    I like the Babycakes brownies too.

    If you’re looking for a mix, especially a vegan one, I like the one by The Cravings Place. The company is headquartered in Bend, and you can get the mix at New Seasons Market.

    • Dave says

      January 30, 2010 at 3:22 pm

      Thanks for letting us know. We’ll keep an eye out for it.

  6. Kim says

    October 2, 2010 at 10:49 am

    I really like Namaste brownie mix as well. I’m going to have to try Trader Joe’s mix… Thanks!

  7. Didi says

    January 9, 2012 at 6:57 pm

    I doctor the hell out of it–combine it with a from-scratch recipe, so it tastes like from-scratch, makes a double batch, but is a bit cheaper 😉

    1 box trader joe’s gluten free brownie mix (which has good flavor and weird texture), plus however much eggs/butter it calls for on the box, and just follow the directions on the back of the box for temp/time, etc (the following ingredients are all at tjs too [;)]
    Add to that:
    1/2 cup Butter or Margarine, melted
    2 eggs
    1/2 cup Cocoa, unsweetened
    1 cup sugar, (or brown sugar, Evaporated Cane Juice, agave. maple syrup, whatever you like for sweetener)
    1 tsp Vanilla
    1/2 cup Almond Meal/Flour
    It’s a keeper!

    • J says

      May 28, 2014 at 7:52 pm

      Just want to make sure I understood your recipe. Are you adding two eggs to the one called for on the package? 1/2 cup butter + oil (per package)? 1/4 cup water?

  8. yveyyy says

    August 12, 2012 at 6:39 am

    I just tried this brownie mix last night and I am pretty pleased with the results. I didn’t follow the directions exactly, I made a few substitutions (I’m a vegan) so here’s what I did.

    Added:

    1/2 C. pureed zucchini
    1/2 C. chocolate chips

    Substituted:
    1 egg with 1 egg of Ener-G egg replacer
    1/4 C. water with 1/4 C. Almond milk (any milk substitute should work too).

    The result was a thick, fudgy, moist brownie with a crispy crust. Just how I like my brownies! So many vegan brownie recipes have failed to produce a crust or something that wasn’t too cake-like. I think the zucchini adds some moisture and helps hold the ingredients together. I’m sure apple sauce would do the same. I will try it next time with 1/4 C. of oil to reduce the fat.

  9. Laura says

    September 13, 2012 at 8:41 am

    This was a great suggestion!! All of the reviews i kept reading were awful if you went by the instructions. I added splash more water, used egg replacer to make it vegan (whisk in warm water, let it sit by itself for a couple minutes), followed everything else above, and mixed it with an electric mixer for a while. Added chunks of 70% dark chocolate– they were perfect!! I think the best suggestion was less time–23-25min. at 350 and they were absolutely great.

  10. Gina says

    December 23, 2013 at 9:39 am

    A you all crazy? I made these Brownies yesterday following the directions exactly. I ended up with an oily mess! I had to pour off the oil sitting on top of the brownies after baking, let them sit on paper towels overnight and still they look awful and taste like oily chocolate.

    I made them for my widowed elderly uncle who has a severe form of celiac disease.

    I had to throw them out they are inedible. I think half the oil would have been plenty.

  11. Tracy says

    May 10, 2015 at 2:30 pm

    Man, bummer, I looked up egg replacers on the internet for brownies and it said use 1/3 cup applesauce. Well, phooey, these brownies did not set up. They were gooey so could be topping for ice cream but what a dissapointment. I will try the other techniques on this website. Tahnks you

Trackbacks

  1. Product Review: Trader Joe’s Sipping Chocolate | Gluten Free Portland Oregon says:
    December 22, 2009 at 8:00 pm

    […] post was originally intended as a companion piece for our review of the Trader Joe’s Gluten-Free Brownie Mix, which we […]

Success! Now check your email to confirm your subscription.

There was an error submitting your subscription. Please try again.

Explore GFP

  • Disclosure Policy
  • Privacy Policy
  • Advertise

Dr. Samantha Brody is a licensed Naturopathic Physician and acupuncturist and the owner and founder of Evergreen Natural Health Center in Portland, Oregon. She is both a health educator and coach who can help introduce patients to new ways of caring for themselves. Read More…

© 2023 · Gluten Free Portland. All rights reserved. Website Development by Certified Square.
This website is for informational purposes only, and is not a substitute for individualized medical or professional advice, care, diagnosis, or treatment. Consult your personal physician regarding the applicability of any information on this site.
Any information regarding restaurants, bakeries and facilities is supplied by purveyors and we make no guarantee of gluten-free status of any restaurant, any food at any restaurant, or any product mentioned anywhere on this website.

Your information will *never* be shared or sold to a 3rd party.
We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you continue to use this site we will assume that you are happy with it.OkNoPrivacy policy
Revoke cookies