I recently bought some tapioca flour, also known as tapioca starch, to use in the Jeni's ice cream base I've been experimenting with. I don't think my ice cream making adventures will keep up with the amount of tapioca, so I baked a batch of Tapioca Flour Brownies just to see how tapioca flour would work in brownies. Success! And as a bonus, they are gluten-free!

Tapioca Flour Brownies Made With Chocolate Chips
This recipe is a spin-off of another gluten-free brownie recipe called Gluten-Free Coconut Sugar Brownies, but Tapioca Flour Brownies are not quite the same. As mentioned, tapioca flour stands in for the gluten-free blend, and instead of coconut sugar, I used a mixture of granulated and brown. Also, seeing as how May 15 is (was!) National Chocolate Chip Day, I used a cup of Costco's Kirkland brand chocolate chips. The Kirkland chips are a little sweeter than my favorite Ghirardelli Bittersweet chips. They have a good flavor and melt well. Plus they are a bargain if you tend to use a lot of chocolate chips.
Taste and Texture
The brownies are dense and fudgy, but not overly so. They are chewy and maybe a tiny, tiny, bit grittier than AP flour brownies, but still very good. I've seen similar recipes for a Paleo version, so if you are into that you can easily convert to coconut sugar, coconut oil or ghee.
Recipe

Tapioca Flour Brownies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter, unsalted (114 grams)
- 1 cup dark or semisweet chocolate chips (170 grams)
- ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder, natural or Dutch okay (20 grams)
- 3 large eggs
- ⅔ cup sugar (can use granulated or half granulated and half brown)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup tapioca flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 inch metal pan and line with foil. Grease bottom oil with extra butter or spray with cooking spray.
- Begin melting the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. When it is about halfway melted, reduce heat to low and add the chocolate chips. Melt the chips, then stir in the cocoa powder and ⅓ cup of the sugar (the brown, if using two kinds). Remove from heat and stir until smooth.
- In a mixing bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat together the eggs, the other ⅓ cup of sugar, salt and vanilla.
- Stir the melted chocolate mixture into the egg mixture, then stir in the tapioca flour.
- Spread batter in pan and bake for 25-27 minutes or until top appears set.
- Let cool at room temperature for several hours or let cool slightly at room temperature and finish cooling in the refrigerator.
- Lift from pan and cut into squares.
I love hearing from other bakers and appreciate helpful comments. Rude ones will be deleted immediately.