Cooking Club: Your next challenge is heavenly gluten-free brownies!

These brilliant brownies, which were our show-off cover girl for the January issue, take just 10 minutes to prepare – and 30 seconds to eat! A simple mix of icing sugar, ground almonds, cocoa powder and egg whites, they’re lower in fat than traditional brownies and have just 157 calories per serving. But forget about all of that and just know that they’re moist, delicious and as chocolately as all get-out.

What comes next is up to you: You can leave them as-is, or make them into even more decadent s’mores brownies by whipping up a marshmallow topping, and drizzling them with chocolate sauce and then sprinkling them with graham-cracker cereal.

But wait: There’s more. Now the Chatelaine Cooking Club comes with prizing!

The best heavenly gluten-free brownies photo, as chosen by the Chatelaine Kitchen, will receive an amazing KitchenAid Blender and Bonus Mini Chopper (and Blender Bible) from The Shopping Channel! The perfect prize for January’s soups and smoothies!

Click here for contest rules and regulations.

Brilliant brownies

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups icing sugar
• 2 100-g pkg ground almonds, about 2 cups
• 2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Fry’s
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 4 egg whites
• 2 tsp vanilla

Instructions

• PREHEAT oven to 350F. Line the bottom and sides of an 8 × 8-in. pan with parchment, letting it hang over the edges of pan.
• WHISK sugar with almonds, cocoa and salt in a large bowl. Stir in egg whites and vanilla. Batter will be thick. Scrape into prepared pan. Smooth top.
• BAKE in centre of oven until top of brownie is shiny and crispy and a cake tester inserted in centre comes out almost clean, 40 to 45 min. Run a knife around sides of pan. Use parchment to lift brownie out and let cool completely on a rack.

How to post your pic?

Once you have your photo, you can post it one of three ways (make sure you’re not on a private setting):

• Follow us on Instagram, then post your photo using @ChatelaineKitchen
• Follow us on Twitter, then tweet us your photo with the hashtag #ChatelaineKitchen
• Like us on Facebook, then message us your photo
• Email us your picture at chatelaine.kitchen@gmail.com

Get your photos posted by Thursday, January 23 at noon to be considered for the club’s gallery the following day, which will be featured with the following week’s recipe.

Quick photo tips: Don’t use a flash, natural light is best. Just place your plate near a window and shoot away. Don’t bother using props – they’ll detract from the featured food. Overhead is always nice, close-ups work well, and get in close so we can see what’s cookin’! The larger the photo, the better.