Healthy Brownies?????

No, I am not kidding! Not only are these brownies low in fat and calories, but they are made with 100% whole wheat flour! Why would anyone ever deviate from the best loved ooey gooey sinful alternative? Summer is quickly approaching. Need I say more? I was a little skeptical about this recipe for obvious reasons, but I was pleasantly surprised. These brownies are not chewy and they aren't very gooey, but they are moist, chocolaty and delicious. One recipe makes 24 brownies each containing a meager 137 calories and 6.6 grams of fat! My chocolate loving husband thought these were really good and both of my kids loved them! My favorite brownie recipe? Probably not. My favorite healthy brownie recipe? Definitely!

Ellie Krieger's Double-Chocolate Brownies

Ingredients
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 cup whole-grain pastry flour (or 1/2 cup each whole-wheat and all-purpose flours)
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
4 large eggs
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup plain low-fat yogurt
1/4 cup canola oil
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally; do not let the bottom of the bowl touch the water.

Whisk the flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda in a medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and brown sugar until smooth, then add the yogurt, oil and vanilla and whisk to combine. Whisk in the melted chocolate mixture until blended. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just moistened.

Spread the batter in the prepared pan and sprinkle with walnuts, if desired. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool almost completely in the pan on a rack before slicing.

Per brownie (without nuts): Calories 137; Fat 6.6 g (Saturated 2.8 g); Cholesterol 40 mg; Sodium 55 mg; Carbohydrate 16.5 g; Fiber 1 g; Protein 2.4 g

Per brownie (with nuts): Calories 160; Fat 9 g; (Saturated 3 g); Cholesterol 40 mg; Sodium 55 mg; Carbohydrate 17 g; Fiber 1 g; Protein 3 g

Disaster and Success

Catharine and I talk about recipes all the time, so it is fun to have a new way to share our successes and failures.  I watched an episode of the Barefoot Contessa on the Food Network where she made some chunky banana nut muffins.  They looked really good, so I decided to give them a try.  I usually love bran muffins, so I thought I should double the recipe.  I had most of the wet ingredients mixed when I realized I was short 1 egg.  Luckily my neighbor bailed me out!  I finished mixing the ingredients, filled the muffin cups and put them in the oven.  I started cleaning up the mess and realized that I hadn't mixed in the bran/buttermilk mixture!  The muffins had only been cooking for 1-2 minutes, so I pulled them out of the oven.  I scraped out the muffin pans, mixed in the forgotten ingredients, cleaned and refilled the muffin pans and put them back in the oven. Finally the muffins were done.  I took a bite out of a hot muffin only to realize that it was gross.  The recipe included molasses and orange zest.  I thought those flavors clashed with the bran flavor.  Also, the chunks of banana created pockets of mush.  I made myself finish the muffin then offered some to John and Ashley.  Both of them were excited to try the  muffins, but didn't end up finishing them.  I ended up throwing away 2 dozen muffins!  After all of this, I called Catharine to tell her of the disaster and her reply was, "I made those same muffins and thought they were gross.  You should have told me you were making them and I would have warned you!"

On a happier note, I made a Pear Ginger Crumble that was delicious!  It had a Tablespoon of freshly grated ginger in it and I was a little scared to put in that whole amount.  I decided to risk it and I am glad I did!  The recipe is also a little more figure friendly than most crumbles.  Here is a link for the recipe:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ellie-krieger/pear-ginger-crumble-recipe/index.html