Tag: brownies

“Healthy” Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

pb swirl browniesCan a “healthy” version of a dessert actually taste as good as the regular, full-sugar, full-fat version? This is a question I’ve pondered for some time, fascinated by the employment of applesauce and stevia and wheat flour in a variety of treats in lieu of higher sugar/fat/carbohydrate ingredients. For the most part, I envisioned healthy versions of desserts to be unfulfilling, tasting vaguely like their regular counterparts, but not quite as good.

My boss asked if I’d be interested in baking this Weight Watchers peanut butter swirl brownie, as many of us in the office have recently recommitted ourselves to healthier habits. I was more than happy to test this out, to see if a lower sugar, reduced-fat brownie could live up to my advanced sweet tooth’s expectations.

This recipe is very easy to make and put together, so don’t be intimidated by ingredients like apple butter and egg substitute. You’ll find other uses for them (stay tuned, as I’ll be searching for ways to use up apple butter in the coming days) and they behave pretty much exactly like the full fat, full sugar ingredients they’re replacing. The brownies were a big hit at the office today, and I have to admit, they actually taste like real brownies.

Peanut Butter Swirl

Ingredients

  • 6 ounces Neufchatel cheese
  • 3/4 cup reduced fat peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup fat-free egg substitute
  • 3 tablespoons half and half

Preparation

Combine Neufchatel and peanut butter in a mixing bowl and beat until well-combined.

Add egg substitute and beat until well-combined.

Add half and half and beat until well-combined and fluffy. You want a easily-spreadable texture.

Set aside while you prepare the brownie mix.

Brownies

Ingredients

  • 1 box dark chocolate brownie mix (or regular mix if you prefer)
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/4 cup apple butter
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1/3 cup fat-free egg substitute

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 13 x 9 pan with cooking spray.

Spread half of the brownie mix in the bottom of the pan.

Top with dollops of about half of the peanut butter swirl mixture; using a spatula or knife, swirl to spread peanut butter mixture over the brownie mix.

Spread the remaining half of the brownie mix over the top, then follow with additional peanut butter swirl mix in dollops. Swirl peanut butter over the brownie mix.

Bake for 30-32 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean. My brownies were slightly more fudgy in the middle than I would have liked, and I baked for 30 minutes, but I’d recommend adding a few extra minutes for a firmer center.

Cool completely; cut into 32 squares. One square is equal to 4 Weight Watchers points, for those participating in the program.

Devil’s Cut Brownies

brownies with whiskey cream cheese frosting

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mike is a Freemason. According to various conspiracy theorists, Masons run the world. And while I suspect that Mike and the other brothers of Dallas Lodge 231 don’t run the world, even if they did, he’d never be able to tell me. All that secret handshake business? It’s top secret, and for real.

The Masons meet on several Thursdays throughout the month, and these brownies accompanied Mike to this past week’s lodge meeting. Dinner that evening was corned beef and cabbage, and I thought that a good complement to an Irish dinner would be brownies with whiskey cream cheese frosting. Apparently they were delicious; even Mike didn’t get to eat one because they disappeared so fast.

Brownies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 4 eggs
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 13 x 9 pan with cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, combine melted butter, sugar, and vanilla and stir until well combined.

Add eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each.

Stir in cocoa powder until well combined.

Add flour, baking powder, and salt; stir until well combined.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 30-35 minutes, until the edges pull away from the pan slightly.

Cool completely before frosting.

Devil’s Cut Frosting

Ingredients

  • 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • 4 tablespoons butter, room temperature
  • 2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
  • 1 tablespoon Jim Beam Devil’s Cut whiskey

Preparation

In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and butter; cream together until very well combined and smooth.

Add powdered sugar, about one-half cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

Add cocoa powder and beat well.

Add whiskey and beat.

Frost brownies with a small offset spatula.

Store in the refrigerator; let stand at room temperature for about 10 minutes before serving.

Fudge-Frosted Brownies

 

 

 

 

 

Brownies invite creativity.  They can be cake-like or fudgy, with or without nuts, blended with cream cheese or peanut butter, sprinkled with marshmallows or candy bits, or my personal favorite, topped with vanilla ice cream and served warm.

This recipe produces a cake-like brownie ideal for frosting; it utilizes a cooking method for preparation, in which sugar, cocoa powder, and butter are melted together and then combined with other ingredients.  To facilitate the mixing process, I recommend measuring out all of your ingredients and placing them next to your stove, like a television chef, so that you can have easy access to everything as you mix.

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1 1/4 cups sugar
  • 12 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup cocoa powder

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease a 9x13x2 baking pan.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda; set aside.

Measure out milk; set aside.

Crack eggs into a bowl; set aside.

Measure out vanilla; set aside.

In a large saucepan, combine sugar, butter, and cocoa powder.  Cook on medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until butter melts and mixture becomes incorporated.

Remove from heat; add eggs and vanilla and stir until smooth.

Add flour mixture and milk alternatively in three batches, mixing well after each.

Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Cool completely in pan; invert onto a cutting board or platter and frost with Fudge Frosting (see below).

Cut as desired; store in an airtight container.

Fudge Frosting

Ingredients

  • 2 1/3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 4 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 1/6 cup boiling water (just under 2 oz. in a glass measuring cup)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Combine powdered sugar and cocoa powder.

Add butter, boiling water, and vanilla.

Beat on low speed until ingredients are just combined, then increase speed to medium and beat for 1 minute.

Rolo Brownie Bites

Rolos, according to Mike, are like crack.  And I have to agree; there’s something about that smooth chocolate/caramel combination that is highly addictive. Because I’m a big fan of the Reese’s peanut butter cup cookie, which involves peanut butter cookie dough baked in a mini muffin tin and a miniature peanut butter cup pressed into its center, I was excited to try this recipe.

While they turned out to be tasty, several of these bites fell apart when I removed them from the pan, as their tops separated from their bottoms.  I suspect that uneven distribution of dough among the cups is responsible, so next time I’ll make sure to fill each cup only halfway with batter for more even baking.

The broken bites will go very well with some vanilla ice cream for dessert tonight, though, proving that most baking mistakes are easily remedied.

Ingredients

  • 5 tablespoons butter
  • 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 1 ounce semisweet baking chocolate, coarsely chopped
  • 2/3 cup sugar
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 24 Rolo candies, unwrapped and chilled

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Spray a 24-cup mini muffin tin with cooking spray.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, microwave chocolate and butter for 1 minute, then stir.  Continue microwaving in 30-second intervals, stirring each time, until chocolate is nearly melted; remove from microwave and let the residual heat finish the melting process.

Combine sugar with melted butter and chocolate and let cool until warm.

Stir in egg and vanilla until well blended.

Stir in flour mixture until well blended.

Drop batter into muffin cups, filling halfway.

Bake for 14 minutes or until the tops are almost firm when pressed in the center.

Remove from oven and immediately press one Rolo into each brownie.

Cool on a wire rack.

 

Classic Brownies

Nothing says Valentine’s Day like chocolate, at least not to me.  And while I’m not a huge fan of Valentine’s Day, I’ll definitely take celebrating this holiday as an excuse to bake brownies.

Brownies are one of my favorite desserts, especially when served warm with vanilla ice cream.  They’re a versatile treat, easy to adapt in texture and flavor; you can bake them with nuts, marshmallows, chocolate chips, or other candies, flavor them with amaretto, raspberry, or mint, sprinkle them with powdered sugar, frost them with your favorite icing, spread peanut butter on them, or just eat them plain, right out of the pan, standing up in the kitchen in the middle of the night.  Or is that just me?

Ingredients

  • 2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
  • ½ cup butter
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup flour

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Grease an 8×8 baking dish and coat the bottom of the dish with sugar; this will give the brownie bottoms a nice crunch and make it easier to pop them out of the pan.

Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate in a medium saucepan on low heat.

Using a wooden spoon, stir together sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a mixing bowl until combined.

Add melted butter and chocolate and stir until combined.

Add flour and stir until combined.

Pour into baking dish and bake for 30 minutes.