SKINNY BROWNIE EXPERIMENT
Recipe testing finally yielded a virtually guilt-free brownie with the perfect level of sweetness and a fudgy texture
This “new year, new outlook” thing I have going is only a few weeks old, but already I’m totally craving something ... well, something sweet, gooey and chocolaty.
And so began my “Great Skinny Brownie Experiment.”
Four recipe adjustments later, I nailed it. And I couldn’t be happier. This recipe clocks in at 100 calories per serving with 1.1 grams of saturated fat, 4 net grams of carbohydrates and a mere 1.5 grams of sugar. I got here using organic sprouted whole wheat flour, olive oil and 2 percent Greek yogurt in place of butter, and I used applesauce and good quality pure liquid stevia, for sweetness.
So how did I get here?
Well, it started with batch No. 1, which failed.
Although the brownies had the strong bittersweet chocolate taste I was craving, it was my first time using liquid stevia for a baking experiment. Having used powdered stevia for coffee, I knew it was much sweeter than sugar, so I was afraid to use the recommended replacement measurement for 1 cup of white sugar. This batch turned out to not be at all sweet.
Second, I hadn’t included enough liquid to compensate for using such fiber-dense flour. The brownies also lacked that distinctive shiny top, and they were very overdone, having baked for 15 minutes at 350 degrees.
For the chocolate, I used a combination of Dutch-process cocoa and 3 ounces of melted 71 percent cacao Valrhona chocolate. Even though I initially wanted a bittersweet chocolate taste, the bittersweet was, in the end, overpowering. Lastly, despite using 11⁄2 teaspoons of baking powder, they just didn’t rise.
On to batch No. 2, which wasn’t bad, but it was flawed. This batch rose somewhat more than batch No. 1, and they were fudgier and a little more moist. The difference here was going from 2 eggs to 3, adding applesauce and doubling the Greek yogurt. I also upped the baking powder to 1 tablespoon and added cup hot water to bloom the cocoa powders. This batch still suffered from the first note being a bit bitter. Even though they were sweeter, with 3 teaspoons of stevia (up from 2), there was a 1-minute delay after finishing the brownie that brought a potent stevia aftertaste that lingered on the taste buds. It was peculiar. And it wasn’t just me. Auntie noticed the same thing. I also lowered the temperature to 325 degrees and baked for 15 minutes.
Batch No. 3 was oh soooooo close. When the batch first came out of the oven, I was happy with how much they’d risen. The top was very glossy. After waiting about 20 minutes to cut into it to photograph the batch, I noticed they were more cakelike than brownielike. The first bite tasted overly sweet. While the sweetness crept up in batch 2, I felt it hit you over the head in batch 3.
The differences in batch 3: I lowered the temp to 300 degrees and baked for 18 minutes. I swapped out melted chocolate for Hershey’s Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. Since I was using a combo of both cocoas, I could introduce baking soda, so I drastically lowered the baking powder (I feel it gave batch 2 that bitter first note). Also, I beat the heck out of this batter. Seriously. Batches 1 and 2, I mixed by hand until JUST combined the way most brownie recipes suggest. This time, I hand-whisked the batter until I felt it thicken and fill with air bubbles. That whole wheat flour needed time to absorb water, and the added aeration helped give it lift.
At the end of this day, I preferred batch 2. Auntie was left undecided. I sent batch No. 3 to work with her the next day. She texted that they were a hit. If they only knew what I had at home, I remember thinking. Auntie brought one home for me to try. She said it didn’t taste like the same brownie we had eaten slightly warm the day before. She was right. The day after, the sweetness had mellowed; the brownie was less cakelike, more brownielike and fudgy. I decided it was worth one more tweak.
With batch No. 4, I finally had a winner. So here it is, the final batch. It has my perfect level of sweetness, a fudgy and tender crumb with no bitter notes, and great lift.