Fat Free & Sugar Free Brownies

By special request I came up with a fat free / reduced or sugar free recipe for brownies.  For those of you who’ve made a resolution to eat healthier or are perhaps a diabetic, here’s the recipe you don’t have to feel guilty eating.

Although I don’t recommend eating the whole pan of brownies at once.  One word I’m trying hard to adopt when it comes to food is “MODERATION”.

While we are faced with making choices every day… this one’s a hard one for me, but I’m trying, and to me, that’s what counts.  Try out the recipe and let me know what you think.

Fat Free / Reduced Sugar or Sugar Free Brownies

Preheat oven to 350° (325° if baking with sugar substitute) and lightly greasing your baking pan with a light coconut oil spray or calorie-free vegetable oil spray.

Assemble the following ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• ¼ cup vegetable oil
• 2 very ripe bananas (or ½ cup unsweetened apple sauce)
• ½ cup sugar substitute (I like Truvia^® the best) (or split ¼ cup sugar & ¼ cup Truvia^® for best results – See special tips for baking with Truvia^{® -}
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• ½ cup chopped nuts

To make:

Combine the cocoa, oil, and bananas in a mixer or blender and puree until smooth.  You can also blend by hand, if needed.  In a separate bowl, mix the sugar substitute, eggs, flour, and the banana puree.  Blend this and then stir in the chopped nuts.

Pour the batter into your lightly greased 9x13 inch pan and bake for about 15-20 minutes.  One way to see if the brownies are done is to insert a toothpick into them.  If they are done, the toothpick will come out clean.  When the brownies are cool, cut them into small squares.  If you want delicious, warm brownies, cut them with a plastic knife using sawing motions.

Making your own diabetic brownies is as easy as making a batch of regular brownies from a mix, and they are certainly healthier for you and your family.  One caution: Sometimes, when we’re eating healthier foods, we tend to let our sense of portion control go.  Don’t!  Too much of a good thing is just too much.  For this recipe, cut the brownies into 24 or 48 squares.  If cut into 24 squares, each brownie will have 115 calories, 2 grams of protein, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 5 grams of fat, and 104 milligrams of sodium.

• Cooler oven: Baking with Truvia^® natural sweetener often requires using lower temperature than sugar based recipes. Lower the oven temperature by about 25 to 50 degrees F and increase baking time by 5-10 minutes.
• Replacing sugar in baked goods: The most difficult recipes to replace sugar in are baked goods like cookies, cakes, muffins and brownies. Sugar contributes a lot of functionality to baked goods beyond sweetness - like structure, tenderness, spread and browning. For best results, leave about 1/4 cup sugar in your favorite recipe and replace the remainder with appropriate amount of Truvia^® natural sweetener from the conversion chart on www.truvia.com. Use brown sugar for more chewy and moist baked goods.
• Fudgy brownies: If you bake brownies a little shorter, you get a more fudgy brownie. If it's baked a little longer, it will have a more cakey texture.

Enjoy!!

~ Lori