Discover how delicious healthy food can taste!
SECRET-INGREDIENT BROWNIES
If you love decadent, fudgy brownies, but don’t want to spend an entire day’s fat-and-calorie budget on one chocolate treat, put aside your skepticism about the surprising ingredient in this recipe and give it a try. Puréed canned beans are the “magic” ingredient. They replace half of the butter, with canola oil standing in for the remainder. Additional fat-trimming techniques include: substituting cocoa for some of the chocolate and two egg whites for one of the eggs. For whole grain benefits, we swapped white flour for whole-wheat. The result: a brownie with fewer than 100 calories and one-forth of the saturated fat of the traditional recipe. And, the best part: no one will guess that this is a healthy brownie!
INGREDIENTS
PREPARATION
1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Coat an 8x8-inch baking dish with cooking spray. Place flour and salt in medium bowl. Sift on cocoa. Whisk to blend.
2. To make batter in a food processor: Place beans in food processor and purée. Add egg, egg whites, sugar, oil, unsweetened chocolate and vanilla, and process until blended, stopping several times to scrape down sides of workbowl. Add flour mixture and pulse several times, just until dry ingredients are moistened. (Alternatively, to make batter in a blender: Combine beans, egg, egg whites, sugar, oil, unsweetened chocolate and vanilla in blender, and process until beans are pureed. Add bean mixture to flour mixture and mix with rubber spatula just until dry ingredients are moistened.)
3. Scrape batter into prepared baking dish, spreading evenly. Sprinkle with nuts, if desired. Bake until brownies are set around the edges and slightly soft in the center, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool completely in pan. Drizzle with chocolate, if desired. Let stand until chocolate has set. Cut into bars.
Yield: 20 brownies.
Per brownie without nuts and chocolate: 90 calories, 2 g protein, 14 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 4 g total fat, 1 g saturated fat, 11 mg cholesterol, 53 mg sodium.
Per brownie with nuts and chocolate: 102 calories, 2 g protein, 14 g carbohydrates, 1 g fiber, 5 g total fat, g 1 saturated fat, 11 mg cholesterol, 53 mg sodium.
Tip: To avoid wasting the extra egg yolks, use liquid egg whites, such as AllWhites (found in the refrigerated egg case in supermarkets), or dried egg whites, such as JustWhites (found in the baking aisle or natural foods section), reconstituted according to package directions
Nutrition Note:
Noted for their high fiber content, beans provide both insoluble fiber, important for a healthy digestive tract, and cholesterol-lowering soluble fiber. They are also rich in folic acid, calcium, iron, zinc and magnesium, and are among the top ten antioxidant-rich foods.
Tip: If you use brown rice flour instead of whole-wheat flour, you can make a gluten-free version.
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½ cup whole-wheat flour or brown rice flour
3 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1/3 cup drained canned red kidney beans or black beans, rinsed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 large egg whites (see Tip)
1 cup sugar
¼ cup canola oil
1 ounce (1 square) unsweetened chocolate, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons (½ oz) chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)
1 ounce bittersweet chocolate or 2 tablespoons chocolate chips, melted (optional)
