Written by Beth Sonnenburg
Holidays and food go hand in hand. Whether it's fluffy biscuits, candied sweet potatoes, pumpkin pie or fresh-baked cookies and brownies, just the thought of our favorite dishes makes us look forward to the holiday season.
We chose to make the classic brownie our calorie-cutting example, but we'll give you hints you can use in any of your holiday baking. With just a few changes, we reduced the calories per brownie by 120 and cut 10 grams of fat from each square. Our original recipe is none other than the Mrs. Fields Super Fudge Brownie (from Mrs. Fields Cookie Book, Time-Life Books Inc., 1996), a crave-monster's dream come true. It's thick, chewy and delicious, but it's pretty high in calories and fat for a fitness-minded woman's everyday treat.
When we first started our makeover, we substituted nearly everything: applesauce for butter, cocoa for chocolate, egg whites for eggs, whole-wheat flour for white and a drastic reduction in sugar. That was an utter bomb - we would have used it as a paperweight before serving it for dessert. The winning lighter and leaner brownie you see here is fudgy, thick and satisfying, but 46% lower in fat and 32% lower in calories. How did we do it? There are two keys to lightening desserts successfully: one, substitute selectively rather than universally; two, use the best ingredients you can find. If you still want the great taste similar to a Mrs. Fields brownie (and who doesn't?), you can't get rid of all the fat, sugar and chocolate!
Here's what we could do: We cut the amount of unsweetened chocolate considerably (from 6 ounces to 2 ounces), substituting dutch-processed cocoa powder for most of the chocolate. It's crucial to use quality dutch-processed cocoa rather than regular baking cocoa if you want a rich, fudgy flavor (we used Droste cocoa) - and it's definitely worth the search. Also choose a fine-quality unsweetened chocolate for the remaining 2 ounces (we used Scharffen Berger) for a strong, satisfying taste. These products can make or break your brownies!
