My “bestest” days are when my kitchen experiments translate into success. One of the interesting food events that I stumbled upon is the Heart of the Matter – eating for life that rounds up heart friendly recipes each month based on a theme. This month’s theme is Baking. I find it interesting not because I am a health fanatic – in fact most of my favourite indulgences are far from low fat – but because:
a. Zero Butter low fat cooking opens up a whole world of amazing possibilities – Cakes and Brownies can graduate from a “once in a while” indulgences to a routine snacks.
b. I find it challenging to recreate the magic of food for those whose health affinities don’t permit these indulgences cooked the conventional way.
Here’s a “low fat- no dairy” recipe that I adapted using Emeril’s Microwave Double Chocolate Brownies as a reference. It qualifies as both low fat and vegan – and personally I am very satisfied with the yummy result it produced.
Chocolate Brownie with an Apple flavour
Preparation time: 10 minutes, Baking time: 5 minutes, Yield: 10 brownies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup All purpose flour
- 1/4 cup Nuts (Powdered)##
- 1/4 cups Nuts (Chopped)
- 1/3 cup Sugar (40 grams Powdered) (or 1/2 a cup for a sweeter taste)
- 3 ounces Dark Chocolate (or 4 ounces for more chocolatey taste)
- 1/2 cup Apple Puree* ##
- 1 large Banana (Pureed) **
- 1 tbsp Coffee (optional)
- 1/2 tsp Vanilla Essence (or flavourings of your choice)
- a pinch of salt (optional)
- 1/4 tsp Baking powder**
cups = 8oz measures .
Method
- Line a baking dish (an 8 inch square dish or equivalent in other shapes) with wax paper.
- Coarsely chop the Dark chocolate into small pieces and transfer to a microwave safe glass dish. Micro on high for 1 minute. Stir the chocolate every 30 seconds. Whisk into a smooth paste with the Apple Puree and Banana Puree. Set aside.
- In a large bowl mix the All purpose flour, powdered nuts, chopped nuts, salt and sugar.
- Add chocolate mixture, flavorings – coffee and vanilla and whisk into a smooth batter. Add baking powder and mix well.
- Transfer to baking dish and Microwave on high for 5 minutes (Timings for a 900 watts oven). Stick a plastic knife or toothpick in the center to check for doneness. #
Cut into pieces after cake cools completely and store in an air tight container.
*Slice Apples and micro on high for 4 minutes and blend in a blender. Strain the puree and blend the coarse lump that is left on the strainer. Repeat till you get a smooth puree.
Alternatively if you puree raw apples, melt Chocolate along with the Apple Puree for 2 minutes.
##Apple Puree and Powdered Nuts have been used as butter substitutes to add richness to the Cake. Apple Sauce can be used in place of Apple Puree though this might make the cake sweeter.
**Banana and Baking Powder have been used as substitutes for Egg. Banana also serves as a natural sweetener.
# Over cooking can result in cake becoming very crumbly.
The brownies were mildly fruity in taste and had a wonderful crust for something that’s been baked in a microwave. People with a sweet tooth might find the sweetness on the lower side and chocolate fanatics might need an ounce more of chocolate to make it more decadent. For Brownies that are richer, I suggest increasing the chocolate by an ounce and sugar by a few tablespoons.
Heart friendly low fat vegan Chocolate Apple Brownies for Heart of the Matter 8: Baking hosted by Joanna.
That looks seriously good – I like the way that you’ve used fruit pureee instead of fat … not just no-fat, but also two of your five-a-day with every slice!
Thanks for sharing
Joanna
joannasfood.blogspot.com
Thanks Joanna. I surprised myself with the results – I din’t expect “no fat” could look and taste this rich – a bit fruity but yummy!! 🙂
the brownies look very inviting, esp the low-cal-diet tag with it!!..but i am still doubtful about the texture, when we MW things on high. wont it go too rubbery, after a while?
Microwave works as long the moisture content is high – for anything that has low moisture content or has lost its moisture content like cooked rotis, microwaving will lead to chewy disasters. Ditto for Cookies – we can bake cakes, not cookies. You may want to refer to the Wikipedia article on how the Microwave works. In General I have found that cake batter is well suited for microwave – especially fudgy and spongy cakes are far easier to achieve in the microwave.
For reheating rotis and food like this, I use a double boiler in the microwave.
wow…emirl showed that! i literally fell off my chair..as all these chefs…finish a bottle of oil per dish!! yumm..brownie looks great
Emeril’s original recipe calls for 1 stick of butter and 2 large whole eggs. I just made substitutions to make it heart friendly – his recipes are a good reference. I know Food Network only through online recipes – their videos aren’t up online as yet 😀 – so I am yet to witness “the Bottle of Oil per dish”.
Low fat is a plus point for everybody and the best part is it’s Vegan!!Way to go!!!
Oh, I love vegan recipes, especially the sweet ones. Then I dont feel like a guilty pig 😉 Oh, but powdered nuts ??? I ve never heard of anyhting like that…
I thought the use of Nut Flour and Nut Butter (1 cup powdered nuts+1 tbsp Olive Oil) was quite common, especially in low fat truffles and flourless cookies – the best thing about nuts is that they are calorie laden but healthy 🙂 . Powdered Nuts added a lot of flavour and richness to these Brownies
What a great recipe. So this is how you substitute fruit for eggs! Ground nuts, especially ground almonds, are common in Passover cakes. Elizabeth David has a divine chocolate cake that calls for almond powder instead of flour.
Almond Powder Cake sounds delicious 🙂 . Banana is an egg substitute – so is a combination of milkpowder+milk+yogurt – we add baking powder or cooking soda for leavening. Recipes that call for more than 4 eggs unfortunately dont quite have substitutes.
Haven’t seen you in a while Lakshmi. Hope you are not too busy!:))
Cake looks yum although I have never tasted any Vegan ones!
I had to susbtitute the butter with something else and I am yet to get over my “yuck eggs” hangover :D. Will reply by email
Great recipe dear…..:-)pretty useful to me….as its low in calories :-))
These look seriously good Lakshmi. I usually try and substitute applesauce for half the fat (butter or oil). But this is even better.. 🙂
Oh! low fat cake that too without egg..Wonderful..
A excelent idea a low fat brownie. They really looks delicious
wow..another low fat brownies. Look delicious and are good for heart too.
GOD!!Brownies…vegan…micro waved…Sounds interesting..Have to try…no no.. MUST try!!:)
Definitely give it a shot – I’ll mail you a slightly higher fat version that you can make if you like just chocolate with not a hint of fruit taste.
Thanks for the nice low fat dessert recipe.
i love such recipes. we often substitute applesauce, prune puree or date puree for butter. thanks for sharing this.
this was the first time I used apple puree as a butter substitute – and i am amazed with the results. i think half the butter atleast in most bakes can be substituted with fruit puree.
Awesome recipe, thanks!
Latha, this looks great!!! esp the brownies…and I totally agree with your “bestest” day definition:)
OMG!!! That looks truly delicious. I’m not a diet conscious person so I’ll go with more sugar. Lovely pictures. Want to have a bite with some vanilla icecream on the side.
kribha, you can also substitute half of the apple puree with butter (which wont then be heart friendly though) if you are not very diet conscious 😀 – i so agree with the vanilla ice cream on the side.
This looks so delicious!
Is it possible to bake it?
I will try this wonderful brownies.
Absolutely – this recipe will also work in convection mode. In fact it is a standard cake recipe with butter and eggs subtituted.
Wonderful! I have been thinking of making brownies, this low fat recipe makes it totally guilt -free 🙂
When you see Brownies and fat free in same line it is amust try. I baked another low fat brownie long time ago. Only problem was that I didnt the texture which was crumbly. So i will surely try this.
Fruit Puree adds a lot of moisture – so this shouldn’t turn crumbly unless one overbakes. Let me know how it turned out.
cute brownies!!! low fat dessert is a gud idea mm without egg n less sugar….lovemy pics..i like to hav a piece lathammma….
Thanks for the recipe! I added it to my list of veg recipes on my yoga blog,
http://yogadreams.wordpress.com
I’m looking forward to making these brownies. Like you, I like the plant-based fats. You can eat them knowing they’re good for the body and the taste buds.
Thanks Maria. This is my first experiment with plant fat though and loved the taste.
i guess it’s time to try a m/w cake soon, looks so good!
Brownies look so cute and sweet…
Hi Lakshmi, could you plzz tell me the nuts used in the recipe. Are they almonds, cashew, peanuts …or a combo, if so in what proportion? Wonderfull recipe will try it for sure.
Nuts in any combination can be used. I used Walnuts and Almonds in equal proportion.
chocolate and apple! wow!!!
thats a yummy brownie that too egg free 🙂
Microwaved Brownies… looks delicious!!! Bookmarked this!!
That looks great…don’t finish this off all by yourself…I want some ok…so bring along..:)
A neat recipe Latha. The brownie is tempting. Viji
Lakshmi n Latha,
Just now tried the brownies. Excellent!!!! Thanks again for such a lovely healthy recipe.
the brownies are really mouthwatering i too make brownies but with butter and eggs yours is a healthy one especially for diet watchers
[…] and pakodas. I took along some Brownies – eggless and low fat though not vegan. I made it from this recipe with just one change I doubled the recipe and substituted 1/4th of the Apple Puree with Butter. I […]
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This recipe looks so yummy, yet healthy as well! Kudos to your creativity!
Unfortunately, I don’t have a microwave–will this recipe work in an oven, and if so, how long/what temp should it be baked?
This recipe is so delicious! I tried it yesterday and loved it…great to have a chocolatey snack on hand that is so low much healthier than the usual!
Very yummy post!
I know I am fighting a losing battle but the word is healthful. Only a living thing (person, animal, tree, fungus), can be healthy, anything that is good for one’s health is healthful, not healthy. An apple can be healthy on a tree, but to eat one is healthful.
At least food writers could get this right.
I don’t see where I have called an apple “healthy” in my post. Non living things such as attitudes, recreation, businesses etc can also be healthy. Healthy is a word applied especially to describe what possesses health, but is also applied to what is conducive to health. In modern English “healthful” and “healthy” both are used to refer to what’s conducive to health.
Food writers primarily want to convey about food. Language for me is not an exercise in adhering to grammar rules, but a means of expressing what I want to clearly and in an engaging manner. As food writers or writers of any kind, IMHO, we’re not obligated to get grammar right beyond the purpose it serves.
They’re not exactly healthy considered the sugar/carb content (diabetes city!), but for a once in awhile vegan treat they look yummy!
WOW!! I was very doubtful about these, was sure they’d be rubbery but they’re FAB! Hubby even said he prefers them to my usual (fattening) brownies!
I didn’t put any sugar in at all & was definately sweet enough. Also, I added about half a cup of chopped dark chocolate to the mix, chocolate chips!!
Thanks so much for posting this, who’d have thought you can make healthy chocolate brownies!!
love ur recipes :))