A Tasty Blog

Like many of us I enjoy watching cooking shows; I often pick up some great info. Recently I was watching America's Test Kitchen on PBS and they had a program on Lightening Up Chocolate Desserts. Being intrigued by their fudgy low-fat brownies, the decision was made to do them one better (or two?). They really did a nice job of reducing the fat, but I wanted to ditch the butter first off. Substituting Ztrim for the butter was a no brainer (see my blarticle). Next, while shopping for ingredients I read the label for chocolate syrup, and recoiled in horror! Up front and center is the first ingredient - high fructose corn syrup! Oh...my...gosh...

In changing a couple of other things I was really taking a leap. No chocolate syrup for fudginess; ok add agave nectar instead for moisture, and add a half teaspoon of instant espresso powder for richness. Coffee intensifies chocolate flavor and is a great addition to choco desserts. Subbing in a little Hi-Maize for flour adds fiber, and lowers the calorie and glycemic index a little.

Unfortunately, there's no getting away from real sugar. I've experimented with agave nectar and it's no substitute for sugar in baking. It's the texture of the baked good that's at stake here. I'm not at all impressed with sugar substitutes so far so I'm sticking with organic sugar. What resulted was an intensely fudgy, soft brownie. No one who tried it could tell it was a really low fat recipe! I'm thinking about trying it out with chopped walnuts for those beneficial oils; meanwhile, give it a try.