Yummy lowfat/lower-calorie brownies
 

Was checking out a recipe site today and came across a way to make boxed brownies less fattening. It said to replace BOTH the oil and the eggs with 3/4 cup of plain nonfat yogurt. I didn't have plain, I had the Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla, so I used that. And omg, they're so good! Super chewy and fudgy.

Just thought I'd share :)

Applesauce also makes a great substitute for butter in baked goods. It doesn't change the flavor much and the texture is pretty great. You can also use flax seed meal as a fat substitute, which is more wholesome, but which has about the same number of calories as actual fat.

Another tip: if a recipe calls for 2 eggs, its ok to use one whole egg and one egg white.

I love to bake, and to eat baked goods, so I've spent quite a bit of time mastering substitutions! (The only thing is that I abhor splenda. I think it tastes awful and would rather use a reduced amount of sugar instead.)

MMM Brownies
 

I get weak in the knees for brownies! This sounds too good to be true! What would be the calories in that?

Oh yes, that's a normal thing for me. I never use oil in cakes and the like. I keep those single-serve containers of no-sugar-added applesauce around at all times and bust one of them open whenever I make a cake.

Unfortunately I have no idea. This is just one of those things where I sort of guess.

On my newest fav site, fitday.com, this is the comparison:
Cal fat carb prot
Sunflower oil 1445 164 0 0
Egg, whole, raw 194 13 2 16
Yogurt, plain, lo 116 3 13 10

Just in that comparison alone is impressive. Of course youre not going to eat the whole 3/4 cup of oil alone like that, but it is a perspective to learn from. Does anyone know how to use this info to calculate the calories inthose yummy, gooey, good for your hips brownies?

If they give the calorie info for the mix alone (which I thought they were required to do, but I don't have box around here to verify it), just divide the calories in the 3/4 cup yogurt by the number of servings in the mix, then add that to the calories per serving in the mix.

If they only give the calories for the mix "as prepared," you could figure out the calories by:
1. Figuring the total calories in the mix by multiplying the number of servings by the calories per serving.
2. Subtracting the calories in the added ingredients.
3. Adding the calories in 3/4 cup yogurt.
4. Dividing the new total by the number of servings.

For example, Duncan Hines low-fat chewy fudge brownie makes 20 servings @120 calories each, as prepared. This is an aggregate of 2,400 calories. I'm not sure what the added ingredients are but, for the sake of my example, assume you add 1 egg (75 calories) and 1/4 cup oil (480 calories). Subtracting the calories in the added ingredients (555 calories) leaves 1,845 calories in the mix alone. Assume that 3/4 cup yogurt has 90 calories. Adding the yogurt to the brownie mix increases the calories to 1,935. Divided by 20 servings, you end up with about 97 calories per serving.

Another way to figure this is to just subtract the calories in the yogurt from the calories in the added ingredients and divide by 20 servings. 555 calories less 90 calories, divided by 20 = 23 calories, so replacing the added ingredients with 3/4 cup yogurt eliminated 23 calories per serving.

BTW - I can't believe Fitday is saying an egg is 194 calories! That's crazy--according to all the sources I rely on for calorie data (calorieking, calorie-counters, Bally's online, the egg carton itself), one large egg is 70 to 80 calories. Even a jumbo egg is only around 95 calories.

wow! Thanks Barb! I am gonna make it next week!

FitDay has one extra large egg 90 calories and goes down to one small egg 54 calories. This was a egg,whole, boiled. Maybe I clicked on something funky. Is raw different? Ugh, I'm getting neurotic!!