Made brownies again, for a church meeting. Doubled the recipe, made it in a standard sheet-cake size pan, subbed Z-trim for ALL the fat. (Well, except the trace amount in cocoa powder.) Scarfed down by all. Another benefit of this: it's non-dairy, for those with allergies. I calculated it as being right under 100 calories per brownie.
Learned: things with a lot of Z trim in them take longer to bake than things made with shortening/butter. BUT ... it firms up after being removed from the oven. So, increase the time of your recipe by 5 minutes or so, but don't be afraid to take it out while the inside still looks a bit pudding-like. (Doesn't pertain to cupcakes -- they looked firm when I removed them, though I did have to cook them an additional 5 minutes.)
I'll post the full recipe at the bottom.
HAVE I LOST WEIGHT: No! But that's because of a combination of stress and stupidity. My daughter was scheduled for her scans last Friday (she's in remission from kidney cancer) -- combine that with the fact that I was doing all this experimenting, and you can imagine the result. I will say that the fact that I didn't gain weight is impressive. If you have to fight stupidity (I do! "Maybe these are magical and the more I eat, the more I'll lose!") and love to bake, you might want to be careful ...
If, however, you have a modicum of sense, I think this stuff is great. Don't think you can eat an entire chocolate cake, but use it as you would a fat in a regular recipe. Next experiment for me: I make my own protein bars, and they require a certain amount of fat. Cool application!
Very low-fat Cocoa Brownies
Ingredients
1 ½ cups Z-Trim
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
4 large egg whites
1 cup white whole wheat flour
Special equipment: rectangular baking pan
preparation
Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with parchment paper or foil, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
Combine the Z-trim, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl. Mix with a fork or spoon until mixture is smooth.
Stir in the vanilla with a wooden spoon. Add the egg whites one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer, then beat vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula. Spread evenly in the lined pan.
Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 25 - 30 minutes. Let cool completely on a rack.
Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into squares.
Calypso,
Double that on the thank you!!! I still have the thought of using Z-Trim or a Z-Trim combo when making a white sauce. I just haven't had the time to experiment with it. I mostly use it to lessen the fat in my sour cream.
Yes, in all my baked goods recipes, I'm making 4/1 gel -- 4 rounded tablespoons per cup of water. I give it about three minutes of buzz with my immersion blender.
has anyone tried to make ice cream with it? I was just going to use it to replace the heavy cream in this recipe and use egg beaters, splenda, and fat free evaporated milk.... what do you think?
2eggs
3/4 c sugar
2 c heavy whipping cream
1 c milk
2 tsp vanilla
Caly,
I haven't purchased or seen the trim Z yet. Judging from your experience, do you think it would work in this fashion?
also, how many calories does it have. I know it says 0 but it must have some since it says that it has trace carbs and is made from corn.
Girl 81 -- calories, all I know if what's on the label. But I believe that pure fiber is not broken down by your body -- so if this is pure fiber, there would be no calories. But I'm no scientist, so don't go by my opinion.
I think it would work great for ice cream or frozen yogurt. I planned on experimenting, but have been too busy.
I did, however, make frosted cupcakes that turned out great. Vanilla cake mix, z trim, water and egg whites for the cake. Frosting: I messed with a cream cheese frosting recipe -- it wound up, roughly, being 4 oz cream cheese, 1 cup thick (14 tbsp z trim to 1 cup water) Z trim, 4 cups powdered sugar, and I think a half cup of cocoa powder. Wasn't quite right, so I added in more powdered sugar. (Next time, would just add Z trim more gradually.)
Anyway, it tasted "normal" and everyone at church loved them. Not healthy, by any stretch of the imagination, but slightly less unhealthy than normal.
Latest experiment. VERY good and a yummy way to get your orange vegetable:
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Muffins
137 calories each
3 c whole wheat flour
1 c Sugar
4 ts Baking powder
1 ts Cinnamon
1 ts Salt
2 c fat free Milk
1 can Solid pack pumpkin
1/2 c Z Trim 4/1
2 Eggs
6 oz Semi sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 400. In large bowl combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt; make a well in the center. In a small bowl, combine milk, pumpkin, butter and egg; add to well in flour mixture. Add chocolate chips; stir until dry mixture is moistened. Spoon mixture into greased muffin cups, dividing evenly (24 muffins). Bake at 400 for 18-20 minutes. Cool 5 minutes; remove from pans, completely cool on racks. This recipe makes 2 dozen.
I got mine last week- it is AMAZING!!!!!! I used it in dips for our veggies, salad dressings, mayonaise, cream cheese, and tonight, I made my mushroom/cheese/lettuce on a omega rich pita bread, and replaced half of the Brummel yogurt margarine to saute my mushrooms in, as well as half of the light mayo with the Z trim, and it tasted FABU, just like everything else we've used it in!
I tested it out on my family- no one knew that I was replacing half of their dip or salad dressing with it, and no one noticed the difference! Tonight, they all found out, as I was replacing half of the dip with the Z trim, and they all said "yuck, I don't want to try that!" I told them they had been eating it all week long, and they were shocked. They ate it again tonight, baffled, as anything that is "fat free" or the light/fat free salad dressings are a huge turn off to most kids (I have two teens and a daughter who will be 11 next week). Even my husband loved it, and he doesn't have too much weight to lose (10 pounds now), and he was thrilled that it was all natural- no added chemicals or preservatives in it.
The only difference that I noticed is that the consistancy of things become a tiny bit thinner like cream cheese, or creamier for sour cream, but there is absolutely no difference in the tastes!
By the way, I forgot to add to my other two posts on the other boards here about Z Trim- changing nothing else in our diets but using the Z trim- I lost two pounds this week, my son lost 4 pounds (he REALLY loves his salads and veggies loaded with dressing and dips!), my two daughters one pound each and my husband, 3 pounds. Eleven pounds gone from all of us just substituting Z trim for half of our salad dressings, veggie dips, cream cheese and sour cream for baked potatoes. I'm going to try making potato salad with it sometime next week, as that is a favorite in our house with steak tips.
We eat a lot of bagels with cream cheese, and have at least two salads or one salad and veggies with dip two meals a day. So, there was frequent usage out of the first bottle already, we have a little left in it, thank goodness I bought four of them! Also, I am a HUGE mayonaise lover, as is my son. I used half mayo, half Z trim, and he never even knew that it was half of the fat or calories- we use Lite Mayo, by the way. I (as well as the rest of my family) just can't stand "Light" or "Fat Free" salad dressing- I can cope with most light products, but I have yet to find one salad dressing that I can stomach- so, this makes my Ranch salad dressing "Light" with no compromise to the taste!
I really love this product, and am very excited with how it's helped us lose weight in a natural manner. I will say, the only side effect we're all having, is that we do use the throne shortly after we consume it, but nothing bad, if anything, it's good for us. Most notably hubby, who usually only goes once a day first thing in the morning. If he has it for dinner at night, he's in the bathroom again.
Reporting In ...
If you have to fight stupidity (I do! "Maybe these are magical and the more I eat, the more I'll lose!") and love to bake, you might want to be careful ...
