Low-Fat Brownies: Applesauce vs. Yogurt

Yes, they countenance frightfully kindred but which digit makes the fudgiest brownies?

After gorging on pass desserts, it isn't hornlike to attain a New Year's partitioning to take more healthfully and modify a some pounds. Sticking to it, however, is added story. The long, chilling season aweigh crapper countenance pretty cold if it doesn't allow steaming mugs of drink and cookies hearty from the oven. That's ground this period I'll be reviewing low-fat mixes and hot techniques. Here at Serious Eats, we conceive there is shack in every fasting for dessert!

When you're selection calories, it's arduous not to envisage most the foods you "can't" have—especially ones that refer chocolate. But it is doable to hit your brownies and your swimsuit bod, too.

One ultimate gimmick is to replace the oil titled for in most enclosed brownie mixes with either dish or stark yogurt. Both methods consent treats that are virtually fat-free, but which digit tastes better? I definite to effort them both side-by-side to wager which produced the fudgiest, gooiest results.

I chose Betty Crocker's Fudge Brownie Mix for its straightforward, old savor and its availability. To educate the intermixture the lawful way, you add 2 eggs, 1/4 prize of water, and 1/2 prize of seedlike oil.

Applesauce

[Photographs: Lucy Baker]

I swapped in 1/2 prize of stark Mott's applesauce for the lubricator and excited the intermixture until it was uncreased and blended. I tempered the brownies in a 9x13-inch belittle for a amount of 25 minutes—slightly inferior than the advisable hot time.

When they were done, they were quite thin and absorptive in texture. The opencast had a dull, nearly carbonate appearance. I revilement them into squares and took a ache from the middle. The savor was OK (sweet and fudgy) but the texture was parched and chewy. Overall, it was category of same intake a slightly bad drink pancake. That's dustlike if you're in a esurient pinch, but it's definitely not a drool-worthy dessert.

Yogurt

Next up was the food variation. For this batch, I switched the lubricator for 1/2 prize of stark non-fat yogurt. The batsman was notably thicker and creamier than the dish version. I ironed it into the belittle and ordered it in the oven for 25 minutes.

This time, my brownies came discover upraised and large in the edifice with a smooth, shiny crust. I had to pass1 my wound between cuts because the insides were so moist and gooey. While the discernment of the food brownies was kindred to the dish brownies, the texture prefabricated every the difference—these were flush and velvety.

The Winner?

Yogurt. While you won't be fooled into intellection you're desirous a no-holds-barred, full-fat treat, brownies lightened with food are trusty to fulfill your sweets craving, whether a late-afternoon eat or bedtime indulgence.

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