Life is short. Eat dessert first!
In our family, we often get stuck eating the same thing for breakfast every day. Starting the day with something delicious and nutritious is a great way to put some excitement back into the most important meal of the day. My kids love it when they get to have dessert for breakfast, and this is a recipe I can say "yes" to.
Have you ever wondered why fat-free cookies are so addictive? They are loaded with extra sugar to make up for the fat that was removed to make them "healthier". Putting flavor back into the recipe to replace what you take out is a trick I learned from The Low-Cholesterol Gourmet, Lynn Fischer, back in the early 1990s, and it has served me well in making my family's diet healthier. This recipe is a great example of how good food can taste when you tweak the recipe a bit.
Cutting back on sugar is a priority for me and my family. I have found one of the best ways to do that is to use sweetening agents that have flavor. Most brownie recipes call for a cup of sugar for a batch that makes 12-16 brownies. By replacing sugar with honey and molasses, full-bodied flavor complements the chocolate in these brownies, and you can much less than if you were using regular sugar. Sometimes I add chopped dates in place of part of the sugar. Dates give a nutty, caramel taste that is perfect in combination with chocolate.
Greek yogurt is a terrific substitute for butter and oil in baking. It provides the needed moisture without all the calories. In this recipe it helps to create the fudgy mouth-feel that makes the brownies so decadent without sending the calories and fat through the roof. You can use fat-free Greek yogurt or the regular kind, either works.
Oats are a fabulous substitution for wheat flour. The trick is finding gluten-free oats. I am resorting to ordering them online, because the stores around me don't carry them consistently. They are much more expensive than regular oats, but they are worth it because of the nutrition they contain. Grind them up in the food processor to make a powder, and you can use them in just about anything that calls for flour.
When I don't have gluten-free oats, I use ViShape Shake Mix as a substitute for wheat flour in my baking. It is a gluten-free, lactose-free, whey and soy-based protein powder that tastes like cake mix. Originally developed as a meal-replacement shake for weight loss, ViShape has been used by thousands of people to improve their nutrition. I am one of those people. To learn more about ViShape, click on the word ViShape.
Enjoy!
Gather these delicious ingredients:
1/2 cup Greek yogurt
1/4 cup grape seed oil
1/4 cup unsweetened vanilla almond milk
1 large egg
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking powder
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup molasses
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup ground gluten-free oats
1/2 cup peanut butter
Now do this with them:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan.
2. Mix the wet ingredients (except for the peanut butter) in a blender, food processor, or mixing bowl. Add the oats (or ViShape shake mix, or a combination of the two) and remaining dry ingredients, and mix until well incorporated. Pour into baking pan.
3. Melt the peanut butter in the microwave for about 15-20 seconds. Stir. Heat a few seconds more if it is not thin and of a consistent texture.
4. Swirl the peanut butter on top of the chocolate mixture and make a nice marbled design.
5. Bake 25 minutes. The toothpick test will NOT work with this recipe. Shake the pan and see if the batter jiggles in the middle. If it does, bake for another 3 to 5 minutes. If it seems firm and is starting to come away from the edges of the pan, remove it from the oven and let it sit on the counter for 10 minutes. Refrigerate for 30 to 45 minutes before serving.
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