Low Fat Brownies

Submitted by Tanya Schaad

"Yummy and may adhere to Dean Ornish's diet for reversing heart disease. This is an adaptation of a recipe from "Tofu Times" reprinted on www.morinu.com."

 

• Ready In: 35mins
• Ingredients: 11
• Serves: 15

ingredients

• 1 1⁄3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1⁄4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄4 cup unsweetened applesauce (I like to use Santa Cruz Apple Cherry Sauce)
• 1 teaspoon canola oil
• 3⁄4 cup sugar
• 12 ounces silken lite firm tofu
• 1⁄2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1⁄2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1⁄3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped nuts (optional)

directions

1. Preheat oven.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and cinnamon in a medium bowl.
3. Separately, mix well applesauce, oil, sugar, tofu, extracts, and cocoa powder in a blender or food processor.
4. Pour mixture into the combined dry ingredients and mix well with a spatula.
5. Lightly spray a 7x5 or 8x8 cake pan with a Canola oil cooking spray.
6. Pour mixture into greased pan and cover with chopped nuts if desired.
7. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

Reviews

[Fernandinho]

Here in my little corner of the globe, commercial applesauce is unavailable, so I used 1/3 C corn oil instead. I've recieved rave reveiws from my friends at work.

 

[scooter the bear]

I used extra-firm (non-silken) tofu because it had been sitting in the fridge for a while and I needed to use it up, so that may have been the problem, and as suggested in another review, I used 1/3 cup oil since I had no applesauce. They turned out nearly inedible. I am hoping to pass them out at a local nursing home because they won't be able to remember who brought them in and thusly whom to curse. Way dry, lumps of clay that gave me a tummy-ache

 

[drhousespcatcher]

I make these all the time. They do tend to have the texture that others are speaking of because they have very little to no fat. This is acceptable for the Ornish prevention diet depending on your evaluated status btw but NOT for the heart reversal. If you are on the heart reversal no oil is allowed period. If you are heart reversal and thinking of trying this please check your Ornish Heart reversal book or his web site on WebMD.

 

[ladypit]

I used firm silken tofu and followed the recipe exactly except I used milled cane sugar for the sugar. These do not have a very chocolatey taste and are, as Grace said, dense and moist and kind of spongy. I used a good quality dutch chocolate and so had expected more of a chocolate taste. Regardless, they are pretty good. I think they would be quite excellent with some fat free cool-whip, though that does take away from the healthy whole-foodsness of the brownies!

 

[Tanya Schaad]

Mori Nu makes several varieties of silken tofu, including firm silken tofu, in UHT packaging (like juice boxes). This is the type I use. These brownies do come out a little more cakey, than chewy, though.