I am going to experiment with making sweet potato "brownies" tonight, looking for culinary feedback

Geocitiesuser

You are the second person to suggest the applesauce and I think I'm liking the idea.

bobtater1

I'd still go with the flax eggs too. Right now I'm trying to work a low cal bananna bread.

Geocitiesuser

I love banana bread. Def. Post if you have a break through.

bobtater1

Well haven't baked it yet but got it down to 106 cal. a slice. Will post if sucess.

CynoO

I love black bean brownies lol never thought I would ever say that but I do lol

bobtater1

I love black bean and quinoa enchiladas with red sauce.

jgnatca

This is the black bean brownie recipe I use. I agree with the originators comment that chocolate chips are essential to maintain a fudgy texture.

http://pin.it/Tx_y1FZ

I've successfully subbed dark red kidney beans.

bobtater1

jgnatca wrote: »

This is the black bean brownie recipe I use. I agree with the originators comment that chocolate chips are essential to maintain a fudgy texture.

http://pin.it/Tx_y1FZ

I've successfully subbed dark red kidney beans.

Wonder if you could get it lower by subbing unsweetened applesauce for oil??

Geocitiesuser

I have some "myprotein 0 cal chocolate syrup" and I'm wondering if it would congeal enough for the fudgey texture. Unfortunately I don't think I'll have room in my calories for baking this weekend. Perhaps I can get back to it next weekend. There's a can of beans read to go!

bobtater1

Carob chips might be lower in cal and I think 1/4 cup of chips would do instead of 1/2 or 2/3.

bobtater1

Nope choc chips are lower.

jgnatca

bobtater1 wrote: »

jgnatca wrote: »

This is the black bean brownie recipe I use. I agree with the originators comment that chocolate chips are essential to maintain a fudgy texture.

http://pin.it/Tx_y1FZ

I've successfully subbed dark red kidney beans.

Wonder if you could get it lower by subbing unsweetened applesauce for oil??

I have subbed applesauce for oil as long as there is at least a tablespoon of oil. It could work.

Speziface

I made a batch of brownies yesterday and subbed a GoGo Squeeze packet of applesauce for the oil. They came out a little bit sweeter but the flavor was almost spot on, and the texture was a bit more like cake than a brownie (but certainly acceptable).

xoxasma

Reading this made me wanna share my favorite fudge recipe so:



1 medium sweet potato, boiled & mashed
1/2 cup creamy PB
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup chocolate chips
Dash of vanilla extract

Microwave PB & maple syrup, combine with sweet potato, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract, fold in choc chips, pour into greased pan. Cool completely before cutting and eating.

Bake at 350 for 20 min

Speziface

xoxasma wrote: »

Reading this made me wanna share my favorite fudge recipe so:



1 medium sweet potato, boiled & mashed
1/2 cup creamy PB
2 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup chocolate chips
Dash of vanilla extract

Microwave PB & maple syrup, combine with sweet potato, cocoa powder, and vanilla extract, fold in choc chips, pour into greased pan. Cool completely before cutting and eating.

Bake at 350 for 20 min

Looks good, but I'd roast the sweet potato rather than boil it.

Geocitiesuser

Im wondering if i "need" the starch base. What if i made the bulk of it fat free Greek yogurt protein powder, eggs, and baking powder? Id have to put a lot of powder for it to cake up? Just thoughts to return to when i get a chance to bake again.

bobtater1

On that sweet potato recipe I'd pull the maple syrup and go with xylitol. Lower cal than maple syrup and natural sweetner.

MichelleWithMoxie

Curious how the newest tweaks turned out! Any updates?

bobtater1

Also I'd try sunbutter in place of peanut butter about half the calories.

bobtater1

I dunno but I think I'm getting closer on 100 cal slice of bananna bread. I like tearing down a recipe and getting it lower cal. Haven't hit zero yet. lol

Geocitiesuser

MichSmish wrote: »

Curious how the newest tweaks turned out! Any updates?

Not yet, haven't had the chance to play in the kitchen for two weeks new. But really hopeful I can make some faux brownies this weekend

lemmie177

I've always made mine with garnet yam and black beans. It's been awhile though. I mix them together in the blender to annihilate the bean-y texture.

Francl27

bobtater1 wrote: »

I dunno but I think I'm getting closer on 100 cal slice of bananna bread. I like tearing down a recipe and getting it lower cal. Haven't hit zero yet. lol

Any banana bread can be 100 calories a slice if you cut it small enough.

abs1970

I'd love to see how yours turn out. I've tried two different recipes now and both have gone into the bin!

bobtater1

I know portion control but to have a 4 inch piece vs a two inch piece and meet calories just feels like fun to challenge.

Speziface

Geocitiesuser wrote: »

Im wondering if i "need" the starch base. What if i made the bulk of it fat free Greek yogurt protein powder, eggs, and baking powder? Id have to put a lot of powder for it to cake up? Just thoughts to return to when i get a chance to bake again.

You'd end up with a very fudgy brownie, and there wouldn't be much texture to it. And be careful with the protein powder; too much would cause it to seize rather than cake up. Not sure how much good the baking powder would do; that creates gas that's usually that's trapped in pockets formed by the starches. Even a 1/4 cup of flour would probably help.

Interesting idea you've got there. Try whipping the eggs with the sweetener until very light, then whip in the yogurt. Carefully fold in the dry ingredients then add whatever oil substitute you're using. Keep the mixture as aerated as possible (think mousse). Bake it in a well greased pan and you might end up with something similar to a souffle.

Geocitiesuser

As threatened, I have continued my science experiments in the kitchen. Today I decided on trying a zucchini base. One because I was looking to lower calories, and two because thinking of textures I have fond memories of zucchini breads for their moisture and texture.

Ultimately so far The texture of sweet potatoes has been the best because they were creamy. The black bean base was very pastey. Now with the zucchini base it was a bit to wet and had a strong zucchini overtone.

This time I also made a frosting using an idea I got from crazyravr.

Next time I bake there is one more base I'm going to try, and that is a greek yogurt base I saw someone else use in another cake recipe. My flavor/powder mix has been evolving too and I'm getting closer to a desirable flavor.

First, the "brownies". I used

- 400g of shredded zucchini (I would puree this if I did it again but shredded worked fine)
- 18g unsweetened coco powder
- 12g PB2 (this is a new addition to the powdered mix)
- 2 egglands best large eggs
- Two scoops of chocolate whey (I used quest chocolate milkshake)
- 4 or so tablespoons of davinci 0 cal chocolate syrup
- 1 tspn baking powder



I baked this at 350 degrees for 25 minutes in an 8x8 glass bakeware

Here it is with no frosting. Again, flavor had strong zucchini overtones, I don't really recommend recreating this exactly unless you do something about that. The Zucchini was a bit bitter.



Here's one quarter



Excuse my greasy stove, how embarassing hah

Frosting

I just mixed 24g of PB2 with a small tub (150g) of nonfat plain greek yogurt, comes out to 170 calories. The frosting is DELICIOUS and I will be doing this again. I've also seen this done with yogurt+whey



Finally with the frosting. The whole quarter is only about 180-ish calories and a little over 20g of protein (wow huh?)



Tune in next time as I experiment with a greek yogurt base. Even though I believe it will be leaving the realm of brownie and moving towards a cake texture. We'll see what happens. But so far sweet potato base is winning in texture, and zucchini in being super low calorie.

DancingMoosie

I usually just get a Pillsbury box brownie and use applesauce instead of oil, then sub egg white for whole egg. My s mom used to make black bean brownies that were pretty good, but I don't have the recipe.

Geocitiesuser

Speziface wrote: »

Geocitiesuser wrote: »

Im wondering if i "need" the starch base. What if i made the bulk of it fat free Greek yogurt protein powder, eggs, and baking powder? Id have to put a lot of powder for it to cake up? Just thoughts to return to when i get a chance to bake again.

You'd end up with a very fudgy brownie, and there wouldn't be much texture to it. And be careful with the protein powder; too much would cause it to seize rather than cake up. Not sure how much good the baking powder would do; that creates gas that's usually that's trapped in pockets formed by the starches. Even a 1/4 cup of flour would probably help.

Interesting idea you've got there. Try whipping the eggs with the sweetener until very light, then whip in the yogurt. Carefully fold in the dry ingredients then add whatever oil substitute you're using. Keep the mixture as aerated as possible (think mousse). Bake it in a well greased pan and you might end up with something similar to a souffle.

@Speziface

Here is the recipe I am going to base my next batch off of, and what got me thinking about a yogurt base. Seems they were able to get a cakey texture from it over at protein pow:

http://proteinpow.com/2013/07/4th-of-july-protein-flag-cake-gluten.html

The flavor of a yogurt cake seems questionable, but I think it's worth a go.

Geocitiesuser

Well, I'm super proud of myself. I have invented a low calorie protein cake that is extremely flexible and tastes... in my opinion, pretty damn good!

The recipe is good enough I'm tempted to give it it's own post.

I was getting bored of chocolate and today went for a cinnamon flavor (cinnies? Not quite as brownies? tannies even?) After I list the cinnamon version I'll detail how to make chocolate underneath, the macros will end up very similar, and there's no weird ingredients everything can come from your local supermarket. Here's the pics so you know what you're getting into. I'll definitely be making these again using this recipe.



Close up of the texture (a little dry on the edges, I wouldn't over cook these, but surprisingly cakey for yogurt)



These are the stats WITHOUT frosting for the whole thing. (Frosting adds 80 cals, 17g protein, 3g carbs)





Let's call these french toast brownies for now:

The cake part:

- 400g non fat greek yogurt
- 2 scoops cinnamon flavored whey (I used quest cinnamon crunch) (about 60g)
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon (about 12g)
- 1 squirt carey's sugar free syrup, about 2tablespoons for me, more or less depending on preference (this is the sweetener)
- 1 large egglands best egg (or farm fresh egg if you have)
- 1 tblspn-ish of vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- non stick spray
- 8x8 cookware

The frosting:

- 50g non fat greek yogurt
- 15g vanilla casein (or vanilla whey of your choosing)


Instructions:

- Preheat oven to 350
- combine all ingredients and mix well. I just used a spoon
- Spoon into lightly greased/sprayed cookware
- bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. (mine took 27 min)
- Once the cookware starts too cool, carefully remove it and let it finish cooling on a wire rack, this is important, if you don't let it cool on a wire rack it will be very 'wet' from the yogurt

Frosting instructions:

- Mix in bowl. Add more yogurt, protein, or a splash of liquid (water/vanilla/whatever) if you need to play with consistency. I ended up using almost 50g and 15g exactly.

Once cool spread on frosting and enjoy!

---

Chocolate brownie version with peanutbutter frosting

Same instructions, very similar macros, different ingredient list:

The cake part:

- 400g non fat greek yogurt
- 2 scoops chocolate flavored whey (about 60g)
- 3 tablespoons unsweetened coco powder (about 18g)
- 2 tablespoons PB2 powder (about 12g)
- 1 large egglands best egg (or farm fresh egg if you have)
- 2 tblspn-ish of davinci 0cal chocolate syrup or sugar free choco syrup of your choice. More or less to taste (This is the sweetener)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- non stick spray
- 8x8 cookware

The frosting:

- 50g non fat greek yogurt
- 15g pb2 powder


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For people using freedom units, this is all based off 1lb of greek yogurt. A 2lb greek yogurt will net you two whole trays with frosting. (450g to a pound)