Brownies with Yogurt, Applesause, and Walnuts

I have been craving brownies for quite some time now.  The other day, when I was making homemade yogurt, I was looking for healthier brownie recipes using applesauce.  Somehow I stumbled across a brownie recipe calling for applesauce and yogurt.  What luck! I now have a bunch of homemade yogurt. 

I just pulled these out of the oven and now the house smells like chocolate.  I am looking forward to trying a brownie when they cool a bit. They look really good.

I am not pretending that these brownies are health food.  But compared to another homemade brownie recipe I've made before (which call for 1 stick of butter) these are healthy-ER.  I used white whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour.  That always makes me feel a bit better.  Eggs and yogurt are full of protein.  I did use 1 cup of brown sugar as the recipe calls for but I did not pack it down much at all.  I added some walnut pieces to the batter and I know walnuts have anti-oxidants. Applesauce comes from fruit.  And cocoa comes from a plant, so chocolate is technically a vegetable, right?  Ha, ha.  Just kidding.  I also noticed when looking at the original recipe that this 8 inch x 8 inch pan of brownies is considered 12 to 16 portions.  Who knew!?. I was going to cut this pan of brownies into maybe 9 brownies!  Okay, I'll cut them into small portions.

Skinny Brownies from www.yummyhealthyeasy.com
Recipe link is HERE.

Ingredients

• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ tsp. salt
• ¼ tsp. baking soda
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• ½ cup unsweetened applesauce
• ½ cup plain Greek yogurt (or low-fat sour cream)
• 2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted (I used chocolate chips)
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. canola oil
• 2 ounces semi-sweet or milk chocolate, chopped (I used chocolate chips)
• 1/2 cup walnut pieces (some mixed in, some placed on top before baking)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350º. Spray a 8x8 square pan with cooking spray then line with a strip of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides. Spray paper with cooking spray, too.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, salt and baking soda.
3. In another medium bowl, stir together brown sugar, applesauce, greek yogurt, melted chocolate, eggs and oil. Add the flour mixture and stir until just moistened.
4. Spread batter in prepare pan. Sprinkle the top with the chopped chocolate pieces.
5. Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, about 30-35 minutes.

Update:  these are great!  They are not very sweet which is fine with me. Next time I might use the full cup of packed brown sugar as called for in the recipe to make them a tad sweeter.  I cut them up and wrapped them up when they were still a bit warm and now they are very moist!