Favourite Brownies...?

I have to say, given the choice of cake or chocolate or potato chips, lollies or ice cream (ETC!) my go to 'treat' would have to be a chocolate brownie. And I have tried so many different recipes. I have made ones I've found online, I've used packet mixes, I've used other peoples recipes, but I had still never found that ONE recipe that is easy, quick and still delicious.
Could my search be over?

I had one egg left in the house and I didn't feel like going to the store just to buy eggs, but I felt like making something! So I turned to google of course and searched for an egg free brownie recipe.
What I found wasn't egg free, but it used one egg and two egg whites...so I thought well, I'll just use the one egg and see how we go! Side note: I do this too often with baking, just make up my own rules, but sometimes it turns out ok!!

So this brownie mix is quite different to many others that I have tried. There are a few more steps than just throwing everything together and mixing, but it was still a pretty simple recipe to follow.
It does make quite a dense, chocolatey brownie. You could easily play around with what you add to it (i.e chocolate bits, nuts etc.) to change the flavour.

The version that I made had dark chocolate bits in it, this made the brownie very chocolatey, but I didn't find it sickly sweet. I think that if they were milk chocolate bits it could have verged on too sweet, but you never know. I do want to try this again with a mixture of dark chocolate bite and white chocolate bits and maybe some nuts.

Onto the recipe.

I found this recipe on the Pop Sugar website and they, in turn, found it on the Shape Magazine website!

INGREDIENTS

3/4 cup all-purpose/plain flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
4 tablespoons unsalted margarine (not cold, at room temp - could also use butter)
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional - 1/4 cup your choice of chopped nuts)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 180° C. (This is about 350°F) 
2. Spray a 28cm x 20cm (13inch x 9inch) rectangle baking tin with cooking spray; line with baking paper. (if you want a 'taller' brownie use a smaller tin.) 
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Set aside.
4. With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar at medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, or until combined. Add egg and vanilla. Continue beating until incorporated.
5. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Slowly add flour mixture to the bowl, followed by yogurt, and mix gently with a whisk until combined. (You could continue using electric mixer, but I found it easier to change to a whisk when adding the dry ingredients.) The batter will be thick. 
6. Stir in chocolate chips if using. (or nuts etc.)
7. With a spatula, spread mixture evenly in pan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in center of pan comes out dry. Cool on a wire rack before removing from pan and slicing into 15 squares.

And there you go!

Obviously depending how you like your brownie you can tweak a few elements of this recipe. If you look at the pages that I have linked above, you will see that their recipes included espresso and of course, 2 extra egg whites. 

I really like the way that the recipe that I used turned out. I think that it would be delicious served still warm with some ice cream. (I did try it while it was still warm and the dark chocolate chips inside were nice and gooey!)

As an added bonus, both of the websites that I found this recipe on have the calories per serve listed and Pop Sugar have it listed as a 'slimmed down brownie.' If you are counting calories, this recipe does use less butter and less sugar than many other brownie recipes and as the flavour of the final product is quite rich, a smaller piece may satisfy that chocolate craving without going overboard!! 

I've included the nutritional facts listed on both websites. Obviously as my version has a few omissions and changes, the final counts may vary slightly. 

via Pop Sugar

Nutrition Facts via Shape Magazine

Amount per serving:Total Calories: 110kcal (5%)

70mg (3%) Sodium17g Carbs

1g Fiber

4g (7%) Fat

3g (13%) Saturated Fat

11g Sugars

3g Protein

32mg (3%) Calcium

1mg (5%) Iron

Hope that you enjoy this recipe and that you give it a go! I'm heading around to my parents to get their opinion!!!

****please note - if you prefer a lighter brownie, please use the original recipe provided in the links above. The addition of the egg whites would help make a lighter batter. If you like a more  dense brownie, you may prefer my option! ****