Trial and error leads to the perfect brownie

After chocolate chip cookies, brownies may be America's favorite.

As an article in Cook's Country pointed out, most brownie recipes begin with a stick of butter. That's right, a quarter-pound; 99 percent of its 810 calories come from fat.

For many brownies, melted unsweetened chocolate makes a brownie, well, a brownie. For James Beard, America's cookery dean, that means 2 to 4 ounces for his classic brownies. But if you use Beard's high end of the range, you get a hefty 581 calories and almost 61 fat grams. Add 2 cups sugar (1,548 calories) and it's no wonder we love these little confections so much.

For years, brownies have been a personal favorite. After losing more than 100 pounds the first time, I wanted brownies to still be in my food plan; just not over-consumed, regular visitors. My keys to unlocking their availability centered on effectively dealing with the butter and unsweetened chocolate, since I hadn't found a way to satisfactorily bake without sugar.

For that butter stick, the first time I remade brownies from my own recipe, I used ½ cup regular applesauce (52 calories). And, knowing that unsweetened cocoa powder contained about 80 percent less fat than unsweetened baking chocolate, I went with all cocoa. My brownies weren't bad (not one person turned them down), but were cakey without a sufficient chocolate flavor-kick that defines higher fat brownies.

Later, I learned that applesauce works well if it's drained first. Amazingly, my brownies seemed to retain more moisture by draining off applesauce's apple juice (mostly water), leaving more of apple's natural fiber.

Even though my early brownies finally turned out so good that I shared their recipe in a cookbook, I'd never thought about the additions to mine that the folks at Cook's Country had made to theirs.

They found an all-cocoa, low-fat brownie resulted in a very dry texture, and substituted melted bittersweet chocolate for part of the cocoa. Although bittersweet certainly contains less fat per ounce (10 grams versus 15) than baking chocolate, it still contributes fat and calories.

I boosted my original brownie's chocolate flavor by adding ¼ cup mini chocolate chips (half the calories and fat of the mag's bittersweet addition).

Seeing that Cook's Country used chocolate syrup (zero fat and 50 calories per tablespoon) to build-up chocolate flavor and low-fat sour cream to add moisture and tenderize led me to work them into my own brownies. I also bumped-up the amount of vanilla by 50 percent to 1½ teaspoons to help support the chocolate flavor.

I stirred together my re-worked, now triple-chocolate, low-fat brownie batter, poured it into a brownie pan and baked them off. I was careful to set my timer for 30 minutes, knowing that more than anything else over-baking dries out low-fat brownies.

My brownies looked and smelled great when I took them out of my oven and I could hardly wait for them to cool-down. I cut a piece that included both the edge and center. The edge turned out to be crisp and chewy; not hard and the center was soft but not muddy; a great example of what a classic brownie should be. And the chocolate flavor was every bit as good if not better than the higher fat, higher calorie version.

Triple Chocolate Fudge Low-Fat Brownies

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon unflavored, unsweetened applesauce

1 cup all-purpose flour

¿ cup unsweetened cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 large egg

1 large egg white

2 tablespoons chocolate syrup (such as Hershey's in the can)

2 tablespoons low-fat (reduced-fat) sour cream

1½ teaspoons vanilla extract

1¾ cups granulated sugar

¼ cup mini-morsel semi-sweet chocolate chips

Place a wire mesh strainer over a bowl deep enough to keep the bottom of the strainer from touching the bottom of the bowl and add applesauce. Set aside.

Place rack in the center position of oven and heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a nonstick 7-b-11-by-1½-inch baking pan with vegetable oil spray (butter-flavored preferred); set aside.

In a medium mixing bowl whisk together flour, cocoa, and salt.

Measure 6 tablespoons drained applesauce and add it to a separate mixing bowl along with egg, egg white, chocolate syrup, sour cream and vanilla; whisk together until combined. Add sugar and whisk until it dissolves, about 30 seconds. Add flour mixture and chocolate chips and whisk or stir until flour is wet, about 1 minute.

Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading it out evenly to the pan's edges and bake for 30 minutes for a fudgey center, 35 minutes for a cakey center. Cool on a wire rack; cut into 2-inch squares.

Serves 15.

Nutrition values per serving: 158 calories (11.5 percent from fat), 2 g fat (1.1 g saturated), 35.9 g carbohydrates, 0.2 g fiber, 2.4 g protein, 15 mg cholesterol, 88 mg sodium.