Low-fat Double Chocolate Brownies-- that don't suck!

'Light' Double Chocolate Brownies (adapted from Devin Alexander)

Ingredients
1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (used good double strength vanilla)
4 egg whites
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour (yes, really... only 1/4 cup)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used normal Hershey's, will try next time with special dark)
1.5 teaspoon instant coffee granules (Maxwell House)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt (or a little more)
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips (semi-sweet)
cooking spray


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spray an 8x8 inch pyrex pan with spray.
In a medium mixing bowl, using a sturdy whisk or spatula, mix the applesauce, vanilla, egg whites, coffee granules, and sugar until they are well combined/dissolved. (you can use the mixer here-- why make life more difficult)
Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.
Stir the mixture until it is just combined and no lumps remain.
Pour it into the prepared pan.
Sprinkle the chips evenly over the top.
Bake the brownies for 20-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out dry (a few crumbs are okay).
WARNING-- Brownies will puff, a lot, a whole lot. Fill the pan kind of puff. When you pull them out of the oven, they will fall-- this is good. That's what makes them dense and moist.
Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and allow them to cool 5 minutes. (AT LEAST- will be very very very soft-- can seem almost liquid when you cut them)
Brownies will be very sticky-- I placed them on flattened paper cupcake cups and brought them to work that way. They stick to the plate pretty badly and you won't get them back off without a fight. (and then you have to eat the crumbs)
Cut into 12 equal brownies. Makes 12 (1 brownie) servings.

Each brownie has: only 88 calories, 2 g protein, 19 g carbohydrates, 1 g fat, less than 1 g saturated fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber, 133 mg sodium

Review--
These are pretty good-- they are not a "chewy" brownie-- but they have a great chocolate flavor. I was impressed with that. These will definitely satisfy a chocolate craving. All in all-- I would make these again for a moist chocolate dessert-- its almost a brownie, but just lacks a little bit of chewiness/crustiness-- but I am the person who likes the corner extra chewy brownie best of all. I would definitely recommend them when trying to be more cautious about what you eat-- and I might even make them if I weren't.

Oh, and now I have egg yolks left over to make some lemon curd, yum.

The scale was out to get me....

Ok, so I had previously set my goal for the whole losing weight thing based on what I thought was a pretty accurate measurement of my weight... I was wrong. The darned defective scale had misled me... basically it comes out to two of the "bars" being "burnt" out on the tens place on the LCD display-- this led me to believe I was 1olbs lighter than in reality... ugh, that was a depressing realization.. but it did make me feel better in that I was really bummed that watching what I'd eaten all week and exercising had lead to my "gaining" 7-8lbs.... but since I was off on my original reading, it actually works out to a small loss... so yay! (as long as it hadn't gone up that much I was more than content) SO I am no longer feeling like a complete loser, but I am contemplating purchasing a scale that actually has all the numbers on it to help protect my sanity.

In other news, we broke out the grill the other day and it is fantastic... so now Craig needed to get himself some "grill tools" (using my kitchen ones was too dangerous for him-- not long enough handles he kept complaining... sheesh.. all he burned was a couple fingers, and I didn't see a single blister or anything... jk he's just fine). Yesterday on a shopping run we found him some parts for the grill so he is a happy camper.

The blazer is behaving ok this week so far, but I need to get it to the mechanic before everyone comes up here for the holiday... not that I really have a clear idea of who is coming when... I know Christina is coming in on Thursday evening-- but outside of that-- John keeps changing his plans... and mom and dad are just saying saturday... so its a bit of a mystery. I did get the guest room pretty well ready for Christina, but I still have to get john to decide if he wants us to get the futon mattress down from the attic or just sleep on the couch so I can get that taken care of. And then that leaves the last dash clean of the house to get the leavings of Murph (well... roomba does the floors, and scooba will mop, and the auto shower thingy does a pretty good job with the shower, but I have to dust and clean the bathroom up and that kinda stuff). We still have a little paint to touch up and some junk to clean off the front porch--- the patio furniture needs to be hosed off, the cushions need to be laundered, and I need to get my garden cleaned up a little bit out front so we can hopefully enjoy the bulbs that are starting to come up-- but all in all, we're in pretty good shape. Yay for spring... and now, back to work.. the mice need me.