Lighter Cookie Dough Brownies

My husband loves all things cookie dough.  When I saw these beautiful brownies on Pinterest I knew I must try them.  Since I am attempting to lose some volume, I decided to see if I could successfully lighten them up.  Success!  Don't get me wrong.  They will never be confused for a health food, but I was able to take out some of the guilt and still have a dang good brownie.

P.S. The base for this is the brownie recipe I always make.  They are one of the few homemade brownies that are just as good as a box AND they are only 110 calories per brownie.  Bonus.

Lighter Cookie Dough Brownies

Base:

3/4 c. flour

1/3 c. cocoa

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/4 tsp. salt

2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, broken into pieces

2 Tbsp. unsalted butter

1 c. sugar

2 Tbsp. low fat sour cream

1 Tbsp. chocolate syrup

1 egg

1 egg white

2 tsp. vanilla

 

Whisk flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt together.

Microwave chocolate and butter together in 30 second intervals, stirring often until melted (it takes mine 45-60 seconds total).  Let cool slightly.

Whisk sugar, sour cream, chocolate syrup, egg and white along with the vanilla into the melted chocolate.  Fold in the flour mixture until just incorporated.

Spread in a greased 8" square pan and bake at 350 degrees 20-25 minutes.

 

Cookie Dough Top:

6Tbsp. unsalted butter

6 Tbsp. low fat sour cream (you could also use low fat cream cheese, yum)

1/2 c. sugar

1/2 c. dark brown sugar

1/4 tsp. salt

2 Tbsp. milk

1-1/2 tsp. vanilla

1 c. flour

1 c. mini chocolate chips

 

Melt butter in microwave and let cool slightly.

Add sour cream, sugars, salt, milk and vanilla and blend.

Stir in flour, followed by chips.

When brownies have cooled completely top with cookie dough mixture.  Store in refrigerator.

 

 

*Disclaimer*  I did not invent this brownie base recipe.  It is from the lovely people at America's Test Kitchen.  It can be found in their "Healthy Family Cookbook".  One of my favorites.





Fitness Fridays

I am in desperate need of some abs.  I am sure I still have them, they just resemble a pair of panty hose AFTER you wear them.  You realize having children will take all your energy, time and love of course.  You just don't realize it will take your ability to comfortably sit down in a swimming suit in public.

With the impending doom of a family vacation on the beach, I have decided to get my butt in shape.  Unfortunately, my two small children make it difficult to do anything for an extended period of time, so I have decided circuit training is the way to go.  Good thing it is my absolute favorite way to work out.  I have the attention span of a gnat so the constant changing involved appeals to me.  The down side is I have a hard time remembering different exercises to do.  Heck, I have a hard time remembering my kids names. 

Pinterest to the rescue!  I have pinned tons of great exercises, but who wants to run and look at their monitor every minute?  Not me.  So, I decided to make a binder with all different circuit training options.  I can divide it up by body area so I am sure to work everything.  Don't want to  end up with super toned arms and a flabby butt.  At the beginning of the day, I can decide what to do and when I have a few free minutes, get my hind in gear! 

I will share a favorite exercise every Friday and update on my progress.  Hopefully I will not feel like a beached whale come June!

First favorite:  The Russian Twist.  Work those abs!

Thirsty Thursday

I have never been a big drinker.  I only like beer when I'm already looped, I'm too lazy to learn to mix cocktails and I'm pretty sure Children's Services would have something to say about having my kids do it for me.  So I'm left with wine. 

I don't know the first thing about wine.  I guess that's not true.  I know it comes in at least three colors.  Some kinds are considered "dry"  which seems like a misnomer.  Some kinds are considered "fruity" also seems weird since they all come from fruit.  Anyway, I have decided since I am now a mother of three, for the good of all humanity, I need to learn to like wine.

I am going to review (in my EXTREME layman's terms) the different wines I sample.  I will decide which wine to try based entirely on the prettiness of the label as well as which one is on sale, because I am shallow and cheap.  Not sure how you will like it, but I guarantee I will have fun!

The first wine I tried is by Cupcake Vineyards and is called Angel Food.  It was on sale for $6.99.  The label reads "luscious, aromatic and delightfully reminiscent of an angel food cupcake.  Flavors of baked Granny Smith apple and hints of toasty vanilla combine for a creamy mouthfeel."  They had me at cupcake.

 

I clearly had a different vision of what Angel Food cake in wine form would taste like.  Angel food cake is light and sweet.  This wine is heavy and burny.  Yes, I am sure burny is a word.  Look it up.

 

Not especially sweet, it has a harsh almost chemically taste, not the creamy vanilla baked apple I was promised. False advertising.  At least I have a pretty bottle.