The Story of a Girl and a Brownie

Oh my!  I am so very excited about brownies again!

I love brownies… gooey and hot, right from the oven. I have never been the patient sort, who can wait for them to cool before biting in.  I have had my lips and tongue burned many times over the years, but I don’t learn.

My very favorite brownies in the whole world are No Pudge… you know…the mix in the pink, box with the little piggy on the front.

I used to buy them by the case when we visited the U.S. and could get to a Trader Joe’s.  Yes, they are in Canada too but cost a small fortune here.  Trader Joe’s had them for a very reasonable price and when American friends and family came to visit us on the sailboat, they always brought boxes of No Pudge Brownie Mix for me.

I made trays of them in the little oven on the sailboat to take to cruiser’s pot luck get-togethers quite often. But mostly I made them single serve… with fat free yogurt, fat free sour cream and even with unsweetened applesauce. I was the No Pudge Queen. I blogged about them and ate one almost every day when I had shore power to plug in the microwave oven. Heck, I even had The Captain run the generator when we were out at anchor so I could plug in and run the microwave oven!  I loved my No Pudge Brownies.

Fast forward several years and I found myself no longer able to ignore my gluten intolerance.  I gave away most of the boxes of No Pudge Brownie Mix in my cupboards. The Captain would never have eaten them in front of me, and my heart went right out of making them for other people when I couldn’t even lick the spoon after the batter went into the oven.

Then I discovered a gluten free brownie mix in Bulk Barn when visiting family in Calgary… and can honestly say they are not bad.  Not quite up to No Pudge standards, but certainly a pretty good brownie. I never did get the hang of using the mix for single serve brownies, though.  And then I discovered, through trial and error, that my body is just much happier and functions better when I don’t eat any grains at all.  So there went the gluten free brownie mix too… Since then I have done a bit of experimenting… a girl has to have some chocolate after all… but have never created or found anything that could really replace my beloved No Pudge Brownies.

UNTIL NOW!

I am almost jumping up and down with glee as I relate this story!  I cannot tell you how happy I am to have discovered this recipe… just a few short days ago… created and shared by Lee Hersch,  who blogs at the fit foodie.  Double Chocolate Paleo Brownies. 

I read the post, drooled over the pictures and realized that I had most of the ingredients in my cupboard already, except for chocolate chips (one of my trigger foods so I don’t keep them around… they seem to disappear) and quickly posted and favorited this tweet so I would have the link for reference… my new bookmarking system.

Lee and I exchanged a few tweets over the next several hours… and on Saturday, I finally got to a market and picked up some chocolate chips.. mint flavored. I thought I might be less likely to just devour them cause the only chocolate/mint I really care for is a Peppermint Mocha or those Girl Guide/Girl Scout cookies and I cannot eat them anymore either.

So I made up 2 batches of the single serve Double Chocolate Paleo Brownies that Lee shared on her blog… and after they came out of the oven I put a few more of the chocolate chips on top, and after they melted a bit, spread them around a bit to make an icing… and then I actually let them cool for about 15 minutes before removing them to serving bowls.  I wasn’t really sure how good they would be, so I put some Greek fat free plain yogurt sweetened with NuNaturals vanilla stevia alongside… in case the brownie wasn’t great I could smother it in yogurt… and yes, I know yogurt is not Paleo but I do eat it sometimes.

Honestly, the longer I waited, the more I prepared myself, mentally, to be disappointed.

One bowl for me.

One bowl for The Captain.

First bite…. OH MY GOODNESS!

This brownie absolutely knocked my knee high compression socks off! It is so good. It is every bit as tasty and as gooey as my beloved No Pudge Brownies.  So move over, EVERY OTHER BROWNIE RECIPE out there. This is… BY FAR… the best brownie I have eaten for a couple of years. Truly!  It has made a believer out of me again because I had given up hope of ever eating a really good brownie EVER again.
Lee, you are my hero! I cannot thank you enough for creating this recipe, and eating your mistakes till you were ready to share the recipe with the world. And for letting me blog about it and sing its praises to everyone I know. I am not going to bother with any other single serve brownie recipes EVER again, unless YOU tell me you have created a better one.  I might try it.

Get over to Lee’s blog post and find this recipe and make this brownie for yourself. 

Me, I am heading back to the store to get me some more baking chips… I am gonna try dark chocolate, and maybe milk chocolate and I am also gonna get some peanut butter chips for the melted ‘icing’… Oh yeah. This is my new indulgence and at only 6 P+ (for all of you Weight Watchers who are wondering) why not?  I may learn to eat just half…

Hah!  Who am I kidding?

I doubled the ingredients to make 2 servings.

The batter tasted good, but I thought it could have been a bit sweeter and I was a little worried when I put them into the oven.

Hot out of the oven, I put more chips on top to melt.

And spread them around to make an ‘icing’.

My brownie, sweetened Greek yogurt on the side.

And The Captain’s too.

A closer look.

I would like to share some pictures with you of the inside of the brownie but honestly, after the first taste, I never put the spoon down to pick up the camera.  And I almost licked my bowl… how embarrassing!  No more pictures of this first experience… maybe next one!

Have you tried this recipe yet?

Are you as big a brownie fan as I am?