A Halloween Riddle

So, my sister makes these amazing sugar cookies...amazing cookies in general, actually. This past weekend she brought some pumpkin chocolate chip cookies to a friend's house. They were delicious! And you know how I love pumpkin... So it got me thinking: could you substitute pumpkin for the butter in your classic chocolate chip recipe, and still get a yummy cookie? I decided to give it a go. Using the classic chocolate chip recipe (the Toll House recipe you'll find on nearly every bag of chocolate chips), I replaced the 1 cup of butter with 1 cup of pumpkin puree. I knew I'd likely have to compensate for what was likely to be a "runny" texture, so started with one egg instead of two. Then I added in the dry ingredients. With the default 2 1/4 cups of flour, the batter still seemed a bit thin. I added one more 1/4 cup of flour, and that seemed to do the trick.

The other substitutions / additions I made are as follows:

• Replace brown sugar with sucanat (raw, raw sugar with retained molasses content)



• Replace white sugar with evaporated cane juice (less processing)



• Replace white flour with whole wheat pastry flour



• Add 1 t. cinnamon and 1/2 t. ginger

(PS I'm handing these out to grown-ups that come trick-or-treating with their kids, but only those who are friends of mine ;-). I'll let you know what they think!)

The dough wasn't like a typical chocolate chip cookie dough, it was a bit sticky. So the tip I have for you is to use parchment paper on the cookie sheets, or spray with cooking spray before putting the dough on the cookie sheets. The cookies baked at 350 for 12-14 minutes and have a nice cake-y texture. As Gram would say, "the taste is there," and they have passed E's taste test (though he's hardly picky...). So I would say that to answer the Halloween Riddle, "YES you can substitute pumpkin for butter in chocolate chip cookies. But you can't call them proper chocolate chip cookies anymore, they are their own thing."

Enjoy...and happy Halloween!!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
(makes 36-48 cookies, depending on how stingy you are with the dough)

1 c. pumpkin puree
3/4 c. sucanat or brown sugar
3/4 c. evaporated cane juice
1 egg
1 t. vanilla
1 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
2 1/2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
9 oz. chocolate chips (semi-sweet, dark, or milk chocolate... up to you!)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper or spray with cooking spray.



2. In a large mixing bowl, or in the bowl of an electric mixer, combine pumpkin puree, both sugars, egg, and vanilla, and mix on low to medium speed until well blended.



3. Add baking soda, salt, spices, and flour and mix until combined.



4. Add the chocolate chips and mix just until incorporated.



5. Drop cookie dough by rounded tablespoons onto the prepared cookie sheets - depending on how big or small you make them, you should get 36-48 cookies. (Nutrition information is provided based on a 36-cookie batch)



6. Bake for 12-14 minutes; cookies won't spread out much, but they will rise and get golden brown around the edges. Let cool slightly on the cookie sheet before moving to a cooling rack.

Nutrition information (per cookie, 36 cookies per batch): 98 calories, 2 g fat, 20 g carbs, 2 g protein, 1 g fiber, 2 g sodium

Pumpkin Muffins with Apple Butter

Well, hello there! Fancy meeting you here... it's been a while, hasn't it? Last we saw each other, we were ready to welcome the summer. And look, already we're welcoming fall. To celebrate the great things about fall I thought a pumpkin muffin might be nice...not to mention an idea for what to do with all those apples you brought home from your apple picking trip!

These muffins are gorgeous, and only pack 169 calories a piece! The recipe follows "clean eating" principles (more on that in another post) so they're really good for you.

So, without further ado, I give you:

Pumpkin Muffins
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup spelt flour (use ww pastry flour if you can't get this)
1 T. baking powder
1 t. baking soda
1/2 cup raw turbinado sugar or sucanat
1/2 t. salt
1 T. cinnamon
1 t. ginger
3/4 cup pumpkin puree
1 cup fat free buttermilk (lowfat is fine too...try to use a brand that doesn't have any additives like carageenan, etc.)
1/4 cup pure maple syrup (none of that Mrs. Butterworth crap!)
2 eggs
1 T. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Spray a 12-cup muffin pan with cooking spray or add muffin liners (and spray those too).

In a large mixing bowl, whisk all of the dry ingredients together. Combine the wet ingredients in a large liquid measuring cup or a medium mixing bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and stir only to combine. If you over-stir then the muffins won't rise.

Using an ice cream scoop (or a large spoon), fill each of the muffin cups with batter. Bake for 18-20 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the muffin comes out clean. Serve with some apple butter (recipe below)

Per muffin: 169 calories, 33g carbs, 1g fat, 5g protein, 4g fiber


Slow Cooker Apple Butter
4 pounds of apples (macintosh, cortland, or any other apple) - quartered (coring and peeling optional)
3/4 cup apple cider (no sugar added)
2 cinnamon sticks
1 T. cinnamon
2 T. pure maple syrup

Put the apples into the slow cooker and add the apple cider and cinnamon. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours.

Place a food mill over a large bowl; working in batches, process the apples through the food mill. Put the apple mixture - which will be a little watery - back into the slow cooker. Add the maple syrup, stir to combine, and cook on low for 8 more hours, until it's reduced. IT WILL LOOK VERY BROWN, not unlike baby poop. But it will be delicious!

If you don't have a food mill, then I suggest coring and peeling the apples, otherwise it will be a complete chore to deal with the seeds and skins. I haven't yet figured out the "serving size" and nutritionals, but it's probably about at most 20 calories per tablespoon.

The Leprechauns are Marching...

OK, so I'm a little late for a proper St. Patrick's Day post, but there are lots of St. Paddy's parades today, so I figured I could still post this recipe.

Growing up, as the daughter of a kindergarten teacher, every holiday was a big deal. We celebrated every holiday - major or minor - and Mom made a big deal of decorating and making special foods in honor of the current holiday. I remember coming down for breakfast before school on Valentine's Day and St. Patrick's Day, and Mom would have the table set with all kinds of decorations and a themed breakfast. It really was fun and now, as a grown-up, not even having kids of my own, I wonder how she found the time and energy to do it!

For St. Patrick's Day, mom would make this amazing Irish Scawn Bread, with raisins and this crisp sugary topping... Although it's so delicious (especially toasted and drenched in butter), it's actually quite low fat. So - I thought it appropriate to include it in healthy.tasty.easy!

This bread is so delicious it's easy to keep slicing a piece...so I decided to make muffins this year instead of a loaf, an attempt at portion control. The recipe makes 24 muffins (or two loaves) so it's up to you how to make them! Although this is an "Irish" recipe it tastes just as good in October as it does in March... you could mix it up a bit by using dried cranberries instead of the raisins. In this version I substituted half of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat pastry flour to add a bit of fiber.

Mom's Irish Scawn
Ingredients

• 4 cups flour (2 cups all-purpose plus 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour)
• 1 cup sugar
• 5 t. baking powder
• 1 t. salt
• 1 1/2 cup raisins (mini raisins work best)
  
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 - 1 1/2 cups fat free buttermilk
• 1 T. vanilla extract
• 1/2 c. granulated or sanding sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large mixing bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the raisins and mix well.
3. In a liquid measuring cup, lightly beat the eggs. Add enough buttermilk to bring the total contents up to the 1 cup mark. Add vanilla, then pour into the flour mixture.
4. Here's the warning about the mixing part... it's not easy. The dough is going to be a bit intense - mix the batter, and add buttermilk gradually so that the mixture is moist but not too moist. Once you've incorporated all of the dry ingredients, you're done. Turn the batter into 2 9x5 loaf pans, or 2 12-muffin muffin tins.
5. Place into the oven. For the loaves, you'll cook a total of 40-45 minutes, while the muffins will need 25-30 minutes.
6. Glaze: 5 minutes before the end of baking time, add enough water to the 1/2 cup granulated or sanding sugar to make a relatively thin glaze. Spoon it over the top of the loaves or muffins (about 1 t. per muffin) and put the pans back in the oven to finish baking. Don't worry of the "glaze" seems a bit watery; it'll all bake off.
7. The scawn is done when a toothpick (or piece of uncooked spaghetti) is inserted and comes out clean. Take the scawn out of the oven and cool. Enjoy!
   

Nutrition information: Per muffin or slice (assuming 24 slices): 137 cals, 29 g carbs, 2 g fiber, 1 g fat, 3 g protein

Name these muffins! (now known as Yummy Bliss Muffins)

Those of you who know me "in real life" know that I love to bake muffins. In fact, back in the day when I lived with my BFFs Sun-Sun and Eri, I used to bake muffins all the time. So while pancakes have become the norm on Saturday mornings, Sunday mornings are usually for muffins.

Part of the challenge with muffins is that it's difficult to find a recipe that's under 200 calories per muffin. I don't know about you, but I think that's kind of "expensive" for a muffin. So this past Sunday I wanted to try a new muffin recipe and I wanted one that was under 200 calories. After looking at a couple of recipes for inspiration, I put together these Cranberry Oat muffins. They were so good that it's hard to believe they are 145 calories each, with a respectable 3 grams of fat.

There is one tool that will make this recipe really work well - that's a food processor. My immersion blender has an attachment that acts like a food processor, and that's what I used for this job. If you don't have a food processor, then a blender should do the trick as well - last possible option would be to coarsely chop with a chef's knife - but that's annoying. It's up to you.

E so enjoyed these muffins that he declared that they were "the best muffins I've ever made". That's quite a statement considering the guy has known me for 13 years. And in light of that statement I thought they ought to be called something more exciting than "Cranberry Oat Muffins". So... dear blog followers... what do you think I should name them?

Ingredients

• 1 c. oats
• 1 c. whole wheat pastry flour
• 3/4 c. brown sugar
• 2 t. baking powder
• 1 t. baking soda
• 1/4 t. salt
• 3/4 c. whole, fresh cranberries plus 2 t. granulated sugar (don't thaw if the berries are frozen)
  
• 1 egg
• 3/4 c. low-fat buttermilk
• 2 T. canola oil
  
• 1 t. pure almond extract
• 1 t. pure vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Place muffin cups in a 12-muffin baking pan, and spray with cooking spray
2. In a food processor or blender, pulse the oats until they are the consistency of a course flour. This should just take a few pulses.
   
3. Combine the dry ingredients with a whisk, ensuring that the brown sugar isn't too lumpy.
4. In the food processor, pulse the cranberries and the sugar (2 t. granulated) just a couple of times, until the berries are coarsely chopped. Toss the cranberries with the dry ingredients to coat them a bit.
5. In a separate bowl, combine the buttermilk, egg, oil, and extracts. Add to the flour mixture and stir until the ingredients are just combined. Remember, like with the pancakes, you don't want to over-mix or the muffins will be heavy and chewy.
6. Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin cups - I like to use an ice cream scoop to help me do this.
7. Bake the muffins for 15-18 minutes; start to test after 15 minutes by inserting a toothpick (or wooden skewer or even a piece of uncooked spaghetti) into the muffin; if it's dry or has just small crumbs sticking to it when you remove it, the muffins are done. Take the muffins out of the pan and cool on a wire rack.

Per muffin: 145 calories, 26 g carbs, 3 g fat, 3 g protein, 2 g fiber

These muffins are really yummy with almond butter or peanut butter - they make a great pre-workout snack (or, as I like to call it, "first breakfast").

Recipe update: dark chocolate brownies

So - last night we had some turkey chili to try and ward off Snow Fatigue... after shoveling snow today for about an hour (E's forearm is still hurt from the spill he took on some ice last week, so I was shoveling solo) I thought about how it would be nice to be someplace warm. Where they have nice, spicy food. And ice cold beer. And nice, spicy food. Ooops, I said that already.

Anyway, when I posted the Dark Chocolate Brownie recipe, I had said I wanted to try them with chipotle, so I thought that today would be the perfect day to do that. I also wanted to see if I could cut the fat - and keep / increase the moisture - by replacing the canola oil with reduced fat buttermilk. I also happened to have dark chocolate on hand, so instead of the substitution I made last time (cocoa powder, canola oil, and sugar), I used the chocolate.

The resulting flavor is nice - the cinnamon really comes out, and the heat is slow to build. You don't taste the chipotle right away, rather it builds with every bite. My suggestion for serving these brownies would be topped with a scoop of either vanilla or dulce de leche ice cream, drizzled with Kahlua, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar. If you use just a small scoop of ice cream, you're not adding too many calories. Next variation will be to bake these with the Mexican spices, but add some coconut. I'll also try ratcheting up the chipotle, as these could have been a bit spicier.

Oh - and a note on moisture... I think that unless you're using the usual amount of butter called for in brownies, you're going to have a cakier brownie. Delicious, but cakey and crumbly. E said that these brownies were more delicious than the "original". In his taste buds I trust!

So - here is the revised ingredient list; follow the directions as before:

* 8 ounces dark chocolate (chips or broken into pieces)
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
* 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder (from Nuts Online)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 3/4 teaspoon chipotle powder (less or more to taste)
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 4 large eggs
* 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 1/2 cup plain nonfat Greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
* 1/4 cup buttermilk (substitution for canola oil)
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Per brownie (assuming 24): 119 calories, 19g carbs, 5g fat, 3g protein, and 2g fiber (savings of 3g fat and 30 calories per brownie from the "other" recipe)

Chicken Pot Pie Stew with Drop Biscuits

Just before we got the Blizzard here in Massachusetts earlier this week, I started craving warm comfort food. I also want to make something delicious for E, because isn't the way to every man's heart through his stomach? Sure, I know I have his heart, but I like to spoil him - especially when he's traveling. I saw America's Test Kitchen over the weekend - one of my favorite cooking shows ever - and they did a segment on "the perfect" chicken pot pie. The key, they said, was to cook the ingredients separately before joining them together, to allow each one to develop its own personality and flavor. Makes sense to me.

I didn't want to "spend" a lot of calories on the crust, and I also wanted to save a little time on preparation, so decided to try this as a stew with quick drop biscuits.

The stew recipe is inspired by ATK and Martha. The biscuit recipe is from Cooking Light.

Chicken Pot Pie Stew (Serves 4)

• Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 pound)
• Chicken broth (enough to just cover chicken breasts)
• 1/2 c. Dry white wine
• 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
• 2 T. olive oil
• 4 carrots, peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick
• 2 onions, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 t. dried thyme
• Low fat milk (about 1 1/2 cups)

Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Poach the chicken breasts in the broth - cover the breasts in broth, and bring to a boil. Cook about 10 minutes, until breasts are fully cooked through. Remove breasts from poaching liquid and transfer to a cutting board to cool. Strain the poaching liquid into a 4-cup measuring cup, ensuring you add no more than 1 cup of poaching broth. Add the wine to the measuring cup. Add enough milk to bring the total amount of the liquid to 2 1/2 cups.
- When it is cool enough to handle, shred the chicken using two forks.
- Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Saute the onions and carrots in the olive oil with the thyme until the carrots are tender; add salt and pepper to taste.
- Add the flour to the onion / carrot mixture and stir for about 1 minute.
- Add the liquid to the pan gradually, stirring as you add it, and cook it, stirring, until it thickens.
- When the sauce has thickened, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the peas and the chicken. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish, and bake for about 20 minutes, or until it bubbles around the edges.

Per Serving: 272 calories, 20g carbohydrates, 6g fat, 30g protein, 3g fiber

Drop Biscuits

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 cup chilled butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 cup fat-free milk
• Cooking spray

Directions
- Preheat oven to 450º.
- Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt in a bowl; cut in butter with a pastry blender or 2 knives** until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add milk; stir just until moist.
- Spoon the batter into 12 muffin cups coated with cooking spray. Bake at 450° for 12 minutes or until golden. Remove biscuits from pan immediately, and place on a wire rack.

**after trying to use two knives, I tried an apple corer / slicer and found that it works as well as a pastry blender!

Per biscuit: 119 calories, 17g carbohydrates, 4g fat, 3g protein, .5g fiber

Bring it all together
Use pasta dishes or plates with rims to serve. Slice one biscuit (or two!) in half and spoon one fourth of the stew over it. Enjoy!

Kitchen tools I can't live without

I believe that for the most part, you shouldn't have any "one trick ponies" in your kitchen - every tool that you have should be able to serve at least a couple of different roles, with a couple of exceptions (citrus reamer comes to mind). With that said, here's a list of tools that I can't imagine not having in my kitchen:

• Digital kitchen scale - this is the one scale I love to have around! It's a must for accuracy in portion control. Eri gave me one for my birthday last year and it's hands down, my favorite and most used kitchen tool!
  
• Salad spinner - this one does double duty on lettuces and fresh herbs, taking the once onerous and tedious task of washing your lettuce and making it fun. That's right, fun.
• Kitchen Aid stand mixer - I have the "lowly" Artisan model (my sister has the bigger, better model), but this is my prized kitchen possession. I have the citrus juicer attachment as well as the shredder / slicer attachment, and these both make life so easy - especially when you don't want to drag the Cuisinart out. The attachments are so easy to clean, too!
• Parchment paper - no, it's not "green" per se, though you can buy recycled parchment paper, but this makes cleanup very easy. I use it when baking cookies and anything else that tends to make a mess on baking sheets.
• Kitchen gloves - these are disposable rubber gloves that you can use when dealing with smelly or gross food (think onions, garlic, raw meat and seafood, etc.). They help keep your hands clean, and keep them from retaining smells that are hard to get rid of.
• Electric griddle - OK, I use this only for pancakes, but I like it better than the stove top griddle because a) it's got a larger surface area, b) it holds heat more evenly, and c) I can control the temperature by selecting it on the dial, instead of checking my front and back burners to see that the flames are about even.
• Wooden spoons - there's just something nice about using a wooden spoon instead of a plastic or metal one. I feel like I'm "connecting" better with the food that I'm making when I use a wooden spoon: it's not going to bend like a plastic one, and it's not going to scratch your bowls like a metal one.
• Nonstick skillet - this is used for frying eggs, sauteing onions, making shrimp arrabbiata, and so much more. The trick to keeping the nonstick skillet nonstick is to ensure you're not scrubbing it with anything too scratchy. If something does happen to stick to it, soak the skillet until the food can be removed easily with a rubber spatula.
  
• Meat thermometer - sure, you can use your senses of touch and sight to tell whether meat has cooked properly, but wouldn't you like to know for sure?
• Rubber spatula / spoonula - I love that I'm not leaving too much behind in the baking dish or the mixing bowl, because the spatula will scrape it all up. The one I use most now was a giftie from my BFF Eri, so I'm not sure who made it, but I absolutely love it.
• Immersion blender - this one is excellent for those of us who want the results of a blender or food processor for soups / sauces, but hate to clean. They're pretty inexpensive, too! Mine has a cute little attachment that you can use to chop and nearly pulverize things like nuts or frozen cranberries!
  

Where I shop for healthy food

I have a few favorites that I frequent for my grocery shopping and healthy ingredient pantry stocking:

• Stop & Shop (local to the New England area, a "sister" chain to Giant in the mid-Atlantic). S&S is the grocery store I grew up with, and they've done a nice job in the past couple of years of introducing more and more natural and organic products. This has culminated in the launch of the "Nature's Promise" line of products, natural and organic foods that are bottom line-friendly. As always, read the labels to ensure that the ingredients and the calories are bottom-friendly, but Nature's Promise is my go-to brand within S&S. Fave S&S / Nature's Promise products: eggs, baby carrots, chicken broth, frozen veggies.
  
• Trader Joe's. TJ's has a ton of unique and interesting products you just won't find in "regular" grocery stores. They also have great prices on spices and herbs, and a wonderful selection of nuts and dried fruits. Their product offerings change with the seasons, so go often! Fave TJ's products: multigrain english muffins, Fair Trade Morning Blend coffee, pre-cooked frozen brown rice, olive oil.
• Whole Foods. A lot of my friends call this store "Whole Paycheck" - and with good reason! But when WF has sales, they're often really good ($0.39 / lb butternut squash is a recent good one!). And their prices for the "mainstream" organic food like Kashi and Amy's are usually better than you'd find at a "regular" grocery store. Their prepared food section is also quite nice. I always order my Thanksgiving turkey from WF and have always been happy with the quality. Fave WF products: Amy's breakfast scramble wrap, anything from the cheese section, Greens + bars, Bell & Evans chicken.
• Nuts Online (www.nutsonline.com). I love, love, LOVE Nuts Online. They have a wonderful selection of coffee, baking supplies, spices, nuts, dried fruits, snacks, etc. I've gotten wonderful gift baskets and custom snack mixes from them and everyone raves about the quality. They're always adding new products and often offer free shipping or other savings for their customers. Fave NO products: Copenhagen coffee, organic whole wheat pastry flour, organic raw cacao powder, Southern Heat Snack Mix, dried whole cranberries.
  

healthy.tasty.easy. Kitchen Staples

While for most recipes you'll want to have fresh ingredients on hand (meats, vegetables, dairy), there are several key ingredients you can keep in the pantry or freezer which will make preparing healthy food quickly an easy task.

Pantry

• Canned beans (pinto, garbanzo, black, cannelini)
• Canned tuna (packed in water)
  
• Rice (brown, long grain, medium grain)
• Canned tomatoes (diced with or without chiles, crushed, whole, tomato paste)
• Broth (chicken, beef, vegetable)
• Pasta (whole wheat spaghetti, linguine, ziti)
• Spices: cinnamon, chipotle, cayenne, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla beans and vanilla extract
  
• Herbs: basil, sage, thyme, tarragon, oregano
• Salt, baking soda, baking powder
• Whole wheat pastry flour
• Sugar: organic granulated sugar, light brown sugar, dark brown sugar
• Cocoa powder and chocolate chips
  

Fridge

• Minced garlic
• Yogurt: fat-free or low-fat Greek yogurt
• Eggs (eggs actually keep for quite a while)
• Lemon juice or lemons
• Buttermilk

Freezer

• Pre-cooked rice (from Trader Joe's)
• Chicken breasts
• Ground turkey
• Frozen veggies: green beans, pre-cut peppers, peas
  

Dark Chocolate Brownies

Yesterday, a recipe for dark chocolate brownies popped up on my Facebook news feed. The recipe was from Ellie Krieger, the healthy cooking chef from Food Network, and Paula Deen and Ina Garten's caloric opposite. I decided to make them, but on further inspection of my pantry I had to make a few adjustments. So here is the recipe with my adjustments. The result is a cake-y, moist, not-too-sweet brownie with a nice chocolate flavor. The cinnamon gives it a nice flavor dimension. You can save calories by omitting the walnuts, though they don't add too much fat - and provide Omega-3 fatty acids which are good for you!

The recipe makes 24 brownies, each with 142 calories, 8g fat, 15g carb, 3g protein, and 2g fiber.

* 80 g (3/4 c) raw cacao powder (from Nuts Online), plus 1/4 c. canola oil and 1/2 c. granulated sugar (this was a substitute for 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, which I did not have on hand)
* 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
* 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder (from Nuts Online)
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
* 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
* 4 large eggs
* 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
* 1/2 cup plain 2% Greek yogurt (I used Chobani)
* 1/4 cup canola oil
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup walnuts

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 x 13inch baking pan with cooking spray.

Combine the cacao powder, granulated sugar, 1/4 c. canola oil, and butter in a double boiler or heatproof bowl set over a pot of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until butter is melted and mixture comes together.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, Dutch process cocoa, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda.

In a large bowl whisk the eggs and sugar until smooth. Add the yogurt, 1/4 c. canola oil and vanilla and whisk to combine. Add the cacao-butter mixture to this and whisk until blended. Add the flour mixture to this and mix until just moistened.

Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and sprinkle with nuts. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into 24 squares.

Serving size: 1 square

Notes on this recipe:
* Whole wheat pastry flour: I used Bob's Red Mill flour, which you can find in the natural foods section of most grocery stores, or at Whole Foods. You can also order this from Nuts Online, which is where I source a lot of my ingredients.
* Bittersweet chocolate vs. Cocoa / Cacao: According to joyofbaking.com, if you don't have bittersweet chocolate, you can substitute unsweetened chocolate and sugar at the ratio of 1/2 oz. cocoa plus 1 T. granulated sugar for every 1 oz. bittersweet chocolate. If you don't have unsweetened chocolate, you can substitute 3 T. (20 g) cocoa powder plus 1 T. melted butter or oil for every 1 oz. of unsweetened chocolate you need.
* Brown sugar: I used dark brown sugar in this recipe, although the original called for light brown sugar, in an attempt to deepen the flavor a bit.
* Yogurt: The original recipe called for "low-fat yogurt" but I used low-fat Greek yogurt. What's different about Greek yogurt? It has a thicker, less watery consistency which I thought would contribute to a thicker, denser brownie.
* Cinnamon: The original recipe didn't call for cinnamon at all, but I added this to lend a bit more depth of flavor. Next time I'll try a "wicked" brownie by adding chipotle and cayenne pepper in along with the cinnamon.