Haute Cuisine 1.18

It's been a while since I did any cooking posts - and this doesn't quite count as 'haute' cuisine, but it does fall in line with my attempts to eat more healthy.  My boyfriend had been bugging me for a while to make double decker brownies, with the top being chocolate chip cookie and the bottom normal chocolate brownie.  When I found a recipe, I felt a little nervous about putting three sticks of butter in this treat, in addition to tons of refined sugar.  Anyhow, I was researching substitution ideas and decided the best options to try would be applesauce for half of the butter, and Stevia in the Raw (cup for cup) baking substitute for half the white sugar.  

 

After discovering the awesomeness of chocolate brownies with sweet potato substituting for some of the butter, I wanted to try other substitutions that don't sacrifice flavor.  So here is the recipe which I followed:

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour, 5 minutes

Ingredients:

Chocolate Chip Cookie Layer:

  • 12 Tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) butter - 3/4 sticks butter, and 3/4 cups applesauce
  • 1 cup firmly-packed light brown sugar - 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 large egg, at room temperature
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Chocolate Brownie Layer
  • 12 Tablespoons (1-1/2 sticks) butter - 3/4 sticks and 3/4 cups applesauce
  • 3/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder (Ghiradelli brand preferred)
  • 1-1/2 cups sugar -  3/4 cups white sugar, 3/4 cups stevia in the raw
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place rack in the middle of the oven. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with non-stick foil or grease with butter or shortening.  I used Pam spray.

Mix them in separate bowls obviously, softening the butter in the microwave.  Saving the chocolate chips in the chocolate chip cookie layer for after blending the non-hard ingredients first.  Pour chocolate brownie layer into prepared pan, and gently spread evenly over the bottom of the pan. Space spoonfuls of cookie mixture over the chocolate brownie layer. Gently smooth with a spatula to create an even top layer. 

Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with small gooey bits. Do not overbake. Cool to room temperature. 

With Stevia, it is recommended to increase baking powder or soda, decrease pan size, increase liquid slightly, use a decreased temperature setting - I corrected the salt, added baking powder to the brownies because that's what I use in the sweet potato brownies and it wasn't mentioned in this particular recipe.  Also, considering that the applesauce is more liquid than the butter, I figured that would correct for the liquid.  I was also a little more generous in my measuring for the baking powder.  I think this all worked out well because this is what I got after 45 minutes on the dot:



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