low calorie brownies

today i saw a blog claiming they had a recipe for 25 calorie chocolate chip cookies. then i read that the cookies were only 2 t. of cookie dough. BLAH. not ENOUGH! but last night i wanted a treat to watch celebrity apprentice. so i lucked out when i pulled a hungry girl recipe for brownies on saturday.

let me start off by saying, these are obviously not the really chocolate-y, fatty, high calorie brownies you may want for your girls night outs. they do lack a little bit of sugary flavor but let me tell you, you really aren't missing out on a whole lot. and the comfort of knowing if you eat the whole pan you really aren't out that many calories is really nice.

mr. e was skeptical when i told him i was making low calorie brownies. he was unsure of how big they were going to be. i noticed they were only 133 calories a brownie but i thought that meant the suggested serving size was going to mean they were only going to be the size of a quarter. not so! this recipe makes 16 brownies! out of a 13x9 pan that means your brownies really are decent sized so you aren't giving up that much.

please be aware though, knowing the brownies are not as high calorie will make it easier to talk yourself into eating half the pan.

i did change a few things in the actual recipe. hungry girl calls for 1 t. coffeemate sugar free french vanilla powdered creamer. now, i don't drink coffee and so i had zero desire to buy this. in the recipe you mix it in with water and then add it to the cream cheese. i just added a bit more vanilla. it was perfect.

hungry girl "swirls gone wild" cheesecake brownies

makes 1 13x9 pan, 16 brownies

1 18.25 ounce box devil's food cake mix

1 15 oz. can pure pumpkin

6 oz. fat-free cream cheese, room temperature (PLEASE have enough patience to make sure this is at room temperature)

1/4 c. Splenda No Calorie Sweetner (granulated)

1 t. creamer (remember, i got rid of this)

1/4 t. vanilla extract (remember, i added more of this)

preheat oven to 400 degrees.

in a large mixing bowl, combine cake mix and pumpkin stirring until completely blended. batter will be really thick. i mean, REALLY thick.

spray a 13x9 pan and spread batter into the pan. now, the batter is not going to be all that willing to spread so i had to push it with my fingers. i was really sad to have to do this since i ended up with batter all over my hands. oh, how devastating.

place powdered creamer in a medium mixing bowl. add 2 T. of warm water and stir until creamer is dissolved. (remember, i skipped this step). add cream cheese, splenda, and vanilla. using a whisk, or fork, mix vigorously until completely blended, smooth, and lump free.

(FYI... I just mixed the sugar with the vanilla and cream cheese. then stirred. i did add a little bit of warm water to just make sure it was nice and smooth. )

spoon cream cheese mixture over the batter and use a knife to swirl it in. don't worry if it isn't perfect. i ended up just spreading it on top actually.

bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until a knife comes out clean.

once these were made i actually had to put them in a bag and in the freezer so i would leave them alone.

it has these warnings because if i am craving anything, trying to lose weight or alone and open this bag i will eat the whole thing myself.