Brownies You HAVE to try!

I love food. No, really. I love to eat--a lot. What I don't love is fighting with my jeans, trying to coerce them to glide up my thighs and over my bodacious booty. That's why during my college years my best friend and I tried to find the best way to make low-fat treats. Now, about one hundred years and at least as many recipes later, I've found a few that work for my family. Here is a brownie recipe I recently whipped up. I'm urging to you to try it. Why? Because it's that good, that's why.

Pumpkin Brownies by Me

1 cup 100% pure canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tsp stevia powder (can be found at health food stores or at more and more local grocers)

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1 T olive oil

2 eggs

2 cups chocolate chips (divided)

1 cup whole wheat flour

Preheat oven to 350 and grease a 9x11 pan. Mix together pumpkin, sugar, stevia, vanilla, olive oil, salt and baking powder. In a microwave-safe bowl melt one cup of chocolate chips until smooth. Add to mixture until combined. Add eggs and mix until well combined. Add flour and the rest of the chocolate chips and mix. Spread into pan and bake for 30 minutes.

Be prepared for a cake-style brownie with a rich texture. And the pumpkin adds a huge nutritional punch.

Notes:

For those who don't know, stevia is a natural sweetener that's way sweeter than sugar but has no calories. It only takes a little to add a sweet flavor, so don't go overboard by adding more than 1 teaspoon. If you're not into cutting back on sugar (that's fine with me, I don't judge) then just add 1/2 cup white sugar--but, and this is a big but, I haven't tried that before so I don't know what that will do to the recipe.

Now, go make some brownies and enjoy guilt free.