A Baking Must Have

Upon scanning my fridge this past week, I realized I was missing a very important ingredient from my shelves.
I had the milk.
The eggs.
The butter.
I even had the flour and sugar (although that's located in the cabinet).

I was missing . . .

Applesauce! 

Stop looking at me like I'm crazy. I use no sugar added-natural applesauce as a substitute for oil and sugar for quite a few recipes because I grew up on homemade applesauce, applesauce bread and even just regular applesauce as a snack. It's a sweet, guilt free indulgence that can be used in a variety of ways around the kitchen. One of my favorite things to make with it is brownies. 

Yes.

BROWNIES.

All it does is make them a little cakier, but still leaves the chocolatey goodness and fudge heaven behind. One of my favorite recipes is from Weight Watchers, which is great because it's healthy and uses some ingredients college students have on hand: 

Below is a recipe that uses it:

Rocky Road Brownies:

1 package regular brownie mix, about 21 ounces

1/4 water

1/4 cup applesauce

4 large egg whites

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

1/4 cup mini chocolate chips 

8  medium marshmallows, chopped

·  1. Coat a 9- x 13-inch pan with cooking spray; set aside.

·  2. Prepare brownie mixture according to package directions for lower fat brownies using 1/4 cup water, applesauce and egg whites. Pour into prepared pan.

·  3. Sprinkle walnuts over top of brownies; bake according to package directions. Remove from oven about 10 minutes before the end of the baking time, and toss chocolate chips and marshmallows over top; cook 10 minutes more. Remove from oven and cool brownies on a wire rack. Cut into 24 pieces; serve.

Once I started making these brownies this way, my fiance and I have never gone back. And he's the one who tells me he hates imitation recipes, and he would rather have the original! The ones made with oil taste too heavy; I can eat two of these without feeling guilty, all because of the applesauce! Feel free to omit the walnuts, chocolate chips and marshmallows if you don't like them; I often just make regular brownies with this recipe. 

See? I'll bet your feelings about applesauce are starting to shift a little now. Below I have posted some recipe links, as well as some information about cooking with applesauce. Give it a try and let me know your thoughts! And if you have any applesauce recipes you'd like to share, I would love to know!

 Substituting Applesauce

Applesauce Substitutions

Oat Applesauce Muffins

Applesauce Cake

Applesauce recipe