Digest

There’s only so much you can do to make brownies more healthful without robbing them of their essential brownieness. Here are two opposite approaches: One uses cake mix and replaces the fat with alternate ingredients, the other uses all the normal decadent ingredients but sneaks in some whole-wheatiness.

ChocoHound made brownie muffins, which consist of devil’s food cake mix and canned pumpkin, and says they’re nice and chewy, and more subtly chocolaty than most brownies.

geminigirl has made low-fat brownies by puréeing a can of black beans with their juices and combining them with a boxed brownie mix; she says the brownies come out well, with no bean flavor.

Babette makes her “healthier” chocolate chip–dried cherry brownies from scratch, using the best-quality butter, chocolate, and cherries she can (she prefers Plugrá, Scharffen Berger, and Purcell Mountain Farms, respectively); whole-wheat pastry flour; and opting for organic ingredients.

Here’s her recipe:

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter
2 cups brown sugar
4 large eggs

1/2 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cups dried cherries

1/4 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F. Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heavy saucepan over low heat. Remove from heat and stir in the sugar. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the flour, salt, and vanilla. Add chocolate chips and cherries. Pour into a buttered 9-inch square pan. Bake for 35 minutes. Do not overbake. Brownies should be very moist. Cool in the pan. Dust the cooled brownies with powdered sugar, and cut into squares.

Board Links: Brownie Muffins!

Adding 1/4 to 1/2 a cup of water per pound of ground beef makes burgers cook up extra tender, and even a little juicier. Ninety percent lean sirloin, for example, has great beefy flavor but so little fat that it dries out during cooking; just add water for a delicious, juicy burger. Adding liquid will even keep well-done burgers tender and moist—now that’s magic!

Board Links: The Niki Rothman Method

In the Midwest, it’s standard procedure to cook bratwurst in a bath of beer and onions, then grill the brats over charcoal and serve on a bun with mustard and sauerkraut. kolgrim has improved the whole deal by spicing up the ’kraut and cooking the brats in it, creating a terrific commingling of flavors. The brats will be amazing, and so will the ’kraut, he promises.

Halve and slice thinly 1 1/2 onions, and caramelize them in 4 tablespoons butter in a cast iron pan. When they are nicely browned, add 1/2 to 1 tablespoon each yellow and brown mustard seeds and caraway seeds. When the mustard seeds start to pop, add a bay leaf or two, 5 to 10 whole allspice, and black pepper to taste. Drain a bag of refrigerated sauerkraut and add it to the onions and spices, along with a bottle of dark beer. Make a bath of two bottles of dark beer, half an onion thinly sliced, and 4 tablespoons butter. Bring the bath to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer the bratwurst until it’s cooked through. Grill the brats 3 to 5 minutes per side over hot coals; at the same time, put the sauerkraut mixture on the cooler side of the grill and add the beer bath to it. When the brats are done grilling, put them in the pan with the ’kraut and beer for 30 minutes to an hour. It will be at its best when most of the liquid is cooked away.

Board Links: Bratwurst?