Tuesday 10 January 2012

Posh Brownies



It's Jan and almost everyone is on a health diet of some kind. I've never really been good at that - poor, no self control and all but I thought I would make an effort and *try* to make something a little healthier.  I remember reading about brownies made with mayonnaise which is supposed to be healthier.  I happened to have a jar of extra light mayonnaise so I thought I'd give it a go. The recipe is from Hellmann's and they name it posh brownies so how bad can it be? They state that it's 55% less saturated fat than if prepared with butter. 

It's a fairly simple brownie recipe with the usual suspects and the addition of mayonnaise instead of butter. I overbaked mine slightly so they were a little on the chewy side but I have to say I was quite impressed with these brownies. It's not buttery and fudgy but it still tastes like a brownie. It's fairly moist and light and I like the added crunch of the nuts. I'm not sure if it would taste different if I made it with full fat mayonnaise. Has anyone else tried this recipe?

Anyway at least I can feel virtuous eating these brownies....as long as I don't eat the whole tray!! :) 

I am entering these to bake-along brownies over at Bake for Happy Kids 




 star ingredient - mayonnaise 

 adding the mayo

 ready to go in the oven 

 slightly overbaked! oops 


Recipe from Hellmanns website 

40g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
25g cocoa powder
140g plain chocolate, broken into small pieces
3 eggs
225g caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
110g mayonnaise
55g walnuts, finely chopped (I didnt have any so used chopped mixed nuts instead)


  • Preheat the oven to 160C.
  • Grease and line a 23cm square tin.
  • Sift the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder into a bowl and set aside.
  • Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a pan of barely simmering water.
  • In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar and vanilla essence.
  • Add the slightly cooled, melted chocolate into this mixture and mix well.
  • Next fold in the flour.
  • Add the mayonnaise and chopped nuts.
  • Pour into the tin and bake for about 30 - 35 mins or until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. 
  • Allow to cool in the tin before slicing. 


25 comments:

  1. Wow, that's crazy! I've never heard of this before but I am very intrigued. Thank you for sharing!

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  2. Brownies made with mayonnaise?! Never heard of that before. They look delicious, even if you cooked them longer than you intended.

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  3. Interesting... Does it have any taste of mayo in it?

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  4. I've made mayo cake before and always loved it (a rich moist chocolate cake using mayo instead of eggs & oil), never though to do so with brownies. The sound good, I'll have to give these a try!

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  5. it's indeed interesting using mayo in subsitute of butter and like the way you described it that it's still moist and light too! now that's another way of using mayo!

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  6. I'm very happy and honored to have you baking-along with us. Your posh brownies is great way to kick start a healthier 2012! I have heard of chocolate cake made of mayo but not brownies. I wonder if the full fat mayo will make any difference. Nevertheless, sometimes it is better to think less and enjoy all yummy food :D

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  7. very interesting, i will give this a try next time, curious on how the taste and texture
    thks for sharing, looks yummy indeed :)

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  8. That's interesting, mayo in a brownie... you should do a taste test with original brownies, half fat mayo and full fat mayo!!

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  9. Haha BakingAddict - your first few sentences are funny... "I thought I would make an effort and *try* to make something a little healthier"... and then you make brownies! LOL :D I've never heard of brownies made with mayo before, but I love mayo, and I love brownies... so what's not like, eh? :D They look the part, and if you say they're healthier than the butter version then that's good enough for me :D

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  10. WOW,, This is so LOVELY & CRAZY, Thank you for sharing :)
    xxx

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  11. Well I never - I have never seen mayo in brownies before - but then there is alot of things i have not seen before! Glad your oven is back on track. Mayo madness!

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  12. I've heard about using mayo in baking, these look so good! :D

    Nom! x

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  13. Hazel - I was really excited to try it and I'm glad I did :)

    Jo - I've never either until now. Will definitely make these again. Less baking time and smaller tray!

    Cookie Sleuth - cant taste the mayo at all!

    Andrea - I'll have to try a mayo cake too! I wasnt sure about these but I really do like them :)

    lena - its very interesting indeed and it turned out well.

    Zoe - thanks for hosting. I may try it with full fat mayo but I suspect it wont make much difference.

    Alice - Do give it a try, its really good :)

    Lauralovescakes - taste test would defeat all attempts at healthy! lol.

    Charles - LOL what else would you expect from me? ;P no salad cake here! I really am impressed with the taste and will definitely try them again. The healthier bit is a bonus.

    LoLy - thanks :)

    cakeboule - so pleased oven is working again :) hope I don't wear it out too soon! lol.

    Nom - thanks :)

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  14. Love mayonnaise brownies. What a great recipe for posh brownies.. :-)

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  15. i've seen this recipe and wondered if it would work - it clearly does! YOu're a braver baker than me!

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  16. This is a lovely brownie! I have seen recipes using mayo but have not tried it myself! Thank you for sharing and for baking along with us! Have a nice day!

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  17. Janet - thanks, they really were quite good :)

    Rebecca - indeed, I had to read it twice to be sure!

    caked crusader - thanks! I'm glad I tried it and that it worked :)

    Kitchen flavours - thanks and it was great fun baking along with you

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  18. Very interesting, never seen a recipe for brownies with mayo but why not? It just eggs and oil ;-) So easy to over bake brownies but they look good;-)

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  19. I have never made brownies with mayonnaise before, sounds interesting.

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  20. Oh my goodness I have to try these! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us! :D

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  21. Mayonnaise in brownies?! If you definitely can't taste it I'd be tempted to give them a go, they do look delicious :-)

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  22. Pacheco Patty - yes it works well indeed.

    words of deliciousness - I'm glad I tried it :)

    Lorraine - I hope you do and that you like them :)

    thelittleloaf - you definitely can't taste the mayo (i used extra light) apparently full fat mayo would taste a little different but I haven't tried it.

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  23. Hmm brownies, I have heard of people doing this before - I have a hatred of mayonnaise at the best of times though so not sure I could bring myself to do it - even though you don't taste it, the smell kind of puts me off too!! haha...but I definitely wouldn't turn up my nose at trying one of yours!

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  24. love to try this soon, wat a funny idea.

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