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.
