It has been cold and rainy in Southern Oregon this week. The sky was so dark yesterday afternoon, the sun completely obscured by storm clouds, and the forecast was for 100 percent chance of rain.
It’s easy to let this kind of weather make you moody.
But there’s an upside to the cold and the clouds: the dank weather makes being indoors seem cozy.
Cold, rainy weather also makes me inspired to bake healthy brownies.
Full disclosure: I haven’t baked anything fabulous since my mom died. Actually, I haven’t baked anything at all.
I used to bake bread, homemade granola, healthy cakes, and cookies all the time. We used to have an awesome trade—my homemade granola for a friend’s homemade raw milk yogurt. Yum.
But after my mom died so suddenly almost one year ago, I stopped baking. I just wasn’t inspired to bake anymore.
I still cook dinner almost every night, in a rather lackluster what-healthy-meal-can-I-throw-together-so-the-kids-eat-something-besides-Halloween-candy kind of way.
“Make brownies with me, Mom,” my 13-year-old invited yesterday afternoon. “Start by making sure we have ALL the ingredients. Are you sure we have them ALL?”
We didn’t. There was no vanilla in the house.
“They’re going to be tasteless,” Hesperus moaned.
Preheating the oven warmed the house and the baking brownies filled the rooms with a warm chocolaty smell.
It didn’t matter that we had no vanilla. They were delicious anyway.
There’s nothing cozier than eating delicious homemade healthy brownies while snuggling on the couch with your kids.
Here’s our recipe, a healthier adaptation from Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts, which is one my favorite cookbooks. I won it from Debbie Koenig, who writes about food and family.
Inspired to bake healthy brownies recipe
Melt (stirring a bit over low heat):
1/2 cup butter
2 ounces of unsweetened organic chocolate + 2 Tablespoons of cocoa powder
Remove From Heat and Add Directly to the Pot (using electric beaters or a whisk):
1/2 cup of organic brown or date or coconut sugar and scant 1/2 cup of agave
1/2 t vanilla extract
2 beaten eggs (duck or chicken or 1 of each)
1/2 cup sprouted whole wheat flour (or 1 Tablespoon of garbanzo bean flour + 1/4 cup sprouted whole wheat + 1/4 cup barley flour)
Grease:
8-inch square baking pan
Bake: 20 minutes (or 5 minutes longer if you want more cake-like less fudgy brownies)
While we’re on the subject of being inspired to bake, you can learn how to make agave-sweetened Norwegian flatbread here. In the meantime, I’d love to know your favorite thing to cook with kids? And if the cold weather inspires or inhibits your cooking?
Related posts:
Healthy Guilt-Free Mocha Cake That’s Truly Delicious
Healthy Desserts (No, Really!)
Will THIS Food Save Your Life?
Published: November 9, 2012
Last update: September 9, 2023
I love brownies. Sigh. Now I’m going to have make some.
I used to bake brownies with my kids. No one ate brownies back then in Paris, 40 (eek!) years ago. I think you can get them in bakeries all over France today though. Now I bake brownies with my grandkids. I look forward to trying this recipe. Thanks for sharing.
pizza! it’s great fun to create your own…for kids and adults.
and we love to cook and bake in winter time. here’s to you and Hesperus — and the rest of the family — enjoying those brownies, and the other things I am sure you will create,
I have a favorite Chanukah apple cake recipe. It can really be baked any time, but I’m kinda glad it’s earmarked for that once-a-year holiday, otherwise I’d be…very very fat. Once I start eating it, it’s tough to stop.
Brownies and chocolate chip cookies, hands-down!
I remember baking with my son on snow days~
It’s supposed to be cold and dark here tomorrow, maybe some brownies are in order!
I let my granddaughter bake those already formed refrigerated cookies and then take them home. I’m not good with baked goods in the house. I will eat every last one of them.
Rolled sugar cookies with my Grandson (3).
No one baked with me as a child, and since this is my favorite food group, I taught myself to make sweets early in life.
I have tons of cutters and toppings and from the time he could stand on a stool to reach the counter, we’ve baked together, made a mess and had fun.
(brownies, too)
If I hadn’t have had ice cream for lunch (and now stomach ache), I would be eating the photo of your brownie.
I like to back pretzels and bagels with my daughter. The pretzels were a great way to create letters and numbers when she was learning those and now they continue to be fun to make. Maybe we will try some chinese characters now that she is learning those.
I can relate to the lack of desire to cook while grieving. Food is such a social aspect of our lives and how we make connections. My husband cooked almost all the dinners in our house. Since he died, I have eaten out almost exclusively for a year. I am just now starting to cook some soups. Soup seems to be a thing that I can put together and it feels right. He did not cook many soups. The first couple of attempts at cooking resulted in things that were edible but not very flavorful. It was as if the grief was right in the food. You could taste the sadness. My daughter was polite, but also indicated she could tell it was missing the “secret ingredient”.
Your recipe makes me want to try it, and add a little hot fudge sauce and whipped cream. : – )
When the weather gets colder I do feel like it’s time to turn on the oven. I love making pizza with my kids, or cookies, or brownies…
BTW–I rarely put vanilla in my brownies anyway. Maybe a little almond extract.