I love brownies. No, seriously. I LOVE brownies. Since I cut sugar almost completely out of my diet and cut my carbs way back, I have found substitutes for almost everything I love. Except brownies. I’ve tried everything I could get my hands on. So far, nothing has come close. Quite a lesson in that realization, that there is something I love that is not healthy for me and it means I am continually disappointed when new things don’t measure up to my memories. Are our memories always more rose-colored? I mean universally, not just with food. I’m not sure.
Anyway, in an effort to stop buying and making full pans of brownies that were disappointing. I bought two ‘make it in a cup’ versions.
So I enlisted my mom’s help, another brownie lover, to test them out and see if either of them was worth the carbs and calories. When I opened them, they looked the same. They both required water to be added, and they both mixed up to a fairly normal brownie batter consistency. However, that was where the similarities stopped.
The Upside Down mix was smooth and appealing looking. The Birch Benders was not unappealing, but it was chunkier and had what looked like less fine almonds from the almond flour. Since it was significantly fewer calories, though, we decided to give it a fair chance. Isn’t that the way? You know what you want, but something that doesn’t look quite as good is up for consideration because the numbers are appealing? You buy the knock off bag instead of the designer; you buy last year’s model instead of the newer one; you buy the generic brand instead of the name brand. When it’s a big expense, I totally get it. But the little things? I’m ok with being frugal, but why buy something you don’t want when there is something you do want? Maybe it’s even the case with calories. I don’t know. It just seems like for the sake of sixty calories it shouldn’t be a consideration.
When the brownies came out of the microwave, they were both fully cooked, no runny insides, which I’ve seen with other ‘mug cakes’ and pancakes. But again, the similarities ended there. The Upside Down brownie looked like a traditional brownie on top. The top of the Birch Benders looked almost lacey or frothy.
When we dug into our afternoon treat, the Upside Down brownie was denser and held together better while the Birch Bender was more airy. The real difference came with the flavor, though. The Birch Benders wasn’t very chocolaty, and it didn’t feel like I was eating a brownie, it was more of a cupcake consistency. The Upside Down brownie tasted better, felt more substantial, and it also didn’t have any kind of aftertaste.
So what would I recommend? Frankly, real brownies. But since sometimes that just isn’t an option, Upside Down is the best brownie I’ve found so far. I just bought a frosted brownie mix from Keto Bakes though, so I have high hopes of finding something better.
Through the process I found that I was looking for the failures of each, ready for them to disappoint. Maybe that’s a lesson in and of itself…that when you look for failure, you’ll find it. For now, though, that’s more than I have the mental bandwidth to consider. I’m going back to dreaming of the perfect sugar free brownie.
Duct Tape and Dreams 