Sep 30 2007
Homemade Brownies – sugar free – my dad’s secret recipe
Most of you probably don’t know that when I was a little girl my father died of cancer.
Every year I would bring down the photo albums from my mom’s closet and look at them, and every year I saw something new and different in the photos. My father never looked sick in those photos until the last time I looked at them (when I was 23)…who knows what I will see next time I look at them.
I think it’s important to never forget, and to always remember the good times.
That year (when I was 23) I also brought down my father’s personal items box. It’s a navy blue box that contains his glasses, cuff links, and one or two pieces of jewelry.
Most of the times we looked at the contents of the box, my mom had the box and took out its contents so we could try them on, look at them, and then give them back. But, this time, I got to have it in my hands, possibly for the first time. I realized that the inside of the box lid was loose and had an inside flap that came off. Behind that flap were all my dad’s secret recipes! It was not like finding buried treasure – I had actually found it! My mom didn’t even know that they were there. She’d been in sole possession of this box for 17 years and never knew.
Now, why are these recipes so special to You AND me?
When my dad was sick he decided that once he was better he would leave his job and become a baker. He wanted to bake wholesome sweets for everyone – and never use baking powder. He didn’t like it. So, he started experimenting and baking. The “down side” is that he wrote many of these recipes so that only he could decipher them…many of them have no instructions – they need a “trained eye”.
In his secret recipe stash, we also found all his grandma’s secret recipes. My mom told me about how delicious they all were, but since she was gone and he was gone, no one knew how to recreate them, until today!
Enjoy my dad’s brownies, and just know that he was a great guy.
Ingredients:
4 ounces (113 grams) of 100% Chocolate (baker’s chocolate)
1/2 a Cup of Butter
2 Cups of Fructose (or Sugar)
4 Eggs, slightly beaten
1 Cup of Flour
1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
1 Cup of chopped Walnuts
Directions:
Preheat oven to 177°C (350°F).
Grease a 9″ square pan (I only have round ones – that worked fine too).
In a small sauce pan melt the butter and the chocolate squares together on the lowest heat possible – stiring constantly. Once chocolate has melted, remove from heat and cool slightly.
By hand (with a spatula): In a medium-sized mixing bowl, combine the chocolate mixture with the fructose until well mixed. Mix in all other ingredients in order listed.
Pour into the greased baking pan and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes – or until the center has popped up and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Because I like moist brownies, and these are the fluffy kind, I made a mild frosting to complement them. It gave them the moisture needed without detracting from the great brownie flavor.
Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting:
200 grams of Cream Cheese, softened
50 grams of Butter
1/4 Cup of powdered Fructose (or powdered sugar) – blend granular fructose in a blender to achieve this result
1/4 teaspoon of Vanilla extract
1 Tablespoon of Cocoa Powder
Directions:
Mix all ingredients together in a mixer or by hand – follow the order of ingredients.
