of Better for You Brownie Batter Shakes

Like most people, I enjoy occasional sweets and my biggest sweets weakness is brownies. As a child, sneaking brownie batter before it was baked was both an ultimate indulgence and an ultimate no-no according to my rightfully germaphobic due to her employment as a nurse mother. Before baking the brownie batter has a consistency and a taste that I always believed was completely non-recreatable. That is until I found this recipe on pinterest for cake batter shakes. I was definitely intrigued by the properties in this recipe but I hate cake and almost wrote it off until I read further and the author conveniently suggested using brownie batter. I think even my mother would approve of this method of batter indulgence. And hey, try it with cake batter if that is more your speed. I could get down to a strawberry shortcake version. Or add in some whipped cream vodka for an adults only treat. Whatever works; the possibilities are endless.

I am not a health freak by any stretch of the imagination but seeing as how its swimsuit season and I generally enjoy how my clothing fits when I am more in shape, I try to eat a bit healthier. I am sure that the original recipe is absolutely decadent and transcendent for a treat but I am not about to consume a more calories if I can consume less and still get all the taste. Luckily, my roommates agreed and as always let me experiment on them. I took the basic recipe and originally subbed in some vanilla soy milk and some fat free vanilla frozen yogurt. The result was amazing and rather guilt free(ish).

This time though I made a few adjustments to the recipe simply to see if I could still get the brownie batter taste without all the excess brownie batter. Seemed like ½ cup contained some extra calories I didn't particularly need. I also used vanilla almond milk because I like it better and I wanted to make up a batch of cookie dough dip with some garbanzos I had lying around. This mix tasted exactly like the fabled brownie batter of yore. And so without further ado...my healthy hack of brownie batter shakes.

Today's Cast of Characters:

 

Don't you just love when you have all the ingredients for a special treat right at your fingertips. Living so near a Safeway and a Whole Foods makes my entire life. All you need for this recipe is brownie batter, which can be whatever kind you want (I used Giradelli and it was divine); the aforementioned vanilla almond milk; fat free vanilla frozen yogurt; and vanilla extract. I also used a bit of light whipped cream but you can skip this or add the light cool whip option. I would also want to try this with marshmallows (perhaps blow torched) and graham cracker.

What to do:

Measure out your milk and add to the blender. I also added my vanilla extract during this step. You know, because I was impatient. If you like thicker shakes use less milk at this step. results are equally impressive.

Add in your brownie batter and make sure none is caught on the sides. If it happens to get caught on the sides push it down with a spoon or spatula so that it will be evenly mixed.

Finally add in your frozen yogurt and whir the blender a few times to combine. The mix is the perfect consistency when no more large lumps of yogurt can be seen. You can use more or less yogurt depending on desired thickness. I would recommend using more brownie batter if you choose to use more yogurt.

Pour into a glass and top with a squirt of whipped cream, a dollop of cool whip, or the blow torched marshmallows and graham cracker combination I came up with too late to try out. I will be very jealous if you do. If you use the whipped cream or cool whip, you can sprinkle a little extra brownie batter on top of the concoction for presentation and an added kick of deliciousness.

And now the most important thing.Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 cup Vanilla Almond Milk
1 cup Fat-free Vanilla Frozen Yogurt
⅓ cup Brownie Mix
½ teaspoon Vanilla Extract
Whipped Cream for topping

Directions:

1. Add milk and vanilla extract into blender.
2. Next add in the brownie batter and make sure it is not caught on sides.
3. Measure your frozen yogurt into the blender and give it a few whirs to combine. The perfect consistency happens when there are no more lumps of yogurt.
4. Pour mix into a glass and top with whipped cream and a sprinkle of brownie batter. Enjoy!

of Tie Dye Pie

It's been seriously hot and disgustingly humid in DC recently (probably a side effect of building the nation's capitol in a swamp...nice one L’Enfant). Luckily this weekend we've had unseasonably awesome weather and so in order to celebrate the sunshine and great temperatures I whipped up a Tie Dye Pie. It's an invention of mine that is as easy as it is delicious. The prep time is virtually nonexistent but the rewards speak for themselves. Who doesn't need a bit of ice creamy nostalgia every now and again? And so without further adieu I'll let you in on the deliciousness.

Today's Cast of Characters:

Yes...those extra M&M's were eaten.

I'm keeping it simple today with only three ingredients. Some vanilla ice cream from whichever brand you prefer, M&M's and of course the Oreo Crust. If you like chocolate this is the pie for you! My mom and one of my sisters are allergic to chocolate, yet another one of the bizarro allergy profiles floating around my family, so if I were making this for them I would use a graham cracker crust and Reese's Pieces. It would be a slightly different color spectrum but the effect would still work. 

What to do:

Please refrain from licking the screen.

First, allow the ice cream to soften until it becomes extra mushy. I like to think of the consistency as somewhere between a McFlurry and a soft double scoop at your favorite ice cream spot. This is important because if the ice cream is too hard you wont get the cool tie dye effect but if it is too soft you'll just have a yicky mess on your hands. Dump it into a large bowl. Try not sample too much of the stuff stuck inside the container while you are getting it out...a little bit is just fine though!

Chocolately Goodness? Check.

Now pour in the M&M's; as with everything in life, balance here is important. I don't like too many pieces of M&M's because sometimes they hurt my teeth. I'm sensitive, okay? But if you like to eat tons of them by all means go ahead and add more, just remember that it will take longer to stir in which will result in longer refreezing. Allow them to sit for just a second until you see they are starting to leach their color.

Starting to get a little trippy...

Stir the the M&M's until you get a pattern of colors in the ice cream that you feel comfortable with. This is your chance to unleash your inner child, or real child if you happen to have one handy. Remember it doesn't have to be perfect, half the fun is in the screw ups!

Flat? No. Pretty? Yes.

Once you've gone to town and unleashed your underused artistic side, spoon the mixture carefully into the pie crust. Even it out as well as you can without making the patterns in your pie merge into something resembling a melted push pop. The mix will be a bit mushier than before but that is totally fine because it's going back into the freezer.

At this point you have two options: you could either put CoolWhip on the top before putting into the freezer and create a nice even top; or you could be like me and rebel against frozen dessert topping. Either one is fine and either will taste delicious. Cover the pie with aluminum foil and place it back in the freezer.

Pretend I have a picture here with CoolWhip...sorry but it's just not how I roll!

After I dug in.

Allow the pie to freeze up for a few hours. The minimum would be 2 but I like my ice cream pie to be relatively hard when I cut it (makes for a prettier presentation) so I leave it in for 3+ hours. Finally bring it out of the freezer, cut it with a sharp knife and try to make it to the table before devouring the whole piece in a few seconds...don't judge I was hungry! I sometimes serve this up with a homemade fudge sauce, sometimes I even get a little crazy and put the fudge on an hour or so into the freezing process. The point is there are a million little tweaks that you can make to your tie dye pie, but the original is A-ok is my book.

Ingredients:

1 Carton of Vanilla Ice Cream

1 Cup of M&M's

1 Oreo Pie Crust

1 Container of defrosted CoolWhip (optional)

Directions:

1. Allow ice cream to soften. Dump into mixing bowl for better access to mix.

2. Pour in the M&M's and let it sit until color leaching becomes visible.

3. Stir in the M&M's until you reach the desired tie dye pattern.

4. Carefully spoon mixture into pie crust and even it out as best you can.

5. Freeze the pie up for a few hours until mixture is hardened usually takes 3+ hours.

6. Cut, Serve, and Enjoy your creation!