Brownies and Cream – My Lite Frozen Treats for Summertime Snacking from Cleo Coyle

The first time I heard the word Brookie, I thought it was slang for a resident of Brooklyn, New York. In fact, it’s a cross between a brownie and a cookie, and this Brookie is my favorite recipe for the summer. (I adapted it from another recipe--Cuppa Joe Mocha Drops--which I originally created to make use of my leftover coffee.)

This is a lighter version of that cookie. I replaced much of the butter with low-fat yogurt and canola oil. The chocolate flavor is delicious and the texture soft and brownie-like. They're wonderful eaten warm, just out of the oven, and remain one of my favorite coffee break snacks.

Thus...

You can drop this batter into a bigger and thicker cookie, which will give you a "Brookie" that tastes like a brownie. 

OR...

You can drop the batter into smaller, thinner cookies, which are absolutely perfect for making tasty, little ice cream sandwiches. (As Sue mentioned in the comments, they're kind of a lighter, summertime version of a whoopie pie.)

On the ice cream sandwich making: I’ve used frozen yogurt, sorbet, and sherbet. Below, I’ll show you how I make "cheater" ice cream, which is even lower in fat and calories. It’s also economical. To wit... 

The price of low-fat frozen desserts has been going through the roof--unlike shares of Facebook stock, lol. Actually, I'm not kidding here. In NYC these days, a box of Weight Watchers ice cream sandwiches goes for around seven dollars (for six sandwiches, yikes!). So while my homemade frozen treats are low in fat and fun to make, they’re also much easier on ye olde budget. Another very good reason to…

Cleo Coyle, Brookie baker,
is author of The Coffeehouse
Mysteries

Eat with joy! 

~ Cleo

Cleo Coyle’s

"Brookies" & Cream

Lite Frozen Sandwich Treats

To download a PDF of this recipe that you can print, save, or share, click here.

Makes about 24 large Brookies or 48 small

Ingredients

5 tablespoons butter, melted 
1/3 cup oil (I use canola) 
1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour*
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 
1/2 teaspoon baking powder 
1/2 teaspoon baking soda 
1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt or coarse sea salt 
3/4 cup light brown sugar 
1/2 cup white, granulated sugar 
1 cup low-fat plain yogurt (do not use nonfat) 
2 large eggs, lightly beaten with fork 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


*To make this recipe even healthier, replace half of the all-purpose flour with "white whole wheat" flour.

Directions:



Step 1 – First preheat your oven to 350° F. Next melt the butter in a small saucepan. Stir the oil into this and set aside to cool. 


Step 2 – One bowl mixing method: Sift together flour, unsweetened cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Now add in your two sugars, yogurt, eggs, and vanilla. Finally add the cooled melted butter and oil mixture. With a spoon or rubber spatula, mix by hand until flour is completely incorporated into a thick batter. Now stir about 50 strokes to blend well. Do not over-mix, however, or you’ll develop the gluten in the flour and your Brookies will be tough instead of tender.

Step 3 – Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Batter will be thicker than cake batter but thinner than cookie dough. Drop in small mounds with a few inches of space between. Use a tablespoon for large Brookies, a teaspoon for smaller ones. Using the back of the spoon, lightly swirl the mounds into even, level, flattish circles. Bake smaller Brookies for about 8 minutes, larger ones for about 10. Remove from oven. I like to slide the entire strip of parchment paper onto the wire rack--this saves time and avoids disturbing the shape of the Brookies by moving one at a time with a spatula. Serve warm or chill and sandwich together with ice cream, frozen yogurt, sorbet, or sherbet.


CHEATER ICE CREAM SANDWICHES: For a tasty, very low calorie and low fat alternative to ice cream, use whipped cream or Cool Whip (low-fat, vanilla, or chocolate). See my photos below, which will show you how I use Reddi-wip whipped cream to make my chilly cheater treats.

4 QUICK
TROUBLESHOOTER NOTES:

(A) Line the plate: When making Brookies into ice cream sandwiches, be sure to cover your plate with wax paper or plastic wrap before placing in the freezer or the bottom half may stick to the plate. I place small pieces of plastic wrap down on the plate, fill each sandwich, wrap each one up separately, and store them in the freezer to be eaten over the course of the week, during my coffee breaks. 


(B) Cover lightly: When using whipped cream, be sure place the top Brookie on very gently. (C) Allow time to freeze: The whipped cream will freeze after two to three hours.

Prefer a richer buttercream
or whoopie pie marshmallow filling? For a richer dessert, put two Brookies together with a vanilla buttercream or chocolate frosting filling. For an easy, delicious Mocha Frosting Filling recipe, download my Cuppa Joe Mocha Drops recipe, which includes directions for this tasty chocolate-coffee frosting. Get the PDF by clicking here.

For a classic Whoopie Pie filling recipe, check out my reply to Sue in the comments after this post, where I posted a traditional filling recipe that uses marshmallow creme. Enjoy!

 

F O O D I E 

P H O T O S

Troubleshooting:

When making my "cheater" ice cream sandwiches
with either whipped cream or Cool Whip,
be sure to place the tops on very gently!

If using whipped cream in a can, you'll need to double dose
the cream after about an hour in the freezer. Here's why:
After the initial hit, the air in the cream deflates.
But no worries. The double dosing really does the trick.

See the results in the last photo below.

Enjoy Your
Memorial Day Weekend,
Everyone!

~ Cleo Coyle, author of 

The Coffeehouse Mysteries 

To get more of my recipes, enter to win

free coffee, or learn about my books, including
my bestselling Haunted Bookshop series, visit my online coffeehouse: CoffeehouseMystery.com

The Coffeehouse Mysteries are national bestselling

culinary mysteries set in a landmark Greenwich Village 

coffeehouse, and each of the ten titles includes the 

added bonus of recipes. 

 

The Ghost and
Mrs. McClure

Book #1 of 
The Haunted Bookshop
Mysteries, which Cleo writes
under the name Alice Kimberly
To learn more, click here.

Charmed Low Fat Apple Berry Tart

It’s that time of the year when lots of folks have eaten their share of rich, heavy foods and would like something a little lighter to nibble on. When you think of pies, the word “light” doesn’t often come to mind, but this one truly is. With only 170 calories a slice, 1.5 grams of fat, and the added benefit of protein and fiber, this tart might be just the treat you’ll want to fix yourself and not fear the scale afterward.

Ingredients:

• 3 medium apples, peeled, cored and thinly sliced (I used Honeycrisp, but it’s also fun to mix up the apples and use one Golden Delicious and 2 Granny Smith, for example)

• 1 pint of fresh raspberries, rinsed

• 1/4 cup sugar

• 2 teaspoon lemon juice

• 8 sheets phyllo dough (14-inch by 9-inch sheets)

• butter-flavored cooking spray

• cinnamon for sprinkling

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Toss apples slices and raspberries in a medium bowl with sugar and lemon juice. Meanwhile, remove eight sheets of phyllo dough from the pack. Lay the phyllo sheets on a clean work surface. Removing one sheet at a time and covering the remainder with plastic wrap or a damp paper towel, spray each sheet with butter-flavored cooking spray (I used Crisco spray), then lay sheet in a 9-inch pie dish, with the extra dough hanging over the edge. Repeat with remaining sheets, forming a circular pattern.

Add in the mixture of apple and raspberries, then bring up the sides of the dough and fold in, leaving a gap in the center. Spray with butter-flavored spray. Sprinkle cinnamon over the whole tart.

Bake for 30 minutes, until the crust is golden brown.

I have to confess that my enemy in the kitchen is phyllo dough. It ripped, tore, made holes, and basically drove me crazy, so if you end up using 16 sheets instead of 8, join the club. I’ve been avoiding phyllo dough all year because it always seems to defeat me, but in 2012 I vow to get the upper hand!

Do you have any food or cooking goals for the New Year?