Everybody Bites The Brownie Sometime

    So, as chronicled in my last post,  a few weeks ago some of my Facebook friends were posting or sharing this recipe for a legendary brownie with only 37 calories per square (See Friday's post).
          I bought into the hype and last Friday morning I went out to the store,

 bought all the ingredients the recipe called for,

                         ...And with great eagerness and excitement I made a batch of 37-calorie brownies

that  were so terrible that I tossed them into the trash forthwith.  Tom saw me toss them but quickly retrieved one brownie from the top of the pile, took a bite, grimaced, then tossed it back into the trash.

        Those 37-calorie brownies were that bad.  End of story.
         But I did pick up an insight from a comment on last Friday's bad brownie blog made by my friend Marianne:
    "Any recipe with applesauce instead of butter and stevia instead of sugar is bound to disappoint. My favorite brownie has lots of butter and chunks of Ghiradelli chocolate. I simply eat one small brownie at a time. And skip a meal !"
    Now here's the thing:   Before I tasted those brownies Marianne could have preached to me 'til the cows came home that:  1). a brownie recipe using stevia and applesauce was bound to disappoint,  2). there's no such thing as a good brownie without sugar and butter, and  3). if you don't want all the calories then either skip the brownie or eat the brownie and skip a meal. 
    But I wouldn't have listened to her.  I had stars in my eyes.  Or maybe in my mouth.  I willingly, happily,  spent all that ingredient money and prep time* on a quest for a 37-calorie dream brownie made of applesauce, stevia, yogurt and oatmeal.  It wasn't until I laid eyes on those flat, ugly brownies that were the end product of my hopes and efforts,  bit into a square and got zapped with the most  godawful bitter taste then had to deal with the nasty after-taste that probably hung on my brain a lot longer than on my tongue that I wised up.
    I guess sometimes the only way you learn is by biting the brownie.
   
    *Well, okay, not all that much money or time, but you know what I mean.