Ghirardelli Protein Brownies

In my opinion, Ghirardelli makes the best brownie mix. Too many times I have overindulged when these lovelies were around.

In the face of overindulgence of other foods, I have found that it is helpful to normalize those foods by having them more frequently in moderate portions. This helps because I don't feel like I need to eat copious amounts when the food in question appears out of the blue and too special for their and my own good. The food isn't special anymore because I can have it whenever I'd like to.

So I decided to apply this principle of frequent moderation to Ghirardelli brownies. Hooray! This recipe swaps out almond butter for the vegetable oil typically called for and adds greek yogurt and protein powder for some extra protein. The serving size is up to you, based on how you cut the brownies, so I will include the nutrition information for the full recipe as well as for 9 and 12 servings (but you could cut the brownies up more to make more servints–lower calorie option–or less to make less servings–higher protein and calorie option).

Ingredients

-1 box Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Premium Brownie Mix, 2243kcal

-4 scoops/132g Vegan Protein Powder (can use other vegan protein powders, this is just what I had–chocolate cereal milk is probably the best Ghost flavor to use, but I used coconut ice cream, and I'm sure the peanutbutter one would taste awesome), 480kcal

-2 eggs, 140kcal

-150g nonfat green yogurt, 80kcal

-30g almond butter, 200kcal

-1/2 c water

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

2. Combine brownie mix and protein powder into a bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, combine eggs, yogurt, and almond butter until well mixed.

4. Stir 1/2 of the dry mixture into the wet mixture at a time, and continue stirring and adding until well combined. Have 1/2 cup of water near by, and add small amounts while combining wet and dry ingredients. All of the water will be used, and the final result should be thick but also smooth.

5. Coat a square brownie pan (mine was 9x9) with parchment paper, and distribute brownie batter evenly in the pan.

6. Bake for 40-50 minutes (I did 45 minutes, and they were a but underdone, but that made them super fudgy).

7. Let the brownies cool, then cut and eat and/or store.

Nutrition Summary

Whole recipe: ~3143kcal, 130g protein

1/12 recipe: ~260kcal, 11g protein

1/9 recipe: ~350kcal, 14.5g protein