A few weeks ago, I splurged big time and bought a microwave brownie baker at my local dollar store. What the heck? It might turn out to be a shortcut to one of my favorite treats, you know. (By the way, you can buy one just like it or a Betty Crocket one for $5 to $10 dollars!)

The kit includes a plastic pan for the microwave and an odd little measuring box. It has separate compartments and markers to put in your ingredients. Then you dump them all into the baking pan and mix them together. So I guess you could call this a measuring box.

I tried it once as written, cooking them in the microwave for 3 minutes. My brownies came out a little too done and not gooey as promised. So, I changed the recipe a little, using another similar one but used butter in place of oil. I cut the time back by 15 seconds. Brownies were a little less done but lacking the texture I was hoping to get. On the third try, I cut the time back to two minutes. Whoops. Still not in the gooey mode. The fourth time, I cut them back to 90 seconds. This time, they weren’t quite done in the middle. So, the most recent attempt was one minute and forty-five seconds. Success! While the brownies looked a little underdone when I first removed them from the microwave, they cooked a little longer and are now perfect.

The moral of this tale is that you may have to play with the time in your microwave. Since my unit is 1000 watts, a 1200-watt one might need only 90 seconds, while an 800-watt unit might need two minutes.

Alternately, you can abandon the microwave and simply cook them in an 8×8″ pan in the oven. Instructions are below.

I used a combination low carb flour of 6 tablespoons Bakesquick and 2 tablespoons Almond Flour.

Microwave Brownies

1 cup Sugar Substitute
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
1/2 cup All-Purpose Low Carb Flour
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

Wet Add-ins:
1/2 cup Butter, melted and cooled
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 cup Pecans or Walnuts, chopped (optional)

Optional Topping (ices two brownies):
1 tablespoon Sugar-Free Hazelnut Spread
1 tablespoon Butter, softened
2 tablespoons Cool Whip or other toppings

Brownies:

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk them together.

Melt the butter and let cool for a few minutes.

In a small bowl, add the butter, eggs, and vanilla. Whisk together until the eggs are completely incorporated.

Add the liquid to the dry ingredients and stir together until all the flour is moist. Add nuts and stir them in. If you wish, you can add 1/3 cup of sugar-free chocolate chips to make them even richer. Pour batter into a microwavable 6″x6″ pan to microwave or into an 8″x8″ baking pan for the oven.

To microwave, cook 1 minute 30 seconds to 1 minute 45 seconds and let cool. With luck, this will produce a moist, gooey cookie. If it’s not quite as you like it, cook it more or less the next time you make it.

To bake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F.) Bake 20 to 22 minutes, checking with a toothpick to ensure it doesn’t get overcooked.

To bake in the oven, let cook for 20 to 22 minutes, checking to make sure it doesn’t get overcooked.

Makes about 6 to 8 brownies.

For the topping:
It’s best to make only enough for what you’re going to eat at the time. This recipe makes enough for two brownies.

In a small bowl, add hazelnut spread and butter. Mix together, then add Cool Whip (or even whipped cream if you prefer.) Stir together until it is blended, then spread over the top of the brownies.

If you have friends over and you’re eating the whole pan at once, simply triple the amounts for the topping.

Low Sodium Brownies

For my friends who need a low sodium intake, this recipe works with almond flour and coconut flour.

To make low sodium brownies, use these ingredients:

1 cup Sugar Substitute
1/3 cup Cocoa Powder
1/4 cup Almond Flour
2 tablespoons Coconut Flour
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder

Wet Add-ins:
1/2 cup Unsalted Butter, melted and cooled
2 Eggs
3 tablespoons Egg Whites
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1/4 cup Pecans or Walnuts, chopped (optional)

Cook in the microwave as described above.