The Art of the Meal

Baker Mills' whole wheat, double-chocolate brownie mix yields higher overall volume than Stonewall Kitchen's. This means – in addition to substituting light butter for the suggested butter and oil, and Egg Beaters for 2 large eggs – you can up the number of servings all the way to 25, and still have decent-sized 100-calorie brownies.

1. In a large bowl, combine dry mix (which already includes chocolate chips), 2 tablespoons of cold water, and 1/4 cup of Egg Beaters w/Yolks (found in the refrigerated section of most grocery stores).
2. Melt butter and stir into mixture until smooth and all ingredients are completely moistened.
3. Pour into an 8"x8" or 9"x9" baking pan dusted lightly with cooking spray.
4. Bake in pre-heated 350˚ oven for 30-35 minutes, until set and toothpick comes out (relatively) clean.
5. Place pan on rack and let cool until bottom of pan is warm to touch, but, not hot.
6. Loosen brownies with a knife and carefully remove from pan. (With this mix, I found that the bottom is more likely to stick; so, in addition to spraying the pan, I recommend placing a cut piece of parchment paper on the bottom for clean removal.)
7. Cool completely before cutting into 25 squares.

Suggested serving: Brownies with apples are extra bueno!!

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Sure, you can make your own rice pudding. But, why bother when this off-the-shelf brand is so off-the-hook delicious – and so reasonably low in calories? Find it in the refrigerated section of your grocery store, add Rose Water and Cardamom – and you'll think you've died and gone to a fine Indian restaurant.

1. Put 12 tablespoons (3/4 of a cup) of Kozy Shack Rice Pudding into a mixing bowl.
2. Add 1 teaspoon of Rose Water and 2 pinches of Cardamom, and stir.
3. Divide into two bowls and serve.

Suggested serving: Add a teaspoon of raisins (about 10 calories) to each bowl before serving. If you really want to go crazy, spinkle a crushed roasted almond (5 calories) over each pudding, as well.

Tip: Mix the ingredients ahead of time, and let the flavors marry and the raisins hydrate for an hour or two in the fridge before serving.

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Here's another take-off on Stonewall Kitchen's Traditional Scone Mix. Like our previous recipe for Cadamom Cranberry Scones, if you increase the number of recommended scones per package and use light butter – you'll have 100-calorie scones even after adding raisins.

1. Place 1/2 of Stonewall Kitchen's Traditional Scone Mix (about 1-1/2 cups) into medium size mixing bowl, add cinnamon and combine (see note below).
2. Cut cold butter up into small pieces, and cut into dry mix 'til crumbly.
3. Add chopped raisins, and stir to evenly distribute. (Chopping allows you to use less fruit, because – though fruit pieces are smaller – you'll have more of them to disperse throughout the mixture.)
4. Stir in 3 tablespoons ice cold water with a fork until the crumbly mixture starts to bind together. (It may not seem like enough water, at first; but, keep stirring and occasionally pressing with the fork – and more and more of the mixture will start to cohere.)
5. Cover dough with a clean cloth and let rest in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.
6. Remove from fridge, dust hands with flour, and knead mixture quickly into a ball. (Don't work it too much; just get it to basically stick together.)
7. Re-flour hands, and place dough ball on a floured pastry (or regular cutting) board.
8. Pat into a 1/2-inch thick, 6-inch diameter circular disc, and cut into 10 pie-wedge pieces.
9. Transfer scones to cookie sheet covered with parchment – or (my preference) pizza stone lightly doused with cooking spray.
10. Bake in pre-heated 450˚ oven for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.
11. Place scones on wire rack and let cool.

NOTE: You can also make the whole mix (of course) by doubling all the ingredients. If you do, I still recommend halving your dough into 2 discs and dividing each into 10 wedges – rather than dividing one large disc into 20 scones. PLUS . . . working up each batch separately allows you to add different ingredients to the second batch, and offer family and friends a choice, such as: Cardamom Cranberry.

Suggested serving: Drizzle a little Cinnamon Icing over scones with a fork (adding 8-10 calories per mini-scone) and have one with some green Jasmine tea.

Cinnamon Icing:

1. Combine 6 tablespoons of powdered sugar with 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon.
2. Add just enough water for a drizzling consistency and mix well.
3. Scoop some of the icing onto a fork and drizzle it across the scones.

TIP: Leave scones on rack after they’ve cooled, place parchment paper beneath, and drizzle icing across. For me, a good half of the icing always ends up on the parchment, so I figure the calories to be the remaining 3 tablespoons per 10 scones (i.e., 8-10 calories apiece) – assuming I don't get carried away with my fork.

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Spice up Stonewall Kitchen's Traditional Scone Mix with cardamom, dried cranberries and Rose Water. If you increase the number of recommended scones per package and use light butter, you'll have 100-calorie scones even after adding cranberries.

* You can also keep Rose Flower Water in a spray bottle to spritz your face or freshen a room.

1. Place 1/2 of Stonewall Kitchen's Traditional Scone Mix (about 1-1/2 cups) into medium size mixing bowl, add cardamom and combine (see note below).
2. Cut cold butter up into small pieces, and cut into dry mix 'til crumbly.
3. Add chopped cranberries, and stir to evenly distribute. (Chopping allows you to use less fruit, because – though fruit pieces are smaller – you'll have more of them to disperse throughout the mixture.)
4. Stir in 2 tablespoons ice cold water plus 1 tablespoon Rose Water with a fork until the crumbly mixture starts to bind together. (It may not seem like enough water, at first; but, keep stirring and occasionally pressing with the fork – and more and more of the mixture will start to cohere.)
5. Cover dough with a clean cloth and let rest in refrigerator for 20-30 minutes.
6. Remove from fridge, dust hands with flour, and knead mixture quickly into a ball. (Don't work it too much; just get it to basically stick together.)
7. Re-flour hands, and place dough ball on a floured pastry (or regular cutting) board.
8. Pat into a 1/2-inch thick, 6-inch diameter circular disc, and cut into 10 pie-wedge pieces.
9. Transfer scones to cookie sheet covered with parchment – or (my preference) pizza stone lightly doused with cooking spray.
10. Bake in pre-heated 450˚ oven for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.
11. Place scones on wire rack and let cool.

NOTE: You can also make the whole mix (of course) by doubling all the ingredients. If you do, I still recommend halving your dough into 2 discs and dividing each into 10 wedges – rather than dividing one large disc into 20 scones. PLUS . . . working up each batch separately allows you to add different ingredients to the second batch, and offer family and friends a choice, such as: Cinnamon Raisin.

Suggested serving: For extra sweetness and spice, drizzle Cardamom Icing over scones with a fork – adding 8-10 calories per mini-scone (assuming you're not too magnanimous with your fork).

Cardamom Icing:

1. Combine 6 tablespoons of powdered sugar with 1/8 teaspoon cardamom.
2. Add just enough water for a drizzling consistency – plus, a few drops of Rose Water – and mix well. (If you prefer a strong presence of roses in your scones, use only Rose Water to wet the sugar.)
3. Scoop some of the icing onto a fork and drizzle it across the scones.

TIP: Leave scones on rack after they’ve cooled, place parchment paper beneath, and drizzle icing across (as show above). For me, a good half of the icing always ends up on the parchment, so I figure the calories to be the remaining 3 tablespoons per 10 scones (i.e., 8-10 calories apiece) – assuming, once again, that I don't get carried away with my fork.

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Great news! Stonewall Kitchen's Triple Fudge Brownies are under 100 calories with 3 small changes to package directions:
  1. Substitute Land 0‘Lakes light butter for high-calorie oil.
  2. Increase number of servings from 12 to 16 brownies.
  3. Use only half of the included fudge packet.

1. In a large bowl, combine dry mix and semi-sweet chocolate pieces from Stonewall Kitchen package.
2. Melt butter and mix with 2 tablespoons cold water. Once cold water has cooled butter, add beaten egg.
3. Mix all ingredients until completely moistened, and pour into 8"x8" or 9"x9" baking pan dusted lightly with cooking spray.
4. Knead provided fudge packet 10-15 times to soften, cut in half with scissors, and (from one half packet) squeeze lines of fudge across brownie mixture. (Not easy, because fudge sauce is so viscous. Frankly, I can only get it to come out in globs.)
5. Pull a knife through the lines (or globs) of fudge and twist to create swirls (as evenly distributed as you can) in the unbaked brownie mixture.
6. Bake in pre-heated 350˚ oven for 25-30 minutes, until set and toothpick comes out (relatively) clean.
7. Place pan on rack and let cool until bottom of pan is warm to touch, but, not hot.
8. Loosen brownies with a knife and remove from pan.
9. Cool completely before cutting into 16 squares.

Suggested serving: With Espresso, of course! (Adding taste but NO calories.)

• Espresso Discs & Beans
• Espresso Machines
• Espresso Cup-and-Saucer Sets

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This entire loaf is less than 400 calories, and yields 4 just-under-100-calorie servings. Plus, these little sweetbreads make great gifts.

Find Mini-Loaf Pans and other recommended bakeware in our store.

1. Pre-heat oven to 350˚.
2. Combine dry ingredients and set aside.
3. Melt butter, and, while it cools, cut-up and mash banana.
4. With mixer on low, combine butter and banana; then, add beaten egg.
5. With mixer still on, pour in dry ingredients; then, turn up mixer and beat well – scraping down sides of bowl with rubber spatula.
6. Pour into miniature loaf pan dusted lightly with cooking spray.
7. Bake at 350˚ for 25-30 minutes, 'til lightly browned and inserted toothpick comes out clean.
8. Place the loaf pan on a rack and let cool for 10 minutes.
9. Loosen bread with knife, remove from pan, and cool on rack.

Serving Suggestion: Serve warm with your favorite herb tea, and half a teaspoon of low-fat cream cheese (just 6 more calories).

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