I am in love with a man named Joe.  He is a successful businessman with stores across the country, he always has things I like and he’s pretty good for me too.  He may not know I exist, but even if it’s my imagination, I feel the love as I visit him every week.

This week, he gave me a brownie mix.  Fat-free brownies.  Hmm… is he trying to tell me something or is he being sweet?

I hate to doubt Joe, but my first thought was, “A pan of brownies could be good, but if they’re fat free they’re going to suck.”  And while there’s no fat in these, carb counters beware — these do pack 26g of carbs per serving.   But that’s not my first concern these days, and I was intrigued.  I wanted them to be good, to live up to the promise.

You mix these little guys up with just yogurt.  The instructions on the side suggest you can make a whole pan in the oven like all normal people, and run the extreme risk of inhaling an entire pan of brownies as well.  Or, you can microwave a single serving.

So I set my doubt aside and decided to make a single serving in the microwave.  That way I figured I wouldn’t waste so much yogurt when they did indeed, suck, and I tossed it all in the trash.  Ok I didn’t set ALL my doubt aside.  Because to my mind, the only thing that sounds less appetizing than a fat-free brownie is one cooked up in the microwave.

I mixed the brownie with the yogurt in a custard cup skeptically, and was disheartened when it didn’t look like it was going to come together at all.  It was just this weird mix of crumb-covered yogurt bits and powder.  But eventually it did combine to make a brownie-batter-like paste.  Hmm, we’ll see.

I chucked the cup into the microwave and gave it :45.  Licked the spoon I used to mix it, and amazingly that did taste like brownie batter.  But I’ve had those rubbery “baked” goods that come from the microwave before.  This is still going to be bad news – it’s just too good to be true.

As it turned out, I was right about not mixing the whole box.  But only because they would have all jumped out of the pan, into my mouth.  These things are amazing.  I need to have more faith in my new relationship with that intrepid adventurer Trader Joe.  He hasn’t steered me wrong yet.

The brownie came out of the microwave looking legit – not a super cakey brownie, but also not rubbery.  It was just the way I like a brownie – moist and chocolaty and the only thing that would have made it better would be all the things that would make it baaad – ice cream, hot fudge, cashews…  I didn’t even miss all those toppings, and thoroughly enjoyed the warm chocolaty goodness of that delicious little 130 calorie, fat free treat.

You’ll never catch me messin’ round town with another man, Joe.  Just keep those brownies coming.

–In the interest of clarity, I paid full price for this mix and am not receiving any compensation for this review.  I just love the brownies and wanted to let people know about them.

Popularity: 82% [?]