The Pillsbury Reduced Sugar Brownie Mix, in chocolate fudge flavor, is simply awesome. I can't praise this mix enough. There is no reason for anyone to eat a sugary version when you can have FAR less calories and carbs and sugars in this version.

The mix makes either an 8x8 or 9x9 pan of brownies. We went with the 8x8 size. The brownies were easy to mix up - just 1/3 cup oil, 3 tablespoons of water and 1 egg. Cook at 350F for about a half hour. Voila! Delicious brownies!

I love to eat my brownies hot. My boyfriend loves to eat them cold. Both ways the brownies were perfect. The texture was great. The flavor was great. There was not even the slightest hint that these were "lower sugar". They tasted like delicious brownies, they had the mouth feel of delicious brownies.

The sweetener used here is Splenda along with sugar alcohols (maltitol). There are 6g of sugar alcohol per serving. Their serving size is 1/12 of the box. I.e. they expect you to cut your brownie pan into twelve pieces and eat one of those. I have to admit that with square pans we tend to cut the pan into quadrants of 9, and that we usually eat two of those brownies as a "serving" :) So we actually eat two servings at a time. Still, let's look at a single serving set of information:

150 calories
0g trans fat
2.5g total fat
0mg cholesterol
90mg sodium
24g total carbs
1g fiber
6g sugar alcohols
17g net carbs
1g protein

For those with soybean, wheat and milk allergies, the mix does have those items in it.

So 17g net carbs per serving - when you'll probably eat two servings. Yes, this is not something to do daily :) Still, if you are going to have a special treat for a birthday or something I *highly* recommend making these brownies instead of the high sugar variety. The only reason I would hesitate is if you have sensitivity to sugar alcohols. If you do - or if you've never tried sugar alcohols before and aren't sure how you'll react - take it slowly and have only a half piece to begin with. See how well you do. If you're fine with sugar alcohols, then this is a super chocolate treat and I definitely recommend keeping a box on your shelf for those situations.


Lisa Shea's Library of Low Carb Books