Cocoa Brownie Cookie Bars

These cocoa brownie bars prove you don’t need butter or melted chocolate to get a fudgy, satisfying chocolate bar cookie. Egg whites, nonfat yogurt, and vegetable oil replace the usual fat-heavy ingredients, while cocoa powder brings the deep chocolate flavor.

The yogurt is the secret ingredient. It adds moisture and a slight tang that mimics the richness of butter without the saturated fat. Combined with whipped egg whites, it creates a batter that bakes into something between a brownie and a cookie: fudgy in the center with a thin, slightly crackly top.

The recipe warns against overbaking and means it. Pull these at 26 minutes and they’ll be dense and chewy. Push to 28 and the edges firm up with a more cookie-like snap. Go past that and they dry out fast.

Kitchen Tips

• Beat the egg whites until slightly frothy before adding the other wet ingredients. This incorporates a little air that lightens the dense batter.
• Use Dutch-process cocoa for a richer, less acidic chocolate flavor if you have it. Natural cocoa works too but tastes sharper.
• Oil only the bottom of the pan, not the sides. The batter needs to grip the sides to rise properly.
• Dust with powdered sugar after cooling completely. Sugar on a warm bar dissolves and disappears.

Variations

• Add a teaspoon of espresso powder to the batter to deepen the chocolate flavor.
• Fold in a handful of mini chocolate chips for pockets of melted chocolate in the low-fat base.
• Swap half the flour for black bean puree for a gluten-reduced, protein-boosted version.