If you are like me, you want to treat your family to baked goods, don't have the time to bake from a recipe, and don't want to feed them a bunch of artificial ingredients.And what about high-fructose corn syrup or hydrogenated oils? Do you know how hard it is to find prepared foods that don't have those?
Naturally Nora is a line of brownie, cake, and icing mixes that boasts that they contain no artificial ingredients.
The company sent me boxes of their two flavors of brownie mix--Fantastic Fudgy Brownies and Doubly Fudgy Brownies--to bake up for my family. They were easy to make, as most boxed mixes are, and required only water, oil, and eggs.
I found with each one that they took less time than suggested to bake. I used a glass pan and they were done in about 50 minutes, rather than the suggested 60 minutes. So keep an eye on them or set your timer to go off early.
The results? My two-year-old and I sat down to warm brownies and tall glasses of organic milk and enjoyed a nice snack together. He said "more brownie." I tried telling him that he would have to wait for dinner time with his sister and dad, but he wanted "more brownie, more brownie." I indulged him and we shared another.
The brownies are incredibly moist and chocolate-y and every bit as good as any other brownie I have ever had.
If you care about such things (as I do), the box is made from recycled cardboard and is printed with vegetable-based dyes.
I will caution that "natural" doesn't mean low sugar. The first ingredient is sugar. The flour is unbleached wheat flour, but not whole wheat. And this is not an organic product. If you are counting calories or carbs, "naturally" doesn't necessarily mean that it will be lower in either.
But all in all, it's the lesser of many evils and if I am going to indulge in some chocolate-y baked, goodness, I appreciate the lack of artificial ingredients and HFCS.
And of course leave it to a mom to read a label and come up with a better product for our kids!
For the next round of birthday parties, I may give the Cake and Frosting Mixes
a try.Naturally Nora mixes are available from many retailers and also online at Amazon
. Check out their website for retail locations.Visit their Facebook page where they post recipes and hold giveaways. There are two terrific ones for brownies there now: Candy Cane Brownie Bites and Peanut Butter Brownie Bites.
Watch this video of Nora herself as she bakes a cake and explains how her mixes differ from traditional cake mixes (great video!):
This was written by Leighann who can be read at Multi-Minding Mom where she dishes about family, food, foraging, frivolity, and more! Chocolate is her only vice.
Please read our disclosure statement. Naturally Nora sent me brownie mixes to bake and eat. Yum!
