For three years during high school, our marching band director scheduled a competition trip for us in December during the second half of winter break. Just a few days after Christmas, we packed our suitcases, met in the school parking lot, and loaded our luggage and instruments onto five big charter buses before settling back into the plush seats as the drivers eased us onto the freeway, headed for Southern California.
After finishing the field show competitions, our band director also organized a parade in Disneyland, usually shortly after lunch on January 1st. A park employee led us backstage through Toontown, where we changed into our uniforms, walked us around the backside of Tomorrowland, and brought us out through the side gates right at the start of Main Street to perform popular Christmas songs in a holiday-themed parade.
But before and after the parade, we ran all around the park, enjoying the rides and snapping pictures with the characters just like regular Disneyland visitors. We especially loved that January 1st morning… We had the park almost entirely to ourselves because most other people seemed to sleep in after staying up late for New Year’s Eve, so there were virtually no lines, even at the most popular rides like the Matterhorn, Space Mountain, and Indiana Jones!
In between rides, my friends and I usually stopped by our favorite Disneyland restaurant, Pizza Port in Tomorrowland, for dinner. The slices they served were bigger than my head, so I often split one with someone else to save room for dessert.
And of course, my favorite treat was something really chocolaty… The oversized, completely gigantic, extra rich and fudgy brownies! If Pizza Port ran out by the time we arrived, I slipped into one of the sweets shops on Main Street right before exiting the park to get my chocolate fix before hopping back on the buses.
Although it’s been many years since my last Disneyland brownie, the memories are still just as strong as their rich chocolate flavor. Since I probably won’t get a chance to go back this Christmas, I decided to bake these Healthy Fudgy White Chocolate Chip Brownies to satisfy my winter break brownie cravings!
They’re supremely decadent and fudgy, just like the ones from Disneyland, but these contain no refined flour or added refined sugar… And they’re just 77 calories!
So let’s go over how to make these healthy fudgy white chocolate chip brownies!
You’ll start with whole wheat pastry flour and cocoa powder. You just need regular unsweetened cocoa powder for these healthy white chocolate chip brownies—not Dutched or special dark! Those latter two often have a more muted flavor compared to regular cocoa powder in my brownie recipes. Besides, you’re adding equal amounts of flour and cocoa powder, so your brownies will definitely taste extremely rich and decadent!
Whole wheat pastry flour is a bit different than regular whole wheat flour. Although they both have the same health benefits, like extra fiber, whole wheat pastry flour is made by grinding soft white wheat extremely finely, which results in a much lighter taste and texture. And that, dear chocoholic, is what lets the extremely rich and fudgy flavors of your healthy white chocolate chip brownies truly shine!
Unlike traditional brownie recipes that call for a full stick or two of melted butter (yikes!), these healthy white chocolate chip brownies only require 1 tablespoon. That definitely helps keep them low fat and low calorie!
Then the rest of their supremely moist and fudgy texture comes from one of my favorite ingredients: Greek yogurt! Greek yogurt adds the same moisture to your batter as extra butter or oil but for a fraction of the calories, and it gives your healthy white chocolate chip brownies a protein boost, too!
You’ll skip the refined granulated sugar and sweeten your brownies with coconut sugar instead. Coconut sugar is exactly what it sounds like: an unrefined sweetener that comes from coconuts! However, it does not actually taste like coconuts. It has a rich caramel-like flavor, similar to brown sugar, and you can usually find it on the baking aisle right next to the granulated sugar.
Since my family loved these secret ingredient cookies so much, I decided to mix chopped white chocolate into these fudgy brownies as well! That added a lovely sweetness and richness to the treats. I always save some of my chopped chocolate to press into the tops of my brownies. Doesn’t that make these healthy fudgy white chocolate chip brownies look so inviting and irresistible?
Time to bake! You’ll actually set your oven to just 300°F, rather than the usual 350°F for most baking recipes. This low temperature allows the center to cook through without the edges turning dry and crunchy.
However… Your brownies actually finish baking relatively quickly, after just 15 minutes! The center will still look glossy and underdone when it’s time to remove them from the oven. That’s a good thing! The center will continue to cook all the way through in the warm pan as you let them cool completely to room temperature.
Hint: If the edges of your brownies begin to pull away from the edges of the pan within 10 minutes of removing the pan from the oven, you baked your brownies long enough!
One last thing! I know it feels like pure torture, but you must wait at least 6 hours once your brownies have reached room temperature before slicing and serving. The brownies turn fudgier over time. It’s like magic! If you slice into them while they’re still warm from the oven, or even as soon as they’re at room temperature, they’ll have a cakier texture. But if you let them rest for at least 6 hours once they’re at room temperature (not just 6 hours after you remove them from the oven!), they’ll be supremely fudgy—literally like oversized squares of fudge!
And I’m definitely a huge fan of extra fudgy brownies! ? And when you make your own, remember to snap a picture and share it on Instagram using #amyshealthybaking and tagging @amyshealthybaking IN the photo itself! (That guarantees I’ll see your picture! ?) I’d love to see your healthy fudgy white chocolate chip brownies!
| Healthy Fudgy White Chocolate Chip Brownies | | Print |
- ¾ cup (90g) whole wheat pastry flour or gluten-free* flour (measured like this)
- ¾ cup (60g) unsweetened cocoa powder (measured like this)
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp (14g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted
- 2 large egg whites, room temperature
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ cup (60g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt
- ½ cup (96g) coconut sugar
- 6 tbsp (90mL) nonfat milk
- 3 tbsp (42g) white chocolate chips, chopped
- Preheat the oven to 300°F, and lightly coat an 8”-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, and vanilla. Stir in the Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Stir in the coconut sugar. Stir in the milk. Add in the flour mixture, stirring until just incorporated. Gently fold in 2 ½ tablespoons of chopped white chocolate.
- Spread the batter into the prepared pan, and gently press the remaining chopped white chocolate into the top. Bake at 300°F for 15-19 minutes (15 minutes yields the fudgiest brownies; 19 minutes yields slightly cakier brownies). Cool completely to room temperature in the pan, and let the brownies sit for at least 6 hours once at room temperature for the fudgiest texture before serving.
Regular whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour, or all-purpose flour may be substituted for the whole wheat pastry flour. Oat flour (gluten-free, if necessary!) may be substituted as well, but be extremely careful when measuring it!
I don’t recommend using Dutched or special dark cocoa powder. The brownies already taste very rich and dark chocolaty without it!
Make sure you measure the cocoa powder and flour correctly, using this method or a kitchen scale. (← That’s the one I own and love!) Too much will dry out your brownies and make them taste bitter.
If your cocoa powder is very bumpy and/or clumpy, then sift it into the mixing bowl.
Brown sugar or granulated sugar may be substituted for the coconut sugar, but the brownies will no longer be clean eating friendly.
Any milk may be substituted for the nonfat milk.
If you’d prefer, ½ cup (120mL) of pure maple syrup, honey, or agave may be substituted for the coconut sugar and 4 tablespoons of the milk. (You still need to add those 2 final tablespoons of milk!)
I prefer chopping the white chocolate chips so every brownie bite contains at least a morsel of white chocolate! For a clean eating option, substitute chopped dark chocolate for the white chocolate chips.
The brownie edges should look firm but the center should still look somewhat glossy and underdone when you remove the pan from the oven. If the edges of your brownies begin to pull away from the edges of your pan within 10 minutes of removing them from the oven, then you’ve baked them long enough!
For the fudgiest texture, you must wait 6+ hours after your brownies reach room temperature before slicing and serving! If you cut into them while warm, they’ll taste cakey instead of fudgy. The brownies turn fudgier the longer they rest on the counter. I promise it’s worth the wait!
{gluten-free, clean eating option, low fat}
View Nutrition Information + Weight Watchers Points
You may also like Amy’s other recipes…
♡ Healthy Secret Ingredient White Chocolate Pistachio Cookies
♡ Healthy White Chocolate Cranberry Pound Cake
♡ Healthy White Chocolate Cranberry Scones
♡ The Ultimate Healthy White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
♡ …and the rest of Amy’s healthy brownie recipes!
Disneyland and white chocolate = two very awesome things ?
Hi Amy just wanted to thank you for your recepies, as they are right up my ally being diabetic I can eat most of your stuff
It’s my pleasure Beth! That means the world to me that you’re enjoying my recipes. I can’t wait to hear what you try making next! 🙂
You’re so sweet! Thanks Liz! 🙂
Tell me please oat flour how to measure it for this recipe.
I really appreciate your interest in my recipe Debra! In the Notes section, two paragraphs beneath the one that mentions oat flour, I share how to properly measure flour. I know it can be easy to miss! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try these brownies!
Hello Amy! I started following your blog a couple of weeks ago and I love it! I even ordered your recipes book 😀
I have a question: can I simply remove coconut sugar from the recipes? I REALLY have to be extra careful with sugar because of my sport (I’m a professional powerlifter). Can I simply use some stevia or vanilla extract i I feel like? I am Italian and I am used to bitter and strong flavors and I grew up so sensitive to sugar that even a little spoon will cover all teh other flavors.
Since I don’t know if it’s just a matter of taste or if the consistency and amount of sugar is needed to balance teh dessert on a chemical level, I wanted to ask you first 🙂
Thank you for your help and for the caring!
I truly appreciate your interest in my recipe Beatrice! If you’d like to substitute stevia for the coconut sugar, you’ll have to make some other adjustments. Coconut sugar doesn’t just provide sweetness — it also provides liquid volume in recipes! I actually have a version of these brownies (without the white chocolate) that uses stevia instead of coconut sugar here. Perhaps that would be better suited for your diet! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you decide to try them!
Mmmmmm!!!! These are delicious! My first thought when I tasted them was these taste like they came from a bakery! Thanks for another great recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed these brownies Whitney! That’s the BEST compliment in the world if you thought they tasted like they came from a bakery — I’m truly honored! Thank you so much for sharing that with me! 🙂
I’ve just made these brownies as a revision break and honestly they’re amazing, I’ve tried many a ‘healthy’ brownie recipes and this is the closest I’ve ever found to the real artery clogging thing.
I’m definitely the kind to eat the brownies straight out the oven so I tried some as soon as they were cooked and they were great, but when I had some a few hours later I really see what you mean about the taste changing and getting better!
As someone from the UK I also want to say a huge thanks for putting the measurements in grams as well, makes life so much easier for me as I hate working in cups and very few american websites include grams as well so I really appreciate that!
Thanks for a great recipe, I’ll be sure to make more!
I’ve got my eye on the blueberry and lemon scones now :))
I’m so glad you enjoyed these brownies Charlie! That means the world to me that you’d say they’re the ones that taste closest to the real deal. I’m truly honored — thanks for taking the time to share that with me! 🙂 I’m so excited to hear what you try next, especially if it’s the scones!
Hi Amy !
I just made these brownies using maple syrup instead of coconut sugar and did something CRAZY : I had a Hershey’s Cookies’N Cream chocolate bar I didn’t know what to do with since months, so I chopped it and used that instead of white chocolate chunks !!
It’s in the oven right now and I can’t wait to try them (after those 6 hours of course !) ????
Oh my goodness Caty — that sounds BRILLIANT!! What a fun twist! I have a feeling that your Cookies ‘N Cream chocolate bar is going to make these brownies taste even better! 😉 And if that’s true… Then I definitely need to remember to try that really soon! 🙂
YES, they’re BOMB !! You definitely should give it a try ????
Thanks again for this delicious recipe ❤️
With how much you love them, I definitely need to! 😉 It’s my pleasure Caty! Thank YOU for always leaving such sweet comments that make my day!! ♡
I have to thank you for all those snack recipes that make my weeks ! ????
You’re going to make me blush Caty!! It’s my pleasure! ????????????
Hey! Im really interested in baking this recipe! However im using erythritol as a sweetner instead of sugar, but the problem is that erythritol is as 70% as sweet as sugar. Can i just add more from it? Or it will ruin the texture?
Thank you
Xoxo
I’m honored that you’d like to try making my recipe Deby! I’ve found that erythritol sweetens cup-for-cup for coconut sugar in my recipes — at least, according to my tastes! If you prefer sweeter brownies, or if you’re concerned that won’t be true for the specific erythritol product that you have, then you can definite add more. 😉 If you’d like to substitute erythritol for the coconut sugar in this recipe, I’d recommend ½ cup (or an extra 2-3 tablespoons, if you’d like!), and you’ll also need to add an extra ¼ cup of milk (maybe a touch more) because erythritol absorbs and dissolves differently in liquids compared to coconut or granulated sugar. The batter should be thick and spreadable, sort of like really wet cookie dough (rather than thin like cake batter). Your brownies may turn out a bit more towards the cakey side because of this substitution, but they should still be fairly fudgy! 🙂 I’d love to hear what you think if you try making them!
Hi Amy !
Is it possible to use maple syrup instead of coconut sugar ? And is it possible to use vanilla Greek yoghurt instead of plain? Just trying to use what I have at home already ????
Thankyou !
Yes, vanilla Greek yogurt will work! Then I’ve actually answered your question about maple syrup already in the Notes section of the recipe (located directly underneath the Instructions). I know it can be easy to miss! 😉 I can’t wait to hear what you think of these brownies if you try making them!