There are times when we all crave something warm, gooey and chocolatey. If you're trying to lose weight, this can put you on quite a slippery slope. You don't want to buy a pre-made brownie that can have upwards of 600 calories for one small square. Buying a boxed mix and making them yourself is also dangerous. Yes, an individual serving is only about 170 calories, but a "serving" is usually listed as just 1/20 of the entire pan. I don't know about you, but I've never cut up a tiny pan of brownies into twenty pieces, eaten only one and left the rest. Just ain't happenin'. And, at 170 calories per serving, that would be 3400 calories if you were to eat the whole thing - almost 3 full days of calories in one tiny pan!

Rather than obsess over my recent craving and winding up binging, I got online and discovered this:

Guiltless Gourmet Hot Chocolate Brownie with Fudge Sauce single serving cake mix. You mix all of the ingredients in the little bowl, microwave it for a minute or so, squeeze the packet of fudge sauce on top, and enjoy! The whole thing has only 200 calories and 3g of fat. Granted, it's more of a brownie flavored miniature cake than a true brownie and not nearly as good as the brownies Mom used to make, but when you're on a diet and craving something sweet, it's a decent enough substitute and way better than nothing at all. Since it's only 200 calories, it's also very easy to incorporate into your meal plan without completely blowing your calories for the day, especially if you plan ahead.

Unfortunately, the Guiltless Gourmet products are not available everywhere. I can't get them here in Portland, so I have my sister purchase and ship a few to me periodically. Looks like they're available through a couple online sources as well for those of you who don't have a sister living in another state to hook you up.