No Pudge Fudge Brownies (Original)

January 16, 2007 | Reviewer: Abi

No Pudge Fudge Brownies

Price: $3.50 per box
Serving: 1 brownie, 2oz.
Calories: 110
Fat: 0%, 0g
Sodium: 0%, 0mg
Protein: 2g
Carbs: 10%, 28g
Fiber: 4%, 1g

No Pudge says: Makes traditional thick, fudgy brownies. Great for folks who don’t want anything but a rich, all-chocolate taste.

Abi says: My real workplace (Not HeatEatReview.com) is semi-obsessed with trivia. We have a daily trivia game (you can make an office one on www.funtrivia.com) and every week our organizational update email contains a single trivia question.

While I often completely rock the daily trivia game (I was winning until 9:42 a.m., when my boss beat my time by 4 seconds. Argh.), I do not have a good track record with the weekly trivia game. Part of the reason for this is that I am often away from the office and using stupid Outlook for the Web. Outlook for the web does not lead to speedy email updates. Since I’ve been in the office ALL OF THE TIME during winter break, I’ve become accustomed to getting the weekly trivia emails in a timely manner. Unfortunately, I have been a complete idiot: actually reading the email instead of speedily scrolling to the bottom to read, Google, and complete said trivia game.

This poor course of action pretty much always leads to Kate and Chad (fellow cube-workers) winning the trivia game. Well, not this week folks. This time, immediately after the trivia went out, I was once again not paying attention to my email. Paying too much attention to email is not part of getting things done. Luckily, my coworker Sarah (writer of said trivia) and my boss Bill (um, my boss) were having a chat about something that was probably work related. I was sort of eavesdropping, but not really. Fortunately for me, the very moment I chose to be a more active eavesdropper (which really could not be considered eavesdropping because it is a freaking cubicle farm. You cannot have expectations of privacy here.), as I was saying, the very moment I decided to eavesdrop actively, Sarah informed Bill that the weekly trivia game had gone out and he’d best get back to his desk to even have a chance of winning.

I took this as my cue to check my email, scroll to the bottom of the weekly update for the trivia, and use the CIA factbook to figure out the major export of Antigua. Why Antigua? One of my coworkers recently left the office (by recently I mean gave 6 hours notice) and is now attending medical school in Antigua. My office is completely enamored/transfixed with all things Antiguan. We also threaten to leave work and move to Antigua during difficult staff meetings.

What does this have to do with No Pudge Fudge Brownies?

No Pudge Fudge brownies made an appearance in the office Friday as the prize for all of the trivia contest winners. They were also handed out to non-winners, including officemate Bale. Bale is a definite guy’s guy who reacted to the brownies thusly:

“These brownies are great!” says Bale.
“Yeah?” asks Sarah
“Yeah! And they don’t have any nuts.” Bale is obviously psyched about the lack of walnuts in these brownies. He’s allergic.
“They’re fat free too.” Sarah replies, dropping the double f-bomb.
“No way! These are awesome.”

Then we all laughed because we already knew that No Pudge Fudge Brownies are super-fantastic. They’re wonderfully gooey and rich and unbelievably fat free. Before I start sounding too much like H-G, I should tell you that these brownies are a bit too sweet for my taste. Also, they may be fat free but they are not calorie free. It is easy to eat four or five servings of these brownies without even thinking about it. At that point, you’re not helping your waistline or your overall health.

But yeah, they get five stars because they are super-good and you can make a single serving in your microwave. Also, I was happy about winning the weekly trivia game (finally!).

And yes, I am really freaking tired of eating diet food. Fortunately for all of you, I will continue to eat this stuff through the end of January. Sigh.

comments

18 Responses to “No Pudge Fudge Brownies (Original)”

MaryAnne on January 16th, 2007

I love these No Pudge. I like the raspberry ones too, but the original are incredibly fantastic- so are their 1.5 grams of fat no pudge chocolate brownie chunk ice cream sandwiches (they sell for 5 for $1 here!!!). I discovered No Pudge on a wonderful day at Trader Joe’s a little over a year ago and fell in love. A quick google search uncovered an entire No Pudge cult, sharing recipes that you never thought you could do with No Pudge. Oh no Abi, No Pudge is not just a brownie mix. To this date I have made delicious-make-me-salivate chocolate souffles, chocolate chunk fiber muffins, a crust for my pies, and cookies. I haven’t bought another kind of brownie mix since I discovered No Pudge. I would marry No Pudge if I could… and have little No Pudge babies… and a No Pudge dog which I might accidentally eat. Mmm. If you think I’m a little exuberant in expressing my love for No Pudge, just google it. There are a lot more No Pudge freaks out there than me.
Anna on January 16th, 2007

I haven’t had these in a while. I’ll pick some up. I remember not being particularly impressed NOR underwhelmed. They were good, but like you said — the sweet replaced the fat so I didn’t feel like I got the proper balance of fat/sweet.
Abi Jones on January 16th, 2007

If somebody gives me these, I will eat them again. But yeah, I’d rather eat no french fries for a month and just have regular brownies. Regular brownies with cheesecake topping. Mmmmm. I am actually going to make Anna’s Chattanooga Chew Chews tonight. My coworkers haven’t felt my baking love in nearly a month. That sounds sort of gross.

I am definitely intrigued by the souffle idea.
Erin M on January 16th, 2007

Greetings from Portland! I’m going to get my new co-workers involved with reading your site. Who is in Antigua?
Meredith on January 16th, 2007

No Pudge brownies are great! I keep meaning to try the cappuccino.
Colleen on January 16th, 2007

But if you cut them into the proper portions, (as in make the whole batch and cut them into the servings that the box claims they contain, not just measureing them), you’ll see that they are extremly small for 100 calories. You might as well have a fun-sized 3 muskateers instead.
Abi Jones on January 16th, 2007

Erin - Hmmm. I’m not sure this is the best place to keep track of office happenings. Just kidding :). The guy who went to Antigua for med school was one of our enrollment reps. He was great, but had to move on to bigger and better things.
cybele on January 16th, 2007

I like the No Pudge mixes! Not because of the no fat thing, but no partially hydrogenated oils and they’re super easy to make. No compromise and yeah, a little sweet, but tasty.
MaryAnne on January 17th, 2007

Colleen, I cut mine into the amount of squares the box says is a serving, and they weren’t small at all. Even so, a mini three muskateers isn’t equivalent because it’s full of oils, fat, sugar, and preservatives. You could have more than four servings of No Pudge and still be healthier than a mini three muskateers…. which is kind of sad if you think about it. In fact, I layered my no pudge with chocolate mousse and then topped with fat free caramel and it was waaay better than any candy bar.

I don’t think a lot of people make them correctly. I gave a box to my grandmother and watched as she ruined them by adding nonfat plain yogurt. Plain yogurt is not the same as vanilla yogurt and even though it’s thick, you’re still not supposed to add anything else. When I make them, I just dump a single serving Yoplait light (fatfree) very vanilla yogurt in and I’m good to go.
Colleen on January 17th, 2007

I did add nonfat vanilla yogurt, I think the box only called for like a tablespoon though. Thats weir, for me they were so small.
MaryAnne on January 17th, 2007

A tablespoon? It’s supposed to be 5-6 oz. Unless you’re making the single serving brownies which I do not support; I find them yucky.
cybele on January 18th, 2007

Mary Ann - I wholeheartedly agree that they’re satisfying, but then bringing up 3Musketeers is not quite accurate. Both No Pudge and 3Musketeers contain lots and lots of sugar. Yes, 3Musketeers has fat in it (most from the chocolate) but there are no preservatives in 3Musketeers either.

I’m not saying that one is better than the other, different people are satisfied by different things. To say that one sugar-based treat is healthier than another isn’t really much of a battle in the end. The apple will win.
Crow on January 18th, 2007

Good to know No Pudge makes good brownies. I have two boxes of the stuff laying around for years, and just never got around to using them.
Abi Jones on January 18th, 2007

I trust Cybele on all things candy-related. If you haven’t already, you should check out her review site: http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/. She’s a terrific reviewer and has a site full of things to destroy any of your resolutions.
Lindsy on January 18th, 2007

I’ll never forget the day that Sarah introduced me to the No Pudge brownie. What a glorious day.

PS This post made me laugh outloud and miss the cube farm antics . I sit in a verrrrrry quiet office at my new jobber. I’m certainly no longer sandwiched betweeen the cube farm and the kitchen.
Waffa Bawazir on February 18th, 2007

hi No Pudge.
All i have to say is 3 words…i love your brownies!!! I’ve tasted alot of brownies ( of course cuz i can’t help it) and yours is probably the best because it tastes good and it’s fat free…now i have something i can eat and not have to worry about weight!! Hehe…well thank you.

Bye Bye
Meredith on March 27th, 2007

these are oddly sticky and freak me out. i much prefer the hershey’s low-fat brownies.
Sarah on January 11th, 2008

MaryAnne, I don’t think using Yoplait yogurt which has high frustose corn syrup is healthy either. I usually use organic/natural yogurt in these, usually low-fat yogurt instead. Yes low fat is good (fat in low-fat yogurt is minimal), but these still have calories, and thats were the main concern should lie.

Other posts are right, these brownies are more so good for their natural ingredients (real sugar, not artificial and no horrible high frustose corn syrup).

In the end you are going to eat the calories, try to minimize the fat if you can, but the quality of the ingredients/calories is what matters.