Brownies are one of those desserts everyone loves, but no one wants to admit just how expensive they are calorically. The classic recipe is a sweet cross: butter, sugar, white flour, chocolate. A pan with 400-500 calories per slice and zero nutritional value. But there is a version that keeps the flavour and texture, while cutting fat and sugar - and it requires neither special products nor marketing tricks for "healthy food".

The tricks are five, and all of them are doable in a home kitchen. First - white sugar can be swapped for erythritol or stevia. Both are natural substitutes that don't spike blood sugar. Second - instead of butter, use olive oil, coconut oil, light yoghurt, or plant milk. Third - swap white wheat flour for wholegrain flour or oat flour. Fourth - add almond flour for density and intense flavour. Fifth - use chocolate with at least 70 percent cocoa.

The recipe is simple: 2 ripe bananas, 2 eggs, 40 ml light olive or coconut oil, 60 g cocoa powder, 80 g oat flour, 1 teaspoon vanilla, a pinch of salt, 4 tablespoons of erythritol (optional). Start by preheating the oven to 180°C. Mash the bananas, add the eggs, oil and vanilla. Then the cocoa, flour, salt and erythritol.

Pour the batter into a greased or paper-lined pan and bake for 15 to 20 minutes. The point is for the centre to stay slightly moist - that's what tells a good brownie apart from a dry cake. Let it cool before slicing.

For an extra note, add walnuts for healthy fats and texture, or cinnamon, which amps up the perception of sweetness. The whole pan from this recipe is under 1,500 calories - meaning one slice runs about 150-180 calories, against 400 in the classic recipe. And the flavour? The balance between bitter chocolate and sweet bananas is a rhapsody the industrial version cannot reproduce.

In the Balkans every grandmother knows that dessert doesn't need to be loaded with sugar to taste good. These rules basically confirm an old piece of wisdom: it's better when eating has character - not just calories.