Black Bean Brownies

Thank you to Mothering member LorienIslay for sharing this recipe.

Ingredients
  • 1 (15-20 oz) can plain black beans, drained and rinsed (the recipe works fine with either size of can so I go with whatever is available on sale)
  • 3 eggs OR, for vegans, either 'flax eggs' OR three canned peaches ( 6 peach halves mashed with a fork)
  • 3 T coconut oil or other vegetable oil but coconut oil is most delicious!
  • 1/4 c cocoa powder
  • 1 pinch salt
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 3/4 c white sugar or substitute of your choice
  • 1 t baking powder
  • 1 t (heaped) instant espresso powder (look for it at your local Italian grocery store - so worth it!)
  • 1/2 c quality chocolate chips or chopped semisweet chocolate (I use Callebaut)
  • 1/4 c walnuts, chopped (I usually make one pan with walnuts and two without since I don't like them)
Cooking Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Lightly grease 8x8 baking dish or muffin tin or mini muffin tin (I liked the pan brownies the best though the bite-size are cute and great for kids).
  3. Mix black beans through espresso in a food processor.
  4. Pour mixture into a baking dish.
  5. Sprinkle on chocolate chips and/or walnuts.
  6. Bake for 30 minutes or until top is dry and starting to pull away from the sides (if using the mini-muffin size, reduce cooking time by five minutes).
Notes

Especially if you use the mashed peaches for binder instead of the egg, these brownies are chock-full of fiber, but they taste as good (or better!) than a conventional brownie. I love taking these for potlucks as most vegan desserts aren't appealing to kids. If you use appropriate brands of cocoa and chocolate, they can even be gluten free which is also great for a potluck. As good as they are fresh, they are seriously better the second day :)

image by jeffreyw