Tuesday 18 March 2014

Gluten Free {Black Bean} Brownies



Hello hungry people!

It's Tuesday. Such a forgettable day of the week. Whenever it's Tuesday I often confuse it for some other day. It's just blah. You know what helps blah days? BROWNIES! I don't know that for sure...but...science?
What do you look for in a brownie?

  • Dense- HELLS YES
  • Brown- DUH
  • Chocolatey as a mofo- PREACH
  • Soft and melty and with crunchy edges - MMHMM GIRLFRIEND
  • Easy to make-- IDEAL
  • Gluten Free- CHECK AND CHECK
  • Healthy-- OKAY these aren't healthy. But they have beans and thus fibre. Happy colons for all!
Anyone who is ANYONE on pinterest has probably seen black bean brownies floating around. No? Maybe it's because I'm always on the food and drink pages ;)

I was SO nervous. Black beans? Really? Stanky beans??? And CHOCOLATE? Sounded like an inappropriate marriage. And shame on me for thinking so, because truly they are DELISH! The beans make them so dense and fudge-tastic. Also--I didn't tell anyone there was beans in the recipe until after they enjoyed them...MWAHAHAHAH. But maybe don't do this....apparently that whole 'beans beans the musical fruit' thing is true for some people...WHOOPS!

If Barry White was narrating..you'd get how magical these brownies are..

Enough of my teasing you (cruel, I know) on to the recipe!


Black Bean Brownies adapted from Yummy Healthy Easy 

Ingredients:

  • 1 (15 oz) can of black beans (I used organic beans)
  • 1/4 chocolate chips + extra for the top (I used grated chocolate in the above pictures)
  • 3 tablespoons oil (I used coconut oil, melted)
  • 3 eggs
  • 2/3 cup packed brown sugar (I used granulated, but brown is likely better)
  • 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp. vanilla extract (I did it with vanilla and then another time with mint!)
  • 1/2 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/8 tsp. salt

How To:

  1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease 8x8 square pan and set aside.
  2. Rinse and drain can of black beans. Add to blender. Add a tablespoon of liquid (like almond milk) to beans and blend. Add enough liquid to get the beans moving, but not too much. Blending the beans first helps to get a smoother brownie without the skins of beans showing through ;) Many recipes just say to blend all ingredients together...I found this way works best. You can probably omit this step if you have a strong blender!
  3. Add all the ingredients, except the chocolate chips, to the mixture and blend until fully combined. You can also add in walnut chunks! Mmm. 
  4. Once fully mixed and there are no chunks in your batter, add in the chocolate chips! Don't blend these though!
  5. Pour your batter into your pan. Tap the pan so your mixture is evenly spread! Add extra chocolate chips to the top if desired. This is also a good time to add nuts like walnuts to the top!
  6. Bake for 20-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
GLORIOUS WITH WALNUTS...JUST GLORIOUS!



And that's it! Let the pan cool and then cut into squares and serve!

These are a great gift for gluten free friends! They are not paleo because of the beans, but they are a great fibre-filled sweet treat in general!


I hope you try this recipe and enjoy it. Get crafty with your add-ins like nuts and different types of flavours! Peanut butter chips, walnuts, mint chocolate chips! The sky is the limit!

Happy Baking!

XO

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