Healthy Black Bean Brownies Recipe

This is a dessert that is guilt-free, healthy, full of protein and includes the superfood cacao. Plus I used 100% organic ingredients to make it even better for you, provided you do the same.

I saw this recipe on the Food Matters weekly newsletter email and thought, "Gotta make this!"

To begin making this awesome dessert, pull out all the ingredients so you don't miss anything. I'm usually doing a few things at the same time when I cook, so forgetting to add something happens from time to time. Does that happen to you? 

The original recipe showed a few ingredients measured in weight, so I needed to translate it into cups. You're welcome! I weighed out the cacao, ground it, then put it into a measuring cup to determine how many cups to use instead of weight. This process took extra time and because I had not put out all the ingredients ahead of time, I forgot the vanilla. Waa! The vanilla extract I just posted about making: DIY Make Your Own Vanilla Extract.

The brownies still tasted amazing!

A few notes about what else I did: I use a toaster oven for almost 100% of my baking. If it fits, it gets cooked in the toaster oven. Way less heat in the house and less energy spent. I could do without a large oven and a microwave in my home. What about you?

I let the brownies bake for about 35 minutes then I checked their progress. I turned the dish around because my toaster oven cooks faster in the back.

Black Bean Brownies

from Food Matters

yield 1 dozen

category Dessert

cuisine Vegetarian

ingredients

2 15 oz cans of organic black beans

1 C coconut oil at room temperature, plus extra for greasing

4 eggs

3/4 C cacao nibs or cacao powder

2/3 C maple syrup

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp of espresso or extra vanilla extract

pinch of sea salt

1 C chopped walnuts

directions

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF. Grease inside of 9 1/2 x 8 inch glass baking dish. Rinse and drain the black beans. Grind the cacao nibs (if using) to fine powder. Melt the coconut oil with a gentle heat and set aside.

2. Place drained beans, eggs, cacao powder, maple syrup, vanilla and espresso (if using) into a food processor with a pinch of salt. Pulse a few times, then blend until smooth.

3. Slowly add the melted oil while the machine is running. Taste the batter and add more maple syrup for your preference. Stir in all of the walnuts reserving a handful for topping.

4. Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared dish and rap gently on the counter to level the batter. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts over the top and bake at 40-45 minutes. Brownies are done when they feel firm but springy and the surface is cracked.

5. Cool completely before cutiing into squares. Refrigerate to make them fudgy.

Try this recipe out and let me know what you think.