Black Bean Brownies

Earlier this week I looked in the pantry and noticed that we had a can of black beans laying around and then I thought - well, I guess we're making black bean brownies this week!  I had all the ingredients I needed except the chocolate chips, so I just needed to do a quick run to the store to find some dairy free chocolate chips to make this recipe perfect.  Lots of brownie recipes say that the chocolate chips are optional, but I think that's just false.  Chocolate chips make brownies so much better. I found the base for this recipe from The Almond Eater, but swapped around a couple things.  First, I noticed that a lot of health bloggers were using coconut sugar in their recipes, so I Googled "what's the deal with coconut sugar."  Literally.  I found an article on healthline.com that broke it down pretty simply, so here it is.  Regular sugar has no nutrients, therefore it's just empty calories.  Coconut sugar does retain some nutrients from the coconut palm like iron, zinc, calcium and potassium.  While you don't get a ton of nutrients from just 1/4 cup of coconut sugar, it's slightly better than the alternative, so I went out and bought some coconut sugar.  Overall health is all about making lots of small choices that add up in the long run.  So here's to coconut sugar!

Oh, and if you're kind of weirded out by the fact that these brownies are made of black beans, I didn't tell my husband what they were made of and he loved them.  We ate one before dinner (because we couldn't help it) and both loved the flavor & texture of these brownies.  I'm used to a thicker brownie, so if we make this recipe again, I'll probably double it.  Overall, we were very satisfied with these brownies and I honestly think I liked them better than the zucchini brownies, which I'm super surprised about.  They're definitely different, but in terms of gluten free brownies, these have my vote.

Total Time: 25 minutes

Servings: 9 brownies

Ingredients:

1 can black beans drained & rinsed

1/4 cup coconut or canola oil

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tbs maple syrup

1/4 cup coconut sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup dairy free chocolate chips

2 tbs flax seeds

2 tbs chia seeds

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Place beans in food processor & pulse.  Add oil, eggs, syrup and vanilla and pulse to mix.
3. Add in sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt and pulse to combine.  Remove blade from food processor and add in chocolate chips, chia seeds and flax seeds.  Stir until combined.
4. Coat 9x9" baking pan with oil and then pour batter into the pan, using a spatula to smooth and even out.
5. Bake for 17-20 minutes, or until the edges have hardened. 
6. Allow at least 20 minutes for brownies to cool before cutting and removing from pan.

The main ingredients.  Since my black beans were salted, I skipped the salt in the recipe.

I know it looks weird at this stage, but trust me, they're delicious.