My kids love chocolate and they especially love fudgy chocolate brownies. So I am constantly trying to make healthier versions of this dessert. Recently I came across a brownie made with black beans when I was watching Food Network on TV. I was at first revolted by the idea of using black beans in any dessert (although I love black beans otherwise). But then one day I decided to try this recipe out and when I served it to the family i did not mention the black beans and you know what? My kids loved it and kept telling me that this was the ‘bestest’ brownie I had ever made because it was so gooey and fudgy and yummy! So since then I make brownies using black beans quite regularly and have also improvized the original recipe slightly – I replaced half of the sugar with honey and also reduced the salt content. So here’s the killer recipe. These brownies are great to bring to a kids’ event like school events, soccer games, birthday parties etc.
This recipe will make 2 dozen or 24 brownies
Adapted from Food Network ‘s Melissa de Arabian’s recipe
Ingredients: 1 and 1/2 cup cooked black beans (or canned black beans that have been rinsed and drained well) 1 cup olive oil (you can use coconut oil too) 4 eggs 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 1 cup sugar 2 tbsp honey 1 tsp instant coffee 2tsp vanilla extract 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (melted) 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips 2/3 cup flour 1 tsp baking powder 1/4 tsp salt 2 tbsp confectioners' sugar for dusting
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 deg C. Grease a 12″ by 9″ rectangular pan. (If you like a smaller batch just halve the quantities above and use a smaller size pan)
Take the black beans and put them in a blender (or a grinder). Add the olive oil and blend until the beans are mashed well. Next add the eggs two at a time and again blend. Then add the cocoa powder, the sugar, honey, the instant coffee powder and the vanilla extract. Next take half a cup of the semi-sweet chocolate chips and melt them either using a double boiler or just in the microwave oven*.
Next take the dry ingredients – the flour , the baking powder and the salt in a bowl and mix well. Add this to the blender too and again blend for about two minutes stopping every now and then to scrape the sides of the blender and to make sure the flour is mixed well into the rest of the black bean mixture. Now pour this mixture onto the prepared pan and then spread the rest of the chocolate chips (1/2 cup) on the top.
Bake at 350 deg C for about 18-20 minutes. Start checking at 18 minutes using a knife to see if it comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes and then cut into squares. You could sprinkle confectioner’s sugar on the top before serving. These are best served warm!
Special Notes: *: For melting chocolate chips in a double boiler, first place a medium size pot filled half with water on the stove and heat it till the water starts boiling. Then place a glass bowl (or a smaller pot) into this pot and put the chocolate chips into the inner bowl(or pot). Keep stirring the chocolate until it melts into liquid. Alternatively, you could melt chocolate pieces in the microwave by placing them in a microwave safe bowl and heating them for 30 seconds and then taking it out and stirring. Keep doing this till chocolate is fully melted.
