Flavor-of-the-Month: Black Bean Brownies

 

That's right.  Black Bean.  Brownies.  Now before you scurry off, hear me out:  these puppies are goooood.  Surprisingly light and meltingly tender good. These don't really qualify as 'health food,' but they are a much healthier alternative to your standard brownie.  With black bean puree filling in for flour and a mere 3 Tablespoons of oil (and olive oil, at that), these gluten-free delights are simple to prepare and taste nothing like beans.  So go ahead, indulge a little.  Just don't tell anyone their secret ingredient.  ;)

I found the recipe on SnoWhite's Finding Joy in My Kitchen blog and simply baked them up in foil cupcake liners for easy serving and freezing.  These Black Bean Brownies are my entry for February's Flavor-of-the-Month: Chocolate event, hosted by Bridget of Bake at 350.  This event will be the last official Flavor-of-the-Month link-up, but Bridget promises there will still be recipe link-ups here and there--just not every month.  I'll be looking forward to those events, as I have been with all the Flavor-of-the-Month round-ups!  I've discovered so many talented bloggers through these round-ups, and my ever-growing "to-read" list shows it!  Be sure to check out the recipe link-up HERE.

Black Bean Brownies (Makes an 8" square pan or 12 muffin size)

From SnoWhite of Finding Joy in My Kitchen

1 can (15.5 oz) can black beans, drained and rinsed
3 eggs
3 Tbl. olive oil
¼ cup cocoa powder (I used King Arthur Double Dutch Dark Cocoa)
pinch of salt
½ tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. vanilla
¾ cup white sugar
½ cup chocolate chips
I also added ½ tsp. espresso powder

Preheat oven to 350°F.  Lightly grease an 8" baking pan with non-stick spray, or line 12 wells of a muffin tin with foil liners.  

Place the well-rinsed and drained black beans into a blender.  Add eggs and olive oil to blender, then puree until smooth.  You may need to stop the blender and scrape a few times.  There will be some fragments of black bean skins still in the puree, but they won't be noticeable once the brownies are baked.  Add remaining ingredients EXCEPT chocolate chips to blender.  Pulse a few times to get things started, then continue to blend until smooth, stopping to scrape down sides of blender as needed.

Pour batter into prepared baking pan or divide among the 12 prepared muffin cups.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Bake 8" pan for about 30 minutes, or the brownie muffins for about 20-22 minutes.  Brownies will start to pull away from the edge of the pan when they are done.  (Mine were a bit underbaked at 20 minutes, hence the slight sinking.  There were still plenty good, and not raw by any means.)  Brownies will be quite tender and moist, so refrigerate or freeze after a day or so--they won't keep long on the counter (but don't count on them lasting very long anyway!  They WILL get eaten.)