Food You Can Eat: Black bean brownies

Black bean brownies were a trendy thing a few years back, and I tried several recipes, most of which were not great. The flavor was usually pretty good, never bean-like, but the texture was often all wrong. The pitch was always “you’ll never guess the secret to these brownies!” and I always ended up thinking “well I wouldn’t guess beans, but I would definitely know something’s up.” But eventually, I ended up with a recipe I really like and still make. The texture is still different from normal brownies, but it’s a good fudgy texture. And they’re a lot healthier than normal brownies. 

I adapted this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie. Her version is vegan and flourless, and is one of those ones that, as written, comes out tasting good but with a strange texture. The addition of an egg makes a huge positive difference in the texture. 

• 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed well
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup quick oats 
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 egg
• 2/3 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F. 

Combine all ingredients except the last two in a food processor, and blend really well for several minutes (scrape the sides at least once), until completely smooth.* Then mix in the egg. Why do I do this after? Well it’s not part of the initial recipe, and I feel like overmixing eggs might be a thing. It might be fine to throw it all in together at the beginning, but I haven’t tried.

Stir in the chocolate chips. You could add other mix-ins if you like – nuts would probably be good in here if you like that sort of thing – but do note that the chocolate chips are not optional. They are necessary. Pour into a greased 8×8 pan. Cook for around 20 minutes. A toothpick should come out clean, assuming you didn’t stab a chocolate chip. Let cool at least 10 minutes in the pan before trying to cut. 

Store in the fridge. The original recipe says you can keep them at room temp for up to 24 hours. The black beans mean they don’t keep at room temp as well as normal brownies.

*If you don’t have a food processor and want to use a blender instead, people in the comments of the original recipe recommend blending up just the dry ingredients. Then mash your black beans really well by hand, or by forcing them through a sieve, before mixing everything together.