Sometimes I see a recipe with odd ingredients and think “Yeah, right. That’ll taste good?” Well, when a recipe for one of my favorite foods, especially one containing chocolate, comes across my desk or email, I take a second look.
This past week, I received a recipe for Fudgy Black Bean Brownies. Yes, you read that right – Black Bean Brownies. I made them earlier this week and hid the recipe from my in house taste tester (John my hubby). After they came out of the oven and cooled a bit, I cut them up and gave him one. He was not able to identify the “secret ingredient.” And, yes – they are GOOD! This recipe has demonstrated again that some unconventional, and healthy, foods can be substituted into recipe with good results. The one modification I made was to use dark chocolate chunks rather than chocolate chips.
Give it a try, and let me know what you think!
My thanks go out to Renata Mangrum, MPH, RD, CLT for sending this recipe along.
Fudgy Black Bean Brownies
Makes 16 Servings
Ingredients:
- One 15 ½-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed very well
- 3 large eggs
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- Pinch salt
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips, divided
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8 X 8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
- Place the black beans in the bowl of a food processor; process until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs, oil, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, baking powder, and salt and process until smooth. Add ¼ cup of the chips and pulse a few times until the chips are broken up a bit.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the top with the remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips.
- Bake 30 to 35 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the sides and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan before slicing.
Nutrition Information per Serving: 120 calories, 5g fat (1.5g saturated, 0.3g omega-3), 95mg sodium, 18g carbohydrate, 2g fiber, 3g protein
Notes:
- A recent University of Tennessee study found that draining and rinsing canned beans washes away 41% of the sodium. A good thing to do whenever you use canned beans.
- If you like nuts, you could add half a cup of walnuts or pecans, chopped.
