Beany Brownies

I have been in a Choco-Coma since around 5pm yesterday because I just cant stop, wont stop, eating these Beany Brownies. They’re just TOO good. I’m sorry. But I’m not really sorry.

A few weeks ago I made brownies from scratch. The whole 9 yards. I called them my “Double boilers, melting fine chocolate, 2 sticks of butter, blend the batter, add the eggs, wash your hands you don’t want salmonella, flour all over the kitchen floor, don’t beat the batter too much it will get hard, sh*t I burned the chocolate, ouch my arm hurts Brownies!” And after all that, they were pretty sucky. I swore to myself I would never bake brownies again unless they came from a box. Then I found this secret recipe on my new favorite food blog, aside from Green Juice & French Fries, Minimalist Baker, and I will never, ever make brownies without black beans again, ever.

These babies are a Vegan, Gluten Free, dairy free, guilt free (kinda), one bowl mixin’, chocolate heaven! Did I mention they’re made out of BLACK BEANS?! I know you don’t believe me… I thought we were past the trust issue thing. Okay fine, try em yourself. You’ll see… Then you’ll trust me.

Ingredients:

1 can of Black Beans

3 tablespoons coconut oil

1/2 cup coconut sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 Flax Eggs* see below

1/4 teaspoon pink Himalayan salt or sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

1. Drain & Rinse your black beans very well.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees

3. Prepare your Flax Eggs. 1 tablespoons ground Flax Seeds + 1.5 tablespoon water = 1 egg. You will need 2 of these. Mix in a bowl and let sit to thicken.

4. Throw ALL your ingredients in a food processor and pulse until smooth. I had to add about 1/4 cup of water, just one tablespoon at a time, to thin out the batter. You want this to look smooth and creamy so add as much or as little water as you need. Feel free to taste. Taste as much as you’d like. The best part about vegan cooking is being able to lick to the bowl, so go ahead!

5. The minimalist baker says to use only a standard size muffin tin, so that’s what I used. But, I don’t see why these wouldn’t work perfectly in a mini tin, a cake dish, a cookie sheet, heck I think I could pour this batter into a coffee mug and pop in in the microwave for 60 secs and something fabulous would come out. But don’t do that. Use the standard size muffin tin. The MB knows what she’s talking about. Remember to generously spray your muffin tin with coconut oil spray so these don’t stick. Pour your batter evenly. I used about 2 tablespoons per brownie.

ProTip: I made these 3 different ways: plain, with peanut butter chips on top, and with a red velvet Oreo cookie in middle. Be creative. You can either sprinkle something like chocolate chips, pecans, walnuts, rainbow sprinkles on top of each brownie before popping in the oven. OR you can take your fave cookie (Plain Oreos are VEGAN) and place in the middle. All you have to do is pour one spoon of batter on the bottom, then place your cookie in the middle, then pour another spoon of batter on top and pop in the oven. That’s the BEST way to eat a brownie. It’s like “SURPRISE, I’m even more delicious than you thought!”

6. Bake for 20 – 25 minutes. Mine took exactly 22 minutes. I watched the oven and counted the seconds. 22 minutes. Oh, the house will smell like the chocolate factory. Be prepared. Once the edges have kind of separated from the pan and middle has sunken in a bit, they’re ready!

7. This is the really really hard part. Once you take these out of the oven you have to let them cool for THIRTY MINUTES. Ugh. Can you literally die from waiting? Because I think I almost did. Can I share a secret with you? I only waited 15 minutes. They were warm and gooey and I don’t regret it.

Fun Game Alert: Give them to your friends to taste, don’t tell them what they’re made of, make them take a bite first, then tell them, the reactions are priceless.