Goodbaker’s Blog

This super-rich yet low-fat brownie recipe is one I’ve been working on since I read about the idea in 101cookbooks.com. (the original recipe uses 4 eggs) It uses black beans kind of like you’d use tofu. I’ve modified the recipe liberally to make it vegan.

Here is the black bean brownie recipe so far. It’s really good. This photo, from an earlier batch before I perfected it, does not do the brownie texture justice:

Tools needed:

food processor
medium bowl
double-boiler or microwave for melting chocolate
8×8 brownie pan (I line mine with parchment paper)

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 cup sugar (this makes a bittersweet brownie — increase to 1.25 cup for sweeter brownie)
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp coffee extract (if not using coffee) for mocha chocolate, or add 1 tsp mint extract for mint chocolate brownies, or 2 TB Kahlua (coffee liqueur) for a really decadent flavor

1 TB oil
1/2 cup chocolate chips

3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp fine sea salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup cooled coffee or filtered water

Directions:

Melt the 1 TB oil and chocolate chips in microwave (gently!) or double boiler (preferred method).

In the bowl of your food processor, add the first group of ingredients (beans, sugar, vanilla & flavors) and then the melted chocolate, process well. Scrape down sides to ensure thorough blending. Process until thoroughly mixed and perfectly smooth.

At this point, if you want fine walnuts in the brownies, add 1/2 cup walnuts.

Sift together the next 5 dry ingredients. Add 1/3 of the dry ingredients to food processor and mix thoroughly. Scrape down sides to ensure thorough blending.
Add the liquid (water or coffee), then the remaining dry ingredients, and blend again, scraping sides at least once.

At this point, if you want coarse walnuts in the brownies, add 1/2 cup walnuts and pulse.

Bake in prepared 8×8 pan, bake 5 minutes at 350 then reduce temperature to 325 and bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes or until center is just set. It continues to bake once removed, so do not bake to dryness.

For Turtle Brownies, optionally top with chocolate chips, pecans, crushed pretzels, shaved coconut and Mimi’s Caramel sauce.

Nutrition:

Dividing this recipe by 16 (4×4 squares) which is how I cut them, and not factoring in the nuts, I get:

138 cal per brownie
4g fat
26g total carbs
4g fiber
3g protein
119 sodium

Notes:

Natural cocoa powder is preferred. If you use dutch cocoa powder, add 1/4 tsp vinegar in the water — this helps with the leavening and keeps the cocoa flavor zippy.

I bet you could turn this brownie recipe into a cake recipe if you add more flour and baking powder, and maybe cut back slightly on the beans, but I haven’t tried that yet

Mimi’s Vegan Caramel Sauce

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 6th, 2008 at 6:32 pm and is filed under recipes. You can follow responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your site.