Black Bean Brownies

November 26, 2013 by Alia 45 Comments

As a chocolate lover, I can’t imagine making brownies without some actual chocolate. In fact, you’ll find a really easy and intensely chocolate recipe for brownies right here on my blog.

And then, that changed.

I found a recipe for Black Bean Brownies on Pinterest and pinned it to my Cleaner Eating board. The pin links to a recipe on the Dr. Oz site for fudgy black bean brownies. In my quest for cleaner recipes that still indulge my sweet tooth, I thought I’d give it a try.

Delicious Black Bean Brownies

The Recipe:

This is the recipe, as it’s found on the website.

Ingredients
2 cups cooked black beans or canned no-salt-added or low-sodium black beans, drained
10 Medjool dates
2 tbsp raw almond butter
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup natural, non-alkalized cocoa powder
1 tbsp ground chia seed
Raspberries or other berries for topping

Directions
Preheat oven to 200°F. Blend the black beans, dates, almond butter and vanilla in a food processor or high powered blender until smooth.

Add the remaining ingredients and blend again. Pour into a very lightly oiled 8×8-inch baking pan and bake for 1 1/2 hours.

Cool completely before cutting into small squares. Top with raspberries or other berries.

Recipe courtesy of Dr. Joel Fuhrman.

My Method

I followed the recipe with a couple of minor exceptions.

I omitted the chia seeds because I didn’t have any in the house. Also, I didn’t make any kind of fruit topping for the brownies.

I blended all of the ingredients as directed. This actually took quite a bit of time and elbow grease as the mixture was not very liquidy. However, after some stirring, mashing and blending, I was able to achieve a smooth consistency. Here’s a shot of the beans, dates, and almond butter before the blending began.

Dates, Black Beans, and Almond Butter Dates and Black Beans

Also, the recipe directs you to “pour” the mixture into the pan. My mixture was very smooth, but not pourable. So, I used a spoon to dig it out of the blender and then spread it around to the best of my ability.

Black Bean Brownies – ready for the oven

The Result

After very patiently allowing these brownies to cool for hours, I cut them into 16 squares. They cut easily and didn’t stick to the pan. Do they pass for brownies?

Absolutely!

The cocoa powder gives them a great chocolate flavour.

The dates sweeten them nicely.

The black beans lend a nice texture to the treat.

I can definitely tell that they’re not full of sugar. I like that.

They feel like an indulgence, which is exactly what I want to feel when I eat a brownie.