Black Bean Brownies

I know what you're thinking. Black bean brownies?! Yes, you read that correctly. :) I've heard about recipes for black bean brownies and have always been curious...and as you can gather by this post, I recently got around to making them!

The texture of these brownies is a bit different than your usual brownie. They were less cake-like and more dense, even fudge-like in some bites. And I bet you're wondering whether you can taste the black beans. Nope! Not to worry; these brownies taste only like our beloved chocolate, not beans. ;-)

Ingredients:

-1 can (15.5 oz) black beans, rinsed and drained
-3 eggs
-3 Tbsp. vegetable oil
-1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
-pinch of salt
-1 tsp. vanilla extract
-3/4 cup white sugar
-1/2 tsp. baking powder (optional, but I added it after reading reviews that some people added it to make the brownies rise more since they're quite dense)
-1 tsp. instant coffee (optional, but I added it)
-1/2 cup milk chocolate chips (also optional, but I added them)

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 x 8 pan. Combine the black beans, eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, vanilla extract, sugar, baking powder, and instant coffee in a blender. Blend until smooth and pour the batter into your prepared pan. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the batter, and bake for about 30 minutes, or until the edges start to pull away from the side of the pan. Let cool completely before cutting into brownies.

How cool is it that everything goes in a blender?!

So although the instructions say to sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the batter before baking, I decided to go against the directions, and instead, I mixed chocolate chips right into the batter (I mixed them in with a spatula though - I didn't blend in the chips!!). I should have thought about this more ahead of time but I didn't... This brownie batter is much more liquid-y than your typical brownie batter, allowing the chocolate chips to sink to the bottom of the pan. So as you can see in the above pic here, the chocolate chips almost formed a bottom "layer" there; they were not evenly distributed throughout the brownies. I ended up really liking this though and thought that my unintentional creation of two layers in these brownies was kinda fun. :) However, if you aren't looking for that effect, I'd recommend just sprinkling your chocolate chips on top of the batter before baking, as the instructions tell you to do!

Delicious! I really enjoyed experimenting with this new recipe. As a result of these brownies being made without flour, they are gluten-free. :) And with the added black beans, they pack a good punch of additional protein and fiber too! Gotta love that.