Friday, September 16, 2011

Best Brownies Ever!

I have a friend whose daughter recently was diagnosed with Celiac, which requires her to eat only a gluten free diet. This means she has to avoid all things made of flour! That encompasses quite a large variety of things. In all of my blog reading, I have been noting any GF (gluten free) recipes so that I can share them with my friend. Sometimes I try the recipe out and sometimes I don't, but I knew my friend would NEVER try this recipe unless I could vouch for it being a good one LOL!

I had long read of Black Bean Brownies and Pinto Bean Fudge, but really couldn't see why anyone would want to purposefully eat such a thing! That is... until I realized they were made without any flour. Ah-ha! Gluten free!

I made a recipe that I found at one of my very favorite blogs (Finding Joy in My Kitchen). She posts delicious recipes and she sure cooks up a great variety of stuff! I got the recipe for these cookies (Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies) on her blog and my younger daughter makes these for us ALL THE TIME!

But when I tried the BLACK BEAN BROWNIES? OH MY HEAVENLY DAYS! These brownies are so rich and silky. They have the consistency of Little Debbie brownies (eek - from the box), but they have only great, healthy ingredients. Lots of protein in these little babies. Being the lover of SECRET ingredients (remember my zucchini cobbler ahem'' (apple)?") I left these brownies on my kitchen counter and my daughter, who is 18, gobbled these down! When I had my mom try a bite, my daughter yelled out, "What is in those? What have I been eating?" She had no idea and let me tell you, they are so DELICIOUS that once she knew, that didn't stop her from finishing them off!

I realize that not everyone wants to be so adventurous in the kitchen, but make these black bean brownies. You will be so glad you did! They are dark, rich, and chocolate-y! Yum! And how can you go wrong when they are loaded with good protein and are GF.

Here's how I make Black Bean Brownies AT HOME MY WAY:

(Note that you will need a blender or food processor to make these brownies.)

Black Bean Brownie Recipe (I'll post a picture the next time I make them.)

1 can (15.5) black beans, DRAINED and RINSED (use a collander) (GENERIC IS FINE!)
2 eggs
3 Tablespoons oil (olive oil would be a healthy choice)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder (not baking soda)
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8 x 8 inch pan well with cooking spray.

In a blender, combine beans,eggs and oil. Puree (my blender setting was "liquify") til smooth. Then add the cocoa, sugar, baking powder, pinch of salt and vanilla to the ingredients already in the blender and blend again until smooth. I used my highest setting so that they were be really smooth.

Pour the batter into the sprayed pan.

Sprinkle with chocolate chips over the top of the brownies.

Bake 30 minutes or until they spring back a little bit to the touch. You can slide in a knife or toothpick to see if it comes out clean. If it does, they are done. Cool. Then slice. Refrigerate if leftover beyond two days.

NOTE: If they are for a gluten free friend, be sure to check the ingredients on your beans, cocoa powder, and chocolate chips. Somtimes they sneak flour into these ingredients. My generic ingredients, however, did not have any gluten so they were good to go.


I shared this recipe at: