I was sent this recipe from a friend and after the success and many asks for my chocolate cake made with garbanzo beans – figured I had to try this one. Wasn’t quite sure how it would turn out – since brownies are so wonderfully delicious already – should one really try to make it healthier and delicious? Sometimes you just need a truly “bad” treat – but oh so good….
Black Bean Brownies (original recipe from Dr. Furhman’s site)
Ingredients
2 cans organic black beans, rinsed and drained
10 pitted medjool dates or 1 1/4 cup domestic dates (I used medjool – they are wonderful)
2 Tbl raw almond butter (I was out so I used cashew butter)
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 Tbl ground chia seeds
1. Preheat the oven to 200 degrees
2. Combine the black beans, dates, almond butter and vanilla in a food processor or high powered blender – blend until smooth.
3. I could not get it to blend smooth, so I added a little bit of honey and that worked wonders – about 1/8 of a cup.
4. Add the cocoa and the chia seeds – blend again.
5. Spread the mixture into a lightly oiled (buttered) 8X8 baking dish.
6. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
The original recipe also had ingredients for a topping, which I did not make. These were good and many of the kids and the BBQ that I brought these too enjoyed them. I think if I was going to make them again I would melt some chocolate chips and add to the mixture that would also help with the moisture problem that I used honey to fix. I did not get a taste of the black beans, but you could tell there was something different in the recipe than your regular brownie recipe. I would recommend these.

Don’t get me wrong, I like Black Beans. BUT, not sure I want them in my brownies !
Yes – I had to get past that too! But I make a chocolate cake with garbanzo beans and that is delicious – so figured why not!
This recipe has NO sugar so it’s definitely worth working with to get the texture and taste just right. They certainly seem powerfully nutritious!! Maybe chocolate chips melted on top? : )