Black Bean Brownies and a Dark Chocolate Glaze!!

Here it is!! My first dessert recipe and it is a gluten-free vegan chocolate black bean brownie!!! I know sounds crazy but it is decadent, chocolaty, moist, dense and in the words of my four year old “a little rich!”. 

Chocolate Black Bean Brownies

You definitely only need one of these babies to quash that chocolate craving! I first found this recipe on the website Minimalist Baker and it was awesome but I wanted to remove the oil and refined sugar so the following is my first attempt at doing so and I think it turned out pretty good- they aren't too sweet but I like to add a glaze which makes them perfect for a dessert but even without the icing (which is refined sugar free too, by the way!) they are a great little snacking brownie especially with a tall glass of cold almond milk!

I love this recipe because it is so easy to make- all you have to do is throw everything into a food processor and blend- That’s it! Right now I am using a small food processor- an adaption to my hand held blender so I had to make this brownie in two stages but it was still very easy. I first combined the beans, flax, water and applesauce and blended till smooth, then placed them into a bowl.

Dates, vanilla, seed butter and agave mixture.

Than I processed the dates, vanilla, seed butter, and agave (pictured above) and placed them into the bowl with the beans and then added the other ingredients to the bowl and stirred them together by hand- a little more labor intensive but now you have strong muscles! Once cooked I glazed them with a Dark Chocolate Glaze (the recipe follows) and topped them with a sliced strawberry.

This chocolate glaze is so versatile and easy to whip up in just a minute or two. I have made it using almond butter; which is my favorite, but you could use any nut or seed butter you like- peanut butter would also be divine, or hazelnut. . . there are so many variations! This recipe is very versatile; I have also made this glaze with the addition of some almond milk- about 1-2 tablespoons,  and used it as a topping for sliced strawberries! Yum!

I hope you all give these a try, even if you hate black beans- I guarantee you cannot taste them in this recipe and you get a punch of protein in your dessert! Bon Appetit!

Chocolate Black Bean Brownie (vegan, gluten-free, sugar-free)

Makes 12 muffin size brownies

Ingredients:

• 19 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 2 Tbsp. ground flax seed
• 6 Tbsp. Water
• 6 large Medjool Dates
• 2 tsp. Vanilla extract
• 2 Tbsp. Sunflower seed butter (or other nut or seed butter)
• 4 Tbsp. Agave syrup
• 4 Tbsp. unsweetened applesauce
• ¾ cup Dutch processed dark cocoa powder
• 1 ½ tsp. baking powder
• ¼ tsp. sea salt
• ½ cup mini chocolate chips (optional) I use Enjoy Life brand

Preheat oven to 350° and spray a non-stick 12 muffin pan.

Throw everything except chocolate chips into a food processor and combine until smooth. The batter will be very thick- if it seems too thick to process add water a teaspoon at a time.

Divide batter evenly into the muffin tin and bake for 25 minutes, or just until the top looks dry and the sides are starting to pull away from pan. Let cool in pan about 30 minutes before removing. Glaze if desired and enjoy!

Dark Chocolate Glaze

Enough to glaze about 10 brownies

Ingredients:

• ¼ cup dark cocoa powder- I used dutch processed but I don’t think it matters
• ¼ cup agave syrup (could use maple syrup instead)
• 1 Tbsp. Sunflower Seed Butter (or your favorite nut or seed butter)

Mix together all ingredients till combined and use immediately as desired.