cactusren's Journal

Here's another recipe from Baking with Agave Nectar.  These super-fudgy brownies are made with black beans rather than flour, so they're packed with protein and fiber, and they're gluten-free!  This recipe is a little more complicated than most brownie recipes, but totally worth it.  It makes a lot, so its great as something to bring to a party to ensure you have something "healthy" to eat (and I promise, if you don't tell anyone, they'll never know these are made with beans).  If you're just making them for you, you might want to halve (or even quarter) the recipe).

The Amazing Black Bean Brownies

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 cup unsalted butter or nonhydrogenated margerine

2 cups soft-cooked black beans, drained well*

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup coffee substitute or instant coffee**

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups light agave nectar

Preheat the oven to 325.  Line an 11x18 inch baking pan with parchment paper and grease lightly.

Melt the chocolate and butter.  The original recipe says to do this in a glass bowl in the microwave for 1 1/2 to 2 minutes, but I kind of prefer doing this over the stove, as you can stir it constantly until the chocolate is just melted.

Place beans, 1/2 cup of the walnuts, vanilla, and a couple spoonfuls of the chocolate mixture into a food processor.  Blend about two minutes or until smooth.  The batter will be thick.

In a large bowl, mix together the remaining 1/2 cup walnuts, remaining chocolate mixture, coffee substitute, and salt.  Mix well and set aside.

In a separate bowl, beat the eggs until light and creamy with an electric mixer.  Add agave nectar and beat well.

Add the bean mixture to the coffee/chocolate mixture and stir until blended.  Add the egg mixture, but reserve half a cup.  Mix well.  Pour batter into prepared pan.  Using the electric mixer, beat remaining egg mixture until light and fluffy.  Drizzle over the brownie batter.  Use a toothpick to pull the egg mixture through the batter, creating a marbled effect.  Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until the brownies are set.  Let cool in pan completely before cutting into squares.  (They will be soft until refrigerated.)

Notes:  I forgot to reserve that half cup of egg mixture, and while they didn't have the pretty marbling, my batch came out just fine.  So if this is too many steps and you want to cut something out--there ya go.

*The recipe doesn't specify this, but I assume that using canned beans wouldn't work well for this, as they're so salty.  Just buy the bag and cook the beans beforehand--you could do this a day or two in advance if you don't have big blocks of time to spend in the kitchen.

**"coffee substitute" refers to powdered drinks like Pero or Kafix.  These are made with chicory and malted barley, and have no caffeine.  They do, however contain gluten, so if you want to make these gluten-free, just use instant coffee (decaf, if you want to keep caffeine to a minimum).