Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Black Bean Brownies

In honor of April fools I decided to try to fool Bubba into eating "brownies" that are healthy. Lately someone has gotten picky about certain foods, proteins especially. And these brownies are packed with protein, gluten free and only 79 calories a piece! 
I know what you are thinking, "Since when do I count calories in my recipes?" 
Most of my favorite recipes are highly caloric and not meant for daily consumption. There is a time and place for them and that time is Cheat Day! But these brownies are for every day :)
When you need some cheat day food, but it is still days til that magical day. 

3/4 cup dry black beans, rinsed well (or 16 oz can drained and rinsed)
3 eggs
1/2 cup apple sauce
1/4 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup white sugar
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Simmer the beans (covered) on low with enough water to cover them by an inch or so for 2 hours. Then take of the heat and allow to cool still covered. (to save some time just use a can of black beans, rinsed and drain, I only had dry beans though)




Drain and rinse then puree the beans with the apple sauce. 
And I mean really puree the heck out of them. Any chunky texture will give away the secret.



Then add the eggs and continue to puree.



Then add the sugar, baking powder and cayenne.
Then blend and pour into muffin tins. 




Bake at 325 for 50 minutes.
Now I will warn you. DO NOT USE SILICONE PANS. This recipe made 14 muffins. So I used my two silicon baking pans and 2 cups in a muffin tin, one with a paper muffin wrapper, and one with a metal one.



This was the muffin I test tasted. The one from the foil wrapper in the muffin tin. 
It came out perfectly! 


The silicon tins however did not come out very cleanly. They still taste good though :)



Overall I was very pleased with the result, but next time I will be adding 1 teaspoon on cinnamon and 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips. They had a tiny hint of bean flavor and I think it would be completely covered up with these additions. 


And my trick worked! Bubba loved them! He ate two and even did a happy dance while he ate :)