"Blackies" (Black Bean Brownies)
1 (15 1/2ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
3 egg replacers (I used 3/4 cup applesauce + 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used canola)
1/4 cup cocoa powder
pinch salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup vegan sugar
1 teaspoon instant coffee or mint extract, to taste, optional
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips, optional, but highly recommended
cayenne pepper, to taste, optional (don't use if using mint, but otherwise highly recommended)
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 8x8" pan.
2. Blend everything together in your blender, and then pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is dry and the edges pull away from the side of the pan.
These are extremely gooey; keep this in mind! You can't taste the beans at all, and I practically ate the whole pan myself, they were so good. Try them; you'll be glad you did!
SO HOW'D IT GO?
These tasted like beans. Really, really, beany.
Does anyone know how much cayenne is a good amount to add??
I added a bit of brown rice flour (didnt measure/defeats the purpose?...) and the texture was perfect. These were great, highly recommended!
So I did try making them without flour.
Even after cooking for an extra 30 minutes (1 hour total) they still came out pretty mushy. I wouldn't quite say "pudding", but much more gooey than I would like (somewhere between pudding and uncooked cookie dough). For reference, I used 1.75 cups of beans (I looked up online and found that a 15.5 ounce can of beans is "about 3.5 servings"), but they still weighted less than 15.5 ounces (which I had hoped meant they were drier...). My "eggs" were a bit less than 3/4 cups apple sauce + 1.5 tsp baking powder.
The flavor though is okay. If I hadn't watched myself add the black bean, I might not know they were in this. So maybe some time I'll try again but reduce the apple sauce or use a different (less wet) egg.
Originally I was planning to follow the recipe closely, except I started with dried beans and by the time they were cooked I realized I only had about half what the recipe wanted :-\ Halving the recipe maybe would have been a good idea, but instead I tried using half beans (about 8 ounces) and half flour (which I guessed should be 1/2 cup). The end result was... I don't know, not bad, but not amazing. More cake-y than gooey and definitely not pudding, for what that is worth. If I make this again though, I'll try harder to resist adding flour because I'm still curious about how the all-bean version will turn out.
Any tips on how to get the beans super smooth?
If you don't have a good blender you can try forcing the beans (possibly blended with the liquids) through a wire mesh strainer using the back and edge of a spoon. Try to be somewhat gentle while scraping since strainers can be damaged by (ab)using them like this, but it will separate out the larger bits of bean-skin and leave you with a nice smooth paste. If the beans are soft enough, this can be done instead of blending them.
Also a question:
I did find a way to make these a bit cakier (they're still pretty gooey, though)-- I added some baking powder and cut down a bit on any added liquids.
Is that baking powder in addition to the 1.5 tsp mentioned in the recipe or did you update the recipe at some point?
This looks like a modified version of the brownie bites recipe in the Vitamix Whole Foods Recipe cookbook.. except their version you actually use flour
I also had a problem with these, and cooked them way longer than 40 mins (about an hour or longer) and it never set. I wish I knew what happened because I think they would taste good if they were not a pudding consistency!
If you're looking for a mostly sugar-free version of these, I just made a batch with erythritol ("Z-Sweet"), and they are DELICIOUS. I used dark chocolate chunks, which are just 4g of sugar (as opposed to 8g in semi-sweet).
I registered just so I could comment on this recipe. I made these with light red kidney beans because I wanted them now. And I had to change stuff because, I wanted them now. So this is what I did. I mixed flaxseed with hot coffee (1/4 cup flax seed to 3/4 cup coffee), and added 2tbsp of cornstarch to make the 3 egg replacer. I used a 50/50 mix of turbinado sugar and organic powdered sugar. I also added 2tsp of baking powder and 1 tsp of baking soda, and upped the salt to 1/4 tsp. Boy were these goods. I also mixed them with the balloon whisk on my stand mixer. (Was not in the mood to get out blender.) These came out just like light cake brownies. Exactly a cake texture. One would think there was flour in them. Thanks so much for the recipe. These were beyond delicious. And crazy healthy!!!!
I can't believe it took me so long to try these! They were amazing! I used xylitol instead of sugar and didn't have any coffee or vanilla or chocolate chips. When I poured it out of the blender, i was afraid it was too watery but they turned out perfect! I took these to a family get together and my vegaphobic nephew loved them. Nobody believed they were made with black beans. Had to make copies of the recipe for my mom. Definitely will be making these again!
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