On the hunt for a yummy gluten free baked-good recipe for potlucks/special events, especially knowing many people with either Celiac disease or gluten intolerance, I discovered a bunch of recipes for black bean brownies. I’ve tried my fair share with none of them really doing both my gluten free and gluten lover friends justice with texture and chocolatey fulfillment. Many the time, GF baked goods have a distinct texture, either really dry and crumbly or chewy but FAR too sweet. After lots of trial and many error, I FINALLY got the perfect combo of flavours and textures with this recipe!

Black bean brownies were quite the fad the past couple years but I think it’s an awesome concept. Using black beans as your main structure and density base for the brownie, you don’t really need much fat at all for this. I also use less sugar than most recipes and found my fellow nommers liked it way more.

This recipe can be indulgent depending on how gooey you want it with the ooey factor coming from the chocolate chips and making sure you don’t over bake it. I’ve brought this recipe to a couple potlucks and brought them in for the girls at work and I’ve gotten positive reviews! A few pluses about it: less fat than many dessert recipes, higher in fibre/protein, it’s a cheap gluten free recipe since black beans usually cost less than $1 per can AND it’s SO easy to make – stick everything in a food processor, buzz for a couple minutes, and THAT’S IT!

Ingredients:

• 1 can (19 oz, 540mL) low-sodium black beans (rinsed and drained); ends up being about 2 cups of beans
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup (125 mL) sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) oil
• 1 tablespoon (15 mL) milk (dairy, almond, or any other milk you use)
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) sea salt (if you’re not using low sodium beans, don’t add this salt)
• 1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) of freshly ground or instant coffee
• 1/4-1/2 cup (60 mL-125 mL) chocolate chips (any you like!); the more chocolate chips you add, the gooier it’ll be.

What to do:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. If you notice your oven tends to be on the hotter side than most, preheat to 325 degrees F (mine tends to be that way).
2. Grease or put cupcake cups into a muffin sheet – I tend to use cups just for ease of clean up plus you can make the brownies more festive with fun cupcake cups!
3. Add all of the above ingredients (except for the chocolate chips) into a food processor. Blend for 1 minute.
4. Scrape sides of food processor and buzz for another 30 seconds.
5. Fold in chocolate chips with a spoon/spatula.
6. Portion batter into muffin tins – it will fill between 18-24 individual cupcake portions depending on how thick you like ’em.
7. Bake for 15-20 minutes until the brownies are firm/the top looks dry and the “toothpick test” comes out clean!
8. Remove from oven, cool for 5 minutes then gently remove from tins with a fork – don’t let them stay in the warm pan for too long otherwise they will start to dry out.
9. Makes 18-24 brownies

Tips:

• If you want to make them look pretty without a ton of added calories (ie what icing would add), drizzle a small amount of chocolate on top.
• Store in an air tight container. These last about 1-2 days at room temperature but need to be refrigerated after that since they can get dry. Just heat up and they’ll be gooey all over again!
• It can be easy to over cook this little babes, so keep a good eye on them after the 15 minute mark.

I hope you all enjoy them!