Brownies that are healthy and good for you? Oh yes! But there is a catch: they have a secret ingredient…
And I would suggest not telling people about the secret ingredient. My boys are experts in eating brownies and devoured quite a few pieces yesterday. They claim that, without telling anyone what the secret ingredient is, they can definitely pass for the “real” thing.
So, what is the secret ingredients, you ask?
Black beans are so nutritious and full of protein and you would never, ever imagine that these brownies are made with black beans.
So, if you know me well enough, you know that I do not follow recipes much. Recipes for me are just a guide. I get the idea and then play … I add more of something, remove ingredients I don’t like, add new ingredients and so on. I like to experiment with recipes; why make a same dish, if I can make it differently? That was the case with these brownies too. Yes, there a quite a few recipes for black bean brownies on the web, but, me being me, I made a few changes – just because.
These little beauties came out wonderfully and you don’t have to feel guilty about eating them at all! These brownies have no gluten, no dairy and no grains. They are also free of refined sugar and chock full of protein and healthy fats. You can make the brownies vegan-friendly by using flax eggs instead of eggs. The brownies are not too sweet but still very rich and decadent. As they are also loaded with protein, superfoods and healthy fats, they are good enough to eat post-exercise or if you wish, any time of day.
All you need is a food processor and baking pan. The brownies take only about 5 minutes to make and 25 minutes to bake.
Macadamia and salted peanut butter brownies
=R1=
Servings
Prep time
Cook time
Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 large egg + 2 egg whites* (replace with 2 flax eggs for the vegan version)
- ½ extra ripe avocado, or 1 small
- 1 tbsp coconut oil
- ⅔ cup of raw cacao
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp bicarb soda
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ cup dates, soaked in warm water for 1 hour and drained
- ⅓ chocolate chips
- Handful of roughly chopped macadamias
- 2-3 tbsp crunchy peanut butter + pinch of salt, mixed
Method
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC. Place all the ingredients, except the chocolate chips, macadamias and peanut butter, in a food processor and process until smooth and well combined. Fold in the macadamias and chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into a pan you have oiled with a bit of coconut oil and lined with baking paper. With a teaspoon, portion the peanut butter out all over the batter - use a BBQ skewer and swirl through the batter.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Cool pan on wire rack and then cut into 12 yummy squares.
- Serve the brownies warm with a scoop of your tastiest coconut vanilla ice cream or cold with a dollop of coconut cream. You can also drizzle the brownies with some extra chocolate sauce you made out of coconut oil, cacao and maple syrup.
Tried this recipe? Mention @wellbeing_magazine or tag #wbrecipe!
