Decadent flourless brownies made with a secret surprise ingredient!
Flourless Brownies
I may not make “normal” brownies ever again. Who knew you could make brownies without flour? When I first learned what replaces the flour I admit it took a minute for it to compute. Huh? Black beans instead of flour? I was intrigued.
Yes, you read that right. There are black beans in the brownies. Stay with me on this.
If I’m going to make a crazy healthy substitute I better end up with something that tastes good. It’s not enough to know that substituting black beans results in a naturally low-fat brownie. No, I need to know they will taste just as sinful as their full-fat cousins. The good news? These brownies are moist and chocolaty with the right kind of brownie texture. And, no, they don’t taste like black beans. You will not find anything that looks or tastes like beans in these brownies – they sort of disappear. Now that I’ve made these I have to say it works and it is possible to make a low-fat brownie that actually tastes good. Not only do they win in the taste department, but they’re also very easy to make and take no time at all. One note of caution: they do fall apart easily and are tricky to get out of the pan in one piece, but this is only a minor problem. I normally eat brownies straight from the pan (no plate, no fork, no problem!) so I didn’t find it much of an issue.
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PrintFlourless Brownies
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
Print Recipe
Pin RecipeDescription
Recipe adapted from Skinnytaste
Scale
Ingredients
- 14 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup dutch process cocoa powder
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 1 tablespoon 2% milk
- 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon strong brewed coffee
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup mini milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×9 baking dish with cooking spray.
- In a food processor or blender, puree the black beans and eggs until smooth. Combine the beans and eggs (I know, it sounds totally weird, but trust me on this!) with the cocoa, sugar, oil, milk, balsamic vinegar, baking powder, baking soda and coffee in a large bowl. Stir until smooth. Fold in the semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish. Sprinkle the mini milk chocolate chips over the top. Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Allow the brownies to cool completely before slicing.
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: black bean brownies, flourless brownies
Lindsey @ Baking Bytes says
Have you ever tried these without the oil or the vinegar? Struggling to see how a teaspoon or less of each would really affect the brownies at all, so I was just curious. =)
April says
Hi Lindsey, I haven’t tried it without, but that’s a great question – a little balsamic always goes a long way, plus it helps activate the baking soda. This recipe was loosely adapted from Skinnytaste and so the oil was really dialed back to save calories. Not sure it would be missed if it was omitted since it mostly provides moisture and it is a small amount. Let me know if you try it out!
April says
test
Eva says
I’ve heard about using black beans for desserts before but never tried them in one, but seriously, they totally look like the real thing and I’m sure they taste too. I wonder if I can skip the coffee. I’m not too fond of coffee-flavored desserts, and definitely I don’t want my 4 year old on coffee…
April Anderson says
Hi Eva, You can skip the coffee, but you really can’t taste it in the brownies. A small amount of coffee makes chocolate taste more chocolaty without making it taste like coffee. Understand the caffeine issue and can’t tell you how much is actually in 1 tablespoon, so maybe best to skip it if you’re sharing with your kid 🙂