I love anything chocolate, and these black bean brownies made with unsweetened organic cacao powder hit the spot for a guilt-free chocolate fix.
These brownies make a wonderful pre or post workout snack and are a wonderful way to sneak healthy food into your children’s diets and make sure they get their daily source of fiber. The bananas are also really beneficial for maintaining a healthy gut and offers high levels of potassium, which nourishes your muscles.
I prefer to use raw cacao instead of cocoa, which is more processed and devoid of nutrients, but of course, you can use cocoa if this is what you can get your hands on. Raw cacao is a rich source of antioxidants, some of which are anti-inflammatory; is an amazing source of magnesium, which boosts and regulates mood levels; is the highest plant-based source of iron, and contains more calcium than cow’s milk!
These decadent little brownies also have banana (used in place of eggs), cinnamon, vanilla extract, regular or non-dairy, semi-sweet chocolate chips (you can also use antioxidant and vitamin-rich carob, chopped walnuts (optional), instant oats or oat flour (made simply by blending oats in a food processor).
Can these brownies really be good, you ask? I can’t believe it – they are awesome. So easy to make and you can feel good knowing that these are free from refined sugar. You can decrease the amount of (natural) sugar by using less maple syrup or using a bit less banana (though you do want at least one banana as this is essential to thickening, as a replacement for egg. These are so yummy, you won't know beans are in these! Try this recipe, and see for yourself.
And if you are feeling extra decadent, serve warm and top with Banana Nice cream! Talk about a decadent treat….
I'd love to hear your feedback in the comments below for this Black Bean Brownies recipe! If you have a photo, post it on my Facebook page, tag me using the hashtag #plantbasedcooking
| Prep Time | 20 minutes |
| Cook Time | 30 minutes |
| Servings | people |
- 15 ounces no-salt black beans drained and rinsed
- 2 medium ripe bananas
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup coconut or date sugar or maple syrup
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cacao.
- 1/2 cup instant oats or oat flour made in a blender or food processor from raw oats
- 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 Tbl cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips or mini vegan chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts optional
Ingredients
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- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly coat an 8×6″ pan with cooking spray or use parchment paper. For thicker brownies, use a bread pan and cook a little longer.
- Combine all ingredients, except oats and chocolate chips, in a food processor. Blend until smooth.
- Stir in the oat flour / oats until blended well. Fold in chocolate chips and nuts. Pour batter into the pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. They will be soft but firm up as they cool.
How many grams in a serving. I have found the calorie counta hard to asses without an approx a mount per serving
Hi, I’m sorry it’s taken me some time to respond. I’ve been looking into your question and I’m taking a guess that the brownies are about 3 oz. per serving which would be about 85 grams. But, I’ve decided to make a batch today and, indeed, weight them. Look for my response soon 🙂 Hi again, so I made a batch today and a serving was 2 brownies per person, 12 brownies total. For two brownies it is about 75 grams.
How is this plant based if you want 1/4 cup sugar? Can we skip the sugar and just use the maple syrup?
Yep, I think maple syrup will work. Date or coconut sugar might work, too, so I think I’ll put that into the recipe instead. Thanks for pointing that out.
All sugar comes from either – sugar cane or sugar beet. Yes after that is element of processing- but sugar is plant based.
Hey Jen, You’re right, sugar is plant-based. As you’re probably aware, a whole food, plant-based diet recommends staying away from processed food and I think that’s more what the comment is referring to. Any sugar substitute isn’t much better in terms of nutrition and what it does in our bodies, though…