Because I cracked the Black Bean Brownie Code

Friends, lovely cake loving friends, I have news. Okay, so I already spilled the proverbial and literal beans in the title of this recipe, but I've never been one to keep good news to myself. Friends, it's true. I have cracked the black bean brownie code, and it is more beautiful than you could have imagined.

Picture this:

a brownie.

Yep.

That kind of moist and a little dense and fudgey brownie that makes you do a little dance and say oh yes oh god oh yes oh thank god. You know the kind. Of course you should know better than to talk with your mouth full but you will for realsies be forgiven because this is that good.

I've seen black bean brownie recipes kicking around here and there and they looked unappealing. I have to confess that one of my favourite baking flours for a little while was chickpea flour. So versatile.

My secret in these brownies: I don't use a can of black beans. I use black bean flour.

Nothing to puree. Nothing to blend. Just measure, mix, and go. Simple. And the texture is not gummy or dense. It's perfection. So there you have it.

A nut-free, vegan, gluten-free, perfect brownie that tastes just right.

OH, one small quirk: it taste better the next day. So, bake it, cool it, and refrigerate it over night. Then: eat. So. Good.

equipment needed:

mixing bowl
mixing spoon
measuring cups
measuring spoons
square baking dish (I used silicone but glass is good too -- just make sure you grease it well with coconut oil and maybe line the bottom with parchment)
a grinder for the chia seeds if you buy whole and grind them yourself (or buy ground chia)
oven (obvi)


ingredients:

a)
1 cup black bean flour
1 1/4 cup coconut sugar   (or as an alt: 1 cup xylitol + 1/4 cup coconut sugar +1/4 cup date sugar)
1/2 cup date sugar
1/2 cup raw cacao

b)
1/4 cup ground chia seed
1/2 cup tapioca starch
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cream of tartar
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp ground vanilla bean

c)
 1 cup warm water + 2 tbsp coconut oil
1 cup cold water (total water is 2 cups)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

d)
1 cup chocolate chips -- fair trade, please

e)
plus either 2 tbsp chocolate chips or 2 tbsp coconut sugar to sprinkle on top



directions:

preheat oven to 345 and prepare your baking pan!!

1. combine 1 cup warm water and 2 tbsp coconut oil and let it melt
2. in a large mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients from parts a) and b) and stir until completely homogeneous.
3. in a small mixing bowl, combine all the ingredients from part c)
4. combine all of the above, and mix well
5. once the ingredients from a) b) and c) have been righteously integrated, stir in your chocolate chips (part d)
6. pour the batter into the baking pan, and make sure it's smooth and even
7. sprinkle the top of the batter with either the chocolate chips or the coconut sugar from part e)
8. bake at 345 for 40-45 minutes
9. Cool and then enjoy the NEXT DAY

seriously.

my husband eats them right away, and says they are great, but even he agrees they are BETTER the next day.


MAKE AHEAD MAKE AHEAD MAKE AHEAD

this is not a recipe for immediate gratification.

Where Brownies Fear to Tread -- vegan brownies

We really do make the most amazing brownies. They are dense and fudgey, chewy and utterly satisfying. This are made without refined sugars, and are gluten free. I use either raw almond flour or finely ground raw sunflower seeds for these. Raw sunflower seeds can be reduced to a delicate powder in a seed or coffee grinder, so they have an ideal texture for baking. Beautiful, really. And the flavour is calm enough that it doesn't balance of whatever you put them in. Pumpkin seeds -- aka pepitas, bless their little green hearts -- have  such a strong flavour that you must use them purposefully, not just as an alternative. Yes, so these ones. These brownies. A few tweaks here and there, the recipe evolves a little. But they are great. Next time I'll grind up a couple of espresso beans with the chia seeds, and maybe a chili flake or two. You know, for fun.

equipment needed:

hand blender -- aka immersion blender

seed grinder -- or coffee grinder

mixing bowls

mixing spoons

measuring cups

measuring spoons

kettle for boiling water

oven

2 square silicone baking pans (8x8 each)

cooling rack

ingredients:

a)

1 1/2  cup pitted honey dates

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil 

1 cup coconut nectar

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1  tsp vanilla extract 

b)

1/2 cup hemp hearts 

c)

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup chia seeds, finely ground

1 cup raw almond flour or finely ground sunflower seed flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1/2 tsp ground vanilla 

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup raw cacao powder

d)

coconut sugar to sprinkle on top -- use plenty, it's awesome that way.

directions:

preheat the oven to 345

1) in a mixing bowl, put your ingredients from part a) and let them sit for 10 minutes. Add b) and let sit for another 10 minutes at least. If your dates start out very hard, give it longer. Give it an hour!!

2) in a separate bowl, combine your ingredients from part c). Make sure they are really well stirred together

3) when your dates are super soft and saturated, use your immersion blender to puree the concoction to  smooth and velvety perfections

4) mix your puree and your ingredients from part c) together

5) divide evenly between 2 square silicone pans (or a large rectangular is fine if that's what you've got)

6) sprinkle a tbsp or so of coconut sugar on top of each pan before you put them in the oven

7) bake for 50 minutes at 345

8) cool before cutting and removing from the pan

Brownies -- the best in the world

It feels like time to revisit this brownie recipe. These brownies will make brownie-lovers weep with gluttonous euphoria. These brownies will tempt the pickiest of dessert eaters. These brownies .... okay, well, they won't save the environment or even the economy, but damn they are so good.

And they are cruelty free. Vegan and fair-trade. I would urge you to be careful and picky in your chocolate selections. The vast lion's share of chocolate sold here is produced using child slave-labour. Always look for fair trade for your cacao.

So, these are moist and rich, chewy and cakey all at once. These are the perfect symbiosis of decadence and apotheosis. Dazzling, tantalizing, and very close to perfection.

The amazing thing, friends, is that they are also real food. And can be made with either almond flour or sunflower seed flour, depending on your nut-free needs.

So go ahead, make yourself something so naughty that it's just simply nice.

equipment needed:

hand blender -- aka immersion blender

seed grinder

mixing bowls

mixing spoons

measuring cups

measuring spoons

kettle for boiling water

oven

2 square silicone baking pans (8x8 each)

cooling rack

wet ingredients:

1 1/2  cup pitted honey dates

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil 

1 cup coconut nectar

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1  tbsp vanilla extract 

1/2 cup ground hemp hearts -- should practically be a paste

dry ingredients:

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/4 cup chia seeds, finely ground

1 cup sunflower seed flour

1/4 cup coconut flour

1 tbsp ground vanilla 

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cream of tartar

1 cup raw cacao powder

coconut sugar to sprinkle on top -- use plenty, it's awesome that way.

directions:

preheat the oven to 345

1. pour the hot water over dates in a bowl, and let sit for about 10 minutes to soften, along with the coconut oil, so it can  melt

2. in a separate bowl, combine all the dry ingredients save for the coconut sugar for sprinkling. mix really well until completely homogeneous

3. To the melted coconut oil, water, and date mixture add the coconut nectar, apple cider vinegar, and vanilla extract,  and I will add the hemp hearts at this point, then puree the whole thing with a hand blender (immersion blender)

4. mix the pureed wet ingredients into the dry ingredients

5. divide the mixture into 2 square silicone baking pans

6. sprinkle the top with a little coconut sugar (or a lot -- I like a lot -- a couple of tbsp not tsp)

7. bake at 345 for 60 minutes

8. allow to cool in the pan before removing

Vegan, Gluten-Free Brownies' Best Friend: Enter the Nut-Free, gluten free Brownies

I like to keep a well stocked pantry. Alas, sometimes I run out of stuff. I hate going to stores, so when this happens, I improvise. We had some pals coming over for dessert yesterday, and knowing that they are severely allergic to gluten and love brownies, our gluten free brownies were a no-brainer. And then I realized I had about 3 tbsp of coconut sugar left, and that's all. Fortunately, I had coconut nectar, and I thought the fudgey consistency of brownies and rich dark flavour would only be celebrated by this thick, sticky, low glycemic sweetener. In the interest of exploring my nut-free avenues, I decided to make them out of sunflower seed flour instead of almond flour.  (I made this myself by grinding raw sunflower seeds very finely in my small grinder (it's a coffee grinder that I use for seeds etc).  Anyway, I used the remaining coconut sugar to sprinkle on top before baking (this is a little bit magical, keep it up your sleeve for future baking references),  and reworked our fave brownie recipe as follows. Entirely delectably wonderfully successful. And now I have a fridge full of brownies. Tea party, any one?

Vegan. Gluten-free. Cane Sugar Free. Nut-Free. Grain-free. But wholly BROWNIE.

Sometimes people are surprised that -- not having allergies -- I force this gluten-free-ness on my poor family. They think I've drunk the kook-aid (bless you auto correct, that's so much better than kool-aid,) and have jumped thoughtlessly and mindlessly on the gluten-free bandwagon. Not so. I actually happen to believe that things like almonds, sunflower seeds, hemp hearts, and chia seeds contain more goodness than refined white flour. And if food doesn't send your blood-sugar sky-rocketing, that it is doing better for you than food that does. And that for a child, maximizing the nutritional content of their food can only help them. And there's the matter of how delicious it all is ... My non-conventional ingredients have the benefit of yielding moist and delectable baking. And that, my friends, needs no convincing.

ingredients:

1 1/2  cup pitted honey dates

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil 

1 cup coconut nectar

2 tbsp arrowroot flour

1/4 cup chia seeds, finely ground

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp ground vanilla 

1  tbsp vanilla extract 

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup raw cacao powder

1 cup sunflower seed flour

1/2 cup ground hemp hearts -- should practically be a paste

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup coconut flour

coconut sugar to sprinkle on top -- use plenty, it's awesome that way.

directions:

preheat the oven to 345

1. pour the hot water over dates in a bowl, and let sit for about 10 minutes to soften, along with the coconut oil, so it can  melt

2. add the coconut nectar, then puree the whole thing with a hand blender (immersion blender)

3. add in the apple cider vinegar, the ground chia seeds, arrowroot powder and the cacao, and mix very well

4. add in the vanilla, and sea salt, and mix well

5. add the ground hemp seeds

6. add the sunflower seed flour

7. add the coconut flour and the baking soda

8. mix well and thoroughly and rapidly

9. 

10. divide the mixture into 2 square silicone baking pans

11. sprinkle the top with a little coconut sugar (or a lot)

12. bake at 345 for 60 minutes

13. allow to cool in the pan before removing

Gluten Free Vegan Brownies Rock the World

Gluten free vegan brownies. Grain free, sugar free, deeply, richly delectably chocolatey. These are like an homage to the best thing about brownies. The dense, chewy, moist, chocolate richness. Oh yessssssssss ..... The taste is pure decadence. Amazingly, they are not bad for you. A guilt free brownie? Apparently I am a genius ...

ingredients:

1 1/2  cup pitted honey dates

2 cups boiling water

1/2 cup extra virgin coconut oil 

1 cup coconut sugar

2 tbsp arrowroot flour

1/4 cup chia seeds, finely ground

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

2 tbsp ground vanilla 

2 tbsp vanilla extract 

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup raw cacao powder

1 cup almond flour

1/2 cup ground hemp hearts -- should practically be a paste

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup coconut flour

coconut sugar to sprinkle on top -- use plenty, it's awesome that way.

directions:

preheat the oven to 345

1. pour the hot water over dates in a bowl, and let sit for about 10 minutes to soften, along with the coconut oil, so it can  melt

2. add the coconut sugar, then puree the whole thing with a hand blender (immersion blender)

3. add in the apple cider vinegar, the ground chia seeds, arrowroot powder and the cacao, and mix very well

4. add in the vanilla, and sea salt, and mix well

5. add the ground hemp seeds

6. add the almond flour

7. add the coconut flour and the baking soda

8. mix well and thoroughly and rapidly

9. 

10. divide the mixture into 2 square silicone baking pans

11. sprinkle the top with a little coconut sugar (or a lot)

12. bake at 345 for 60 minutes

13. allow to cool in the pan before removing