Peanut Butter Fudge Black Bean Brownies
I bet you were reading this title and were like, “Oh yum! Peanut Butter… I love Peanut Butter. Fudge? Bring it on! Black Beans….WTF?!”
Hold your horses and open your mind. I am not trying to poison your taste buds.
If you saw my post last week about Mr. Chow’s birthday, then you know that I recently made the most delish black bean brownie recipe ever. They were so good that my male friends at the party had no idea they were made of protein-packed, fibrous legumes.
Well, I went one step further and adapted this ingenious recipe when I was home over the holidays to add in my favorite ingredient: peanut butter.
I also made a few adjustments to make these babies even fudgier (is that a word?) for the picky eaters in my family. I figured, the fudgier they were, the less likely my fam would ask questions and I would have to reveal the deep dark, beany truth.
They turned out great, and my sister (who eats whatever she wants) actually chose to eat these over some of the more high calorie treats in the house.
Score!
Peanut Butter Fudge Black Bean Brownies
Ingredients:
15 oz can Low-Sodium Black Beans
1/2 C. Almond Flour
1/4 C. Coconut Oil
1/2 C. Honey
2 T. Cocoa Powder
1/2 C. Dark Chocolate Chips
2 tsp. Vanilla
2 tsp. Baking Powder
Sprinkle of Salt
1/4 C. Peanut Butter
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. Rinse the beans and then combine everything together in a food processor, except the chocolate chips.
3. Once the batter is smooth, stir in the chocolate chips.
4. Pour into a greased 8 x 8 pan.
5. Warm the peanut butter if needed and then drizzle over the batter. Use a spoon to swirl into the batter.
6. Bake for 15-18 minutes.
7. Let cool for about 30 minutes.
8. Enjoy!
Total Calories: 160, 4.5 grams of protein (makes 12)
We served these up to Santa on Tuesday night.
The protein gave him so much energy, he finished up his deliveries early (unlike UPS & FedEx) and then hit the gym. If you see a buff dude with a white beard scaling your chimney next year, you know who to thank.
Grace says:
Can’t wait to try these. If I don’t use peanut butter to save on calories, should I substitute something else so they still bake up ok?
Whitney English says:
I think you’ll love them!!
Yes, you can just completely leave out the peanut butter. You can also substitute the almond flour for oat flour to save cals. It will make them a little less chewy though.
You could also cut the honey or chocolate chips in half OR use cacao nibs. However both will definitely make them less sweet. I like to crumble mine over banana froyo though, so I probably wouldn’t notice the slight change in sweetness. But you would if you eat them alone.
Arman @ thebigmansworld says:
Those look amazing, Whitney- I will have to give it a go- I need to hunt down black beans as they are MIA here in Australia… I think maybe a specialty shop might have them!
I tried cauliflower in a pancake recipe the other day….it worked really well!
Off topic but my sister is obsessed with this show called ‘the drama queen’ where some lady runs workshops to host in LA and it made me think of you. :p
Whitney English says:
That woman is a NIGHTMARE! I auditioned for her once (she’s a casting agent too) and she was so mean that I cried. No joke!
Cauliflower pancakes…mmmmm….can’t wait to check those out!
I can’t believe you don’t have black beans! No spaghetti squash? No black beans?! You should run away to America :)
Davida @ The Healthy Maven says:
THESE LOOK INCREDIBLE. I love black bean brownies. Mostly I love tricking people into eating beans! Boarding a flight to Toronto now but intend to continue drooling over these once I touch down.
Whitney English says:
Haha me too!! That’s the best part :) Fly safe!
Jody - Fit at 56 says:
If you make them I will eat them says this lazy baker!! plus I don’t have a food processor! Look amazing!
Whitney English says:
Well if we ever get around to having the LAdies potluck, I’ll bring them :)
Ellen says:
But of course fudgier is a word. Says me who also believes in the merit of all things fudgeriffic and fudgulous;)
Whitney English says:
Thank goodness. I don’t want to live in a world where fudgier, fugeriffic, and fudgulous aren’t words :)
Miss Polkadot says:
No need to sell the idea of black bean brownies to me anymore – I had some kind of, ahem, obsessed phase were I would bake a batch every week. Oh, or maybe we’re talking twice a week? Hey, I just made sure to get in those legumes, right ;)?
Anyway, yours sound awesome and I like that you used honey as a sweetener. We can’t get canned black beans but with my mum’s pressure cooker at hand I’d be able to prepare them from scratch using dried ones.
Poor old Santa never gets any treats as he doesn’t come to visit at night but we celebrate and open all gifts on Christmas Eve. If it was up to me, though, I’d leave him some cookies. Or why not black bean brownies?!
Whitney English says:
I can see how you could easily get addicted to these things! I’m thinking I may need to make them on a weekly basis as well :) What recipe did you use?
Ellen says:
Brownies and beans! Beans in brownies! Good things indeed. Santa left me a fair amount of kitchen toys like a microplane and giant ice cube molds. I hope you got some good treats from Santa too:)
Whitney English says:
What’s a microplane?!?!
Santa did me good this year….Vitamix, Canon camera, and multi-colored running socks. Oh yeah.
Sydney says:
Wow, these look incredible! I’ve heard a lot about black bean brownies and cakes but I’ve never gotten around to making them. But now that I’ve seen this yummy peanut butter version I can’t wait to try them :)
The Vegan 8 says:
Ok, I’ve tried black bean desserts a few times and they are all disgusting. I can always taste the beans or those little skins! Can you really not taste them?!? I’d love to try these sonetime, as I love all the other ingredients! They look good!
Whitney English says:
I will admit that knowing they are made of black beans makes it easier to detect the little skins. I made them in my crappy old mini food processor though. I’m going to try making them in my new Vitamix and see if it makes a difference. However, those who didn’t know they’re made with beans couldn’t tell!