Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Delectable Delicious Brownies



My apologies dear readers, I expected to have this post up last week but we went out of town for a few days hence the delay.We went to Niagara on the Lake and had a fabulous time. Highly recommend the Pillar and Post Inn, terrific accomadation, delightful spa and outdoor hottub. The Cannery restaurant onsite serves the best slow cooked prime rib I have eaten.The highlight of the trip was a drive to see Niagara Falls where a large part of the falls are frozen. I know I have griped a lot about this winter but the sight was spectacular. 

Of course having to shovel snow today, after a few warmish (7 - 8 degree C) days was a cruel return to reality. To ease the misery of this winter that will not go away, I baked - using the excuse that I needed to take pictures of square brownies as opposed to the round cake brownie picture I posted on our facebook page. So here it is. When our close friends S & A mentioned this brownie they make using black beans, I did not have major expectations, because let's face it, a tofu cheesecake no matter how good it is, is not really cheesecake so I figured a bean brownie would be along those lines. I am glad to admit that I was totally wrong. This is delicious, easy to make and a perfect sweet treat. You could even tell yourself that it is a source of fibre and would not be far off the mark, I did not call it Blackbean brownies, because despite the best of intentions, I know that sometimes we just cannot help but get turned off by a name..... Enjoy.


Skill Level: Easy
Serves: 4 - 6

INGREDIENTS:
  • 1 can 540 mL or 15.5 oz can of black beans washed and rinsed
  • 3 eggs
  • 3 Tbsp oil
  • a pinch of salt
  • 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup of sugar (I used 1/2 cup and added chocolate chips and it was sweet enough
  • 1 tsp instant coffee powder
  • 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
METHOD:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and lightly grease an 8x8 baking pan 
2. In a food processor add all ingredients except the chocolate chips and blend until smooth 
3. Pour into the prepared baking pan
4. Sprinkle chocolate chips over the top 
5. Bake until the top is dry and edges start to pull away from the sides of the pan. Aprox. 30 - 35 minutes 
6. Allow to cool before cutting