Black bean brownie questions

I'm trying to add more pulses to my diet, and I have a craving for chocolate... good thing there is black bean brownies.

I've never made these before, and I thought at first I could just add the mashed up beans to my favourite brownie recipe. But now I see that black bean brownie recipes don't have any flour in them. Is this just because people want to be gluten free, or would having both flour and beans together do something horrid to the taste and texture?

Is it possible to just add beans to my already yummy brownie recipe?

Do you have a black bean brownie recipe you love? I'm looking for one with just cocoa powder, and no chocolate or chocolate chips (I don't keep those in the house and I'm not going shopping today). Baking starts in about two hours, so I'm going to mark this as urgent.

trampledbygeese
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13 Comments

Emily L.
Emily L. February 25, 2016
I haven't found a recipe for black bean brownies that doesn't make brownies that taste like black beans yet. I have made these chickpea blondies and they're delicious!
http://www.ambitiouskitchen.com/2013/04/flourless-chocolate-chip-chickpea-blondies-with-sea-salt-vegan-gluten-free-healthy/
 
LeBec F.
LeBec F. February 26, 2016
emily, this looks great! glad you've had luck with it. I wonder what it would be like to use sesame paste instead of peanut/almond butter. Kind of like chocoolate halva!
 
LeBec F.
LeBec F. February 17, 2016
geese, what happened?!
 
LeBec F.
LeBec F. February 13, 2016
p.s. i am with you on your pulses bus!def. a goal of mine as well.
 
LeBec F.
LeBec F. February 13, 2016
geese, i can't know if you've gone ahead and made this?
i thought i might look in the bean books i have...
Regardless, i would think adding melted chocolate or cocoa and fat and sweetener -to sub for cc- would add deep choc flavor to the brownies.Also, fwiw, if you look at other cultures' sweets, adzuki, pinto, white, kidney beans and all kinds of lentils have all been used with a sweetener as a dessert filling of some type.
 
Nancy
Nancy February 13, 2016
Here's a recipe I used a while ago. To my taste, it was ok, but not great. However, it's been up a year and got top ratings from those who made it.
And it is one of the few black bean chocolate cake/brownie recipes I've seen that does have some flour in it
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/melissa-darabian/black-bean-brownies-recipe.html
 
Nancy
Nancy February 13, 2016
Sorry, yes it has choc chips, but a small amt and they could easily be replaced with a little bit more cocoa & some fat.
 
Nancy
Nancy February 13, 2016
Sorry, yes it has choc chips, but a small amt and they could easily be replaced with a little bit more cocoa & some fat.
 
trampledbygeese
trampledbygeese February 13, 2016
Hmmm, business. Didn't think about that. I always thought this kind of bean tastes very sweet, like adzuki beans. When I cook them, I skim off the froth, and it makes the beans sweater.

Thanks for the suggestions.

One more question, when the recipes say a can of beans, do they mean the liquid too? Since I'm cooking my beans from dry, do I need to make any adjustments to be more like can beans? Not sure what can beans are like.
 
elhutch44
elhutch44 February 13, 2016
I made black bean brownies for the first time this week! I used this recipe: http://minimalistbaker.com/vegan-gluten-free-black-bean-brownies and thought they turned out well. I used a can of beans, but drained and rinsed the beans well, which was recommended in the recipe (probably to avoid bean-y taste). I think you would be able to sub beans cooked from dry without any problem!
 
702551
702551 February 13, 2016
Buy a can of beans. Maybe a dollar or two?

In any case, black beans aren't significantly sweeter than any other bean based on my personal experiences. Mexicans often interchange black beans with pinto beans, so I don't see any reason why some might expect a major difference.
 
foofaraw
foofaraw February 13, 2016
black beans brownie usually entice people who prefer nutrition content that have more protein, less carb (and less processed carb from the flour)
I don't think it works to just add bean to normal brownie recipe. It'll change the structure and become too liquidy.
CC is not absolutely needed. It just to reduce the beaniness of the final result. It will still be fine without the CC, though you may taste the bean flavor more. I might subs with walnut or pecan to help reduce the black bean flavor (though never try this before).
I like the one from Chocolate Covered Katie http://chocolatecoveredkatie.com/2012/09/06/no-flour-black-bean-brownies/
 
foofaraw
foofaraw February 13, 2016
If you don't have CC, you can also subs with normal eating chocolate that cut to pieces (if you have any). But structurally, neither is needed. It is just for better flavor (less beany).
 
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