Treat Two

Black Bean Brownies with Vegan Icing

This is the only way I can keep chocolate in the house!   I can't easily dip into a container of cocoa powder when I get a craving.   Forgive me for the terrible photograph, some things just don't love the camera.   A word of warning, you can make a black bean brownie that will fool someone if you don't tell them, but not with this recipe!     These are very good, but they definitely taste 'healthy.'  

I used this recipe for the brownies, with the following modifications to the ingredients:

• two 398 ml cans of black beans (drained and rinsed)
• 2 large flax eggs (2 heaping Tbsp flaxseed meal + 6 Tbsp water)
• 3 Tbsp avocado oil
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder 
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder

I put the flax eggs ingredients into my food processor, and mixed them for a minute. I left that to thicken for a minute.   Then, I added all the rest of the ingredients and blended them for A Really Long Time (so that the batter was smooth).  I made these in silicone muffin cups, which I find super handy!   

I made the icing using this recipe, with the following modification to the ingredients: 

• 3/4 cup cooked, mashed sweet potatoes (still warm)
• 6 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 tbsp applesauce
• 2 tbsp arrowroot powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla 
• pinch of salt 

As I usually do, I skipped all the fancy instructions and just put everything in my Magic Bullet and blended it up.    I then stuck it in the fridge for a few hours before I iced the brownies.   

I've started making the applesauce for these recipes from scratch.   It only takes about five minutes to peel and cut up an apple, put it into a small saucepan with a bit of water, and make your own applesauce.    Homemade apple sauce tastes exactly 1000% better than the stuff you get in the grocery store, and it costs less too.