black bean chia seed brownies

we were walking through the health food section at wegman's recently, and ryan found a stand offering free health food newsletters.  inside there were a ton of great recipes, including a recipe for brownies made with black beans and chia seeds.  we are huge black bean fans, and we love chia seeds too, so we were intrigued to give them a try.

brownies are an all time favorite dessert, but they are usually loaded with butter.  we were surprised to see that this recipe doesn't have any butter in it.  these brownies have a wonderful chocolate flavor and they were not very sweet at all.  the chia seeds and raw cacao nibs give them a great crunch too.  you would absolutely never guess that there are black beans hidden inside these brownies.  go ahead and make these brownies for someone, they'll never guess they have black beans in them!

instead of baking the brownie batter in a regular baking pan, we baked individual brownies in our brownie pan.  (we love that pan, and we bake all types of things in there, like these individual cornbread squares.)  we were really pleasantly surprised by how great these brownies turned out, and we will definitely make them again!  a somewhat healthy brownie . . . now who can say no to that?!

black bean chia seed brownies
prep time: 10 minutes
baking time 25 minutes
yields: 12 large brownies
adapted from wegman's nature's marketplace publication (october 2014 issue)

ingredients:
1 (15 oz.) can low-sodium black beans, drained and rinsed
3 large eggs
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup coconut oil, melted
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tablespoons chia seeds
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup raw cacao nibs

directions:
preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  in a food processor, combine the black beans, sugar, oil, cocoa powder, chia seeds, and vanilla.  puree until completely smooth.  stir in the chocolate chips.  evenly divide the batter among the 12 cups of a greased brownie pan.  (alternatively, pour the batter into a greased 8-inch square baking pan.)  level with a spatula, and sprinkle with cacao nibs.  bake for 25 minutes (30 minutes in a 8-inch square pan) or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  allow the brownies to cool in the pan before serving.

enjoy!

love, laurie