Most Amazing Vegan Mocha Brownies

FullOfSpice · March 2011

I've been trying to eat a cleaner diet by avoiding processed foods since I believe they cause you to crave more processed foods. I have a sweet tooth and needed something "healthy" to satisfy. I found a recipe for Chocolate brownies made with Black beans...

Adapted from Dani Spies...

Black Bean Brownies

Ingredients
¾ cup white whole-wheat flour
½ tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup cocoa powder
2 tsp instant coffee, finely ground
15 oz can of black beans, drained and rinsed
¾ cup water
½ cup nonfat yogurt
1 tsp liquid stevia extract
1 tbsp vanilla extract
½ cup chopped walnuts (optional - emit for lower calories)
¾ cup chocolate chips (optional - emit for lower calories)
A bit of oil to grease cooking pan

Directions
Pre heat oven to 350

Brush and 8x8 brownie pan with oil and set aside.

In a large bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder, cocoa powder, and instant coffee.

Blend rinsed beans in a blender with the water. Add yogurt, stevia, vanilla and blend again.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix until all the ingredients are well combined. Stir in the nuts and the chips and stir again.

Pour mixture into greased pan and pop in the oven for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes up clean.

Allow brownies to cool before spreading the icing all over the top of the brownies.

Makes 16 brownies.

Option Chocolate Avocado Icing:

1/3 cup dried dates
1/4 cup agave syrup
1/3 cup cacao powder
1 avocado

Pulse the dates and agave in food processor until a paste is formed. Add the avocado flesh and cacao powder to the food processor. Process until a smooth paste is formed. Refrigerate to allow icing to firm up and set.

Nutritional information:

Brownies (16 servings w/ Walnuts and Chips)
Calories: 137; Total Fat: 9g; Carbohydrate: 17g; Dietary Fiber: 3g; Sugars: 6g; Protein: 5g

Icing (16 servings):
Calories: 71; Total Fat: 4g; Carbohydrate: 7g; Dietary Fiber: 3g; Sugars: 8g; Protein: 1g

nurse_chris · March 2011

sounds delicious. do you have any nutritional info for the brownies?

FullOfSpice · March 2011

Sorry forgot to add that! Should be listed now

SweetTooth68 · March 2011

So how do they taste? Were you happy with them? I'd also like to know how many calories before I attempt to try these otherwise I'm at risk of assuming they are not bad at all and eating lots haha

FullOfSpice · March 2011

I loved them!

I was a little iffy because I thought it would have a pungent black bean taste, but they didn't. I made my boyfriend try them before telling him what was in them, and he was really surprised after I revealed the ingredients. Also, you could use pureed bananas or applesauce in place of the yogurt, but I've learned that it would make your baked goods more chewy and less dense.

Kirstie_C26 · March 2011

BUMP!!

JennLifts · March 2011

Did you try it both with and without the additions? I feel like chocolate chips might make them moisture, wandering what you found..?

monoxidechick · March 2011

sounds interesting!! I just might have to try these. Always love to try crazy things like this and then taking them to work if they taste good. Everyone is always so surprised by what I bring. Thanks for this, will try them!!

nurse_chris · March 2011

i might actually make these this weekend....... the calories arent bad at all for what should be a great to quench my lust for chocolate

FullOfSpice · March 2011

Did you try it both with and without the additions? I feel like chocolate chips might make them moisture, wandering what you found..?

No i didn't try them without, but the frosting itself is so delicious that I think it would be ok without them...or maybe even half...

darling_nickie · March 2011

Ok so I had most of these ingredients on hand and just made these brownies! Omgosh they were suprisingly very good. I did not make the frosting, and I think I will next time to try it out but they were great...not too too sweet but super yummy and the chocolate morsels are just mmmm. I ran out of vanilla extract so I used vanilla yogurt instead and I used powdered stevia instead of liquid...1/2 a cup of chocolate chips instead of 3/4 and YUM! Kudos thanks for the great recipe...totally hit my chocolate craving for the day! And I don't feel so guilty about it lol

Anyone else making them--I will say the batter looked so good going in and when it came out baked I thought "oh shoot it looks like overcooked refried bean puree" lol but they are super moist inside...

FullOfSpice · March 2011

YAY! I'm glad you liked them! The frosting though, is truely yummy. Definitely try it next time!

monoxidechick · March 2011

Oh my, I tried to make these brownies, and I failed!!
I tried to make mini cupcake sizes, so the timing was off and they would not cook right. They were never done in the middle!! I will have to try the whole brownie size next time!!

And I dont like stavia so I tried to mix half stavia powder with sugar, I could never get it sweet enough.

The frosting ended up good though. I didnt have agave so I used 1/3 cup sugar with some water. After I put in the avocado, I could really tell that it was in there, so I added more dates to try to cover it up. They took forever to chop up with the frosting consistancy in the food processor. Well once I got it together and smoooth, it turned out good.

I tried to salvage the brownies, but they did not work out!! Now I have to find something else to put the frosting on!!

I will definately get the right sweeteners and use the right size pan and try these again sometime. I am sad because I wanted to take them to work tomorrow, but they will have to do without!!

Thank you for the recipe and I will have to play around with it when I have more time.

shannahrose · March 2011

bump

gmom81158 · March 2011

Here's another great one- 1 small can libby's PURE pumpkin. I box devils food chocolate cake ( or spice cake is good too ). Mix together until smooth. DO not add eggs. liquid etc. Put in pan or muffin cups and bake according to box directions. YUMMY.
I will sometimes add a tsp of cinammon for extra flavor. You can add choc chops or nuts but that increases the calories.

lovingbears2 · March 2011

Whoa, this doesn't sound like it would taste good, but, WOW, after reading the reviews , I will pass onto my "very vegan" friend!

She will LOVE this, as she is also raising her two boys in a vegan home, so will make them all happy! Only comment I have is with your original version, it would be vegetarian, not "vegan", because of the yogurt. But the "alterations" with the applesauce, or bananas, etc, would make it definitely a "vegan" delight! Thanks for the recipe, I am going to definitely try and then pass this one along! Thanks!