recipe: holy fudge black bean brownies

                Yes, I know what you are saying right now... Ew black beans in brownies? Yes! Coming from someone who doesn't even like black beans and just made them for my husband, they are so good! Hi everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Labor day weekend, long weekend that is. Reed and I went to Memphis for the weekend to visit his family and had such a good weekend with them. We got back on Sunday night and I had all day on Monday to catch up, be productive, and get creative.

                I made these black bean brownies last week from my most recent obsession. Do you follow Laura Lea Balanced? If you don't and if you want healthy recipes especially for those of you who need gluten-free, dairy free, vegan, or vegetarian recipes.. this is your gal! She is based in Nashville and I have followed her blog and social medias for awhile but recently ordered her cookbook and have been blown away by super healthy dishes & desserts with really clean ingredients that actually taste really good!! It's been exciting but also very inspiring to mix up something new and actually good for us.

                I will tell you, I don't even like black beans; but Reed loves them. He wanted something with chocolate and thought this recipe would be a test to see how good these were. They are truly delicious. You can't even taste the black beans at all. This recipe is great because it is dairy free & gluten free. Reed ate 3 in one night if that tells you anything haha! I wanted to share the recipe with you all from Laura Lea's cookbook.

Recipe from: Laura Lea Balanced Blog

makes 15BROWNIES

Holy fudge black bean brownies

INGREDIENTS

• 1 15 ounce can unsalted black beans (prefer organic), drained and rinsed thoroughly
• 6 tbsp cocoa powder (I like Ghirardelli or Trader Joe's brand)
• 3/4 cup maple syrup, grade A
• 2 teaspoons vanilla powder (or sub vanilla extract)
• 1/4 cup unsalted almond butter
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate roughly chopped (sub chocolate chips)- dairy free chocolate if wanting DF

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and line a loaf tin with parchment paper, making sure there are at least 5 inches of parchment overflowing on each side.
2. Combine all ingredients except chopped chocolate in a food processor or high speed blender. Puree until completely smooth, scraping down the side as needed.
3. Empty mixture into a mixing bowl and stir in chopped chocolate/chocolate chips. Turn dough into loaf pan and shake gently to create an even layer. At this point, you can trim back some of the parchment but leave an inch or two overhanging.
4. Bake for 50 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with only a tiny bit of batter. Remove from oven and allow to cool at least 30 minutes before removing and slicing. If you can wait an hour the pieces will hold together better.