Chocolate brownies

The first recipe that sparked my interest at Happy Herbivore was the black bean brownies; I am not alone - apparently this is her most popular recipe. The prospect of making a chocolate brownie with no added oil, low GI and high in fibre is probably quite appealing. Plus, the novelty factor of using beans as the base and being completely free of animal products! This is the second time that I have baked them. I decided to make a couple of minor changes, including the addition of some walnuts to add a little more texture.
 
 Here are my ingredients laid out:

• 2 cups soaked and cooked (~ 1.5 hr) black beans
• 2 whole lady finger bananas
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup dutch processed cocoa
• 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 heaped Tbsp cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup rolled (traditional) oats
• 1/4 cup roughly chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 180 °C. Grease an appropriate sized baking dish with non-dairy table spread (eg. Nuttelex).
2. Place all ingredients except oats in food processor. Process until smooth.
3. D'oh!! Forgot to keep walnuts aside - they were going to add texture, but now processed along with the rest!
4. Mix oats into mixture then spread evenly in baking dish.

Before going in the oven.

     5.  Bake 25-30 minutes.
     6.  Remove from oven and allow to cool before slicing.

The baked product comes free of the tin surprisingly easily.

Now to the taste - they certainly aren't your traditional luscious brownie with fat coating your mouth, but that's not because their vegan. One of the most rich, delicious brownies I've ever had was a vegan one from The Green Edge. No, this recipe has no added fats or oils so it's never going to be a rich, luscious mouth-filling experience. Nevertheless, they are still yummy, with a fudgy texture and nice chocolate taste, and they're as healthy as a sweet chocolate treat can possibly be. Next time I'll try to remember not to process the walnuts!