Vegan Gluten Free Black Bean Brownies

 

Prep time

5 mins

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

30 mins

 

Black bean brownies that are vegan, gluten free, and require just one bowl and about 30 minutes to prepare! Healthy, easy and delicious - the best kind of dessert.

Author: Minimalist Baker

Recipe type: Dessert

Cuisine: Vegan, Gluten Free Brownies

Serves: 12

Ingredients

• 1 15 oz. (425 g) can (~ 1 3/4 cups) black beans, well rinsed and drained
• 2 large flax eggs (2 heaping Tbsp (~16 g) flaxseed meal + 6 Tbsp (90 ml) water)
• 3 Tbsp (45 g) coconut oil, melted (or sub other oil of choice)
• 3/4 cup (72 g) cocoa powder (the higher quality the better)
• 1/4 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
• heaping 1/2 cup (105 g) organic cane sugar, slightly ground or pulsed in a food processor or coffee grinder for refined texture
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• Optional toppings: crush walnuts, pecans or semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (176 C).
2. Lightly grease a 12-slot standard size muffin pan (not mini). Make sure you've rinsed and thoroughly drained your black beans at this point.
3. Prepare flax egg by combining flax and water in the bowl of the food processor. Pulse a couple times and then let rest for a few minutes.
4. Add remaining ingredients (besides walnuts or other toppings) and puree - about 3 minutes - scraping down sides as needed. You want it pretty smooth.
5. If the batter appears too thick, add a Tbsp or two of water and pulse again. It should be slightly less thick than chocolate frosting but nowhere close to runny.
6. Evenly distribute the batter into the muffin tin and smooth the tops with a spoon or your finger.
7. Optional: Sprinkle with crushed walnuts, pecans or chocolate chips.
8. Bake for 20-26 minutes or until the tops are dry and the edges start to pull away from the sides. I found mine took about 25.
9. Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes before removing from pan. They will be tender, so remove gently with a fork. The insides are meant to be very fudgy, so don't be concerned if they seem too moist - that's the point. Plus, they're vegan so it doesn't really matter.
10. Store in an airtight container for up to a few days. Refrigerate to keep longer.

These turned out really well, so I wanted to share the recipe. Next time I make them I want to try them with a different type of bean because it is hard to find black beans here. 

Beans with marrow and corn

A very simple dish, based on a latin american one.  You can use any white beans; I use black eyed beans.  We have so many courgettes in the garden at the moment so a few have turned into marrows, but pumpkin would work just as well for those in colder climes!  To me this is a great comfort food.
3 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion peeled and chopped
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
1 can of tomatoes
fresh basil
fresh oregano
225g black eyed beans-soaled and cooked until very tender
1 marrow cut into largish dice
1 sweetcorn-cooked and kernals cut off
sea salt and black pepper

Heat the oil in a good sized saucepan and fry the onion for 5 mins, or until beginning to soften, then add the garlic, tomatoes (if using dried herbs add now) and cook fairly fast for about 10 minutes, without a lid on the saucepan, to make a thickish sauce.  Stir in the dried drained beans and marrow and simmer gently for about 10 minutes, until the marrow is nearly cooked, then mix in the sweetcorn and continue to cook until everything is tender and the mixture piping hot.  Season with salt, pepper and the fresh herbs and serve!

My Store Cupboard Essentials

I recently got a request from a friend for a list of my store cupboard essentials-it might be rather a long list!  
My favourite Grains:
Short grain Brown rice, risotto rice, toasted buckwheat, polenta, wild rice and oats.  Two less commonly known ones out here are:
Millet: Millet is painfully underutilized.  It is given to birds more often than used in homes. These perfect, delicately textured, butter-colored beads are good for you. Easy to digest and sporting a fantastic heart-healthy magnesium content, millet is a great, quick-cooking starter grain. If you have the time for the extra step, the flavor of millet generally benefits from pre-toasting, easily done in a skillet. It brings forth a nutty flavor and tints the grains a wonderful spectrum of deep yellows and light browns.
Quinoa: Pronounced (KEEN-wah). This is a small, quick-cooking grain which I love. High in easy-to-digest fiber and tops in protein, it has an encyclopedic vitamin and mineral profile. This is the grain credited with keeping Incan armies strong and resilient. Because the protein in quinoa is considered complete, it’s an ideal grain for vegetarians concerned about getting enough protein. It includes all of the essential amino acids and is a rich source of the amino acid lysine, which promotes tissue growth and repair and supports the immune system.  It has a slightly grassy taste and fluffed-up, creamy-while-crunchy texture. Always rinse it before using to remove the bitter saponin coating (which the plant produces to deter birds and insects). 
Dried Beans:
These all need pre-soaking but are a power house of nutrients.  Store them in a dark place to retain nutritious values.  Soya beans, red kidney beans, butter beans, chick peas, black beans and black eyed peas are always in my store cupboard, I tend to have a few tins of beans as well for moments when a quick meal is needed. 
Lentils:
We are so lucky in East Africa to be able to get the most amazing selection of cheap lentils, they are substantial, filling, highly nutritious, and relatively quick to cook. They are great cooked into stews, mashed into spreads, molded into croquettes of all sizes, and mixed into grain-based salads. Plus, unlike most dried beans, they require no presoaking.
Red lentils, yellow & green split peas (always good for soup and dhals), mung beans-done in a coconut sauce.
Flours:
Being mainly gluten free the two flours I tend to use most are gram flour-for bhajis, pakoras, pancakes-and millet flour for a millet bread. 
Nuts & Seeds:
There is huge amount one can do with nuts-Toast that nut and the flavor becomes more pronounced, Chop it and you have a crunchy, textural element to play with in salads. Mill it into a flourlike meal and you have an ingredient that can be used to add flavor to deliciously thicken a pureed soup. Grind it and you have a spread or butter. Or blend it with water to make a nut milk-like my almond milk. 
Because of their naturally high fat content, nuts and seeds can quickly go rancid. Seek out good sources with fresh stock, and store them refrigerated. Nuts that are sold sliced or chopped are much more likely to be rancid upon purchase than whole nuts. 
I always have a selection of the pecans, walnuts, hazelnuts, linseed, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, almonds, macadamia nuts, cashew nuts in the house.
Bits and bobs:
Soy Sauce, tamari, or shoyu.  I could not live without my Tamari-it goes on everything from salads, to brown rice.
Vinegars:  Red, apple cider, raspberry (delicous on hass avocado with a bit of honey, mustard, and fresh chopped basil), balsamic and an aged balsamic for sepcial occasions!
Chili sauce-I make a pili pili hoho with sherry and birds eye chilies, and then always have a chipotle sauce on the go as well.
Dark Chocolate.
Soya milk
Spices:  Garam masala, cloves, cardamon, corriander seeds, cummin seeds, spanish paprika, cinnamon.  

Rocket, sweet potato, walnut and tofu salad

Salad:
1 cup baby rocket
1 cup roasted sweet potatoes
1/2 cup toasted walnuts or hazelnuts
1/2 cup white beans
1/3 cup cubed firm tofu (I marinate my tofu with garlic, ginger, chili and tamari-or soya sauce-for a few hours before lightly frying until the tofu is browned and slightly crispy on the outside)

Dressing:
1 teaspoon honey
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt & pepper

Mix all ingredients together (or layer toppings on the bed of rocket), whisk dressing together, pour and toss!

Flageolet beans with garlic and thyme (and polenta!)

This is seriously delicious dish, wierdly creamy and garlicky-it is inspired by a recipe from Sarah Raven who serves this with roast lamb, a good spoonful of redcurrant jelly and oven roasted winter roots.  I eat mine with polenta!  I have a number of variations of this recipe that feature regularly on our table-like greek white beans with mint and olive oil.
For this I use dried flageolet beans soaked over night-flor a less slushy texture than canned beans but either work, and if one is in a hurry canned is fine.

500 g green flageolet beans (or white cannellini beans), soaked over night-or two tins
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
6 red onions, thinly sliced
3 tomatoes, halved
500 ml veg stock
a handful of fresh thyme
salt and black pepper

Preheat a medium oven (180/gas mark 4).  Put the beans, garlic, onions tomatoes, stock and thyme in an over proof pan.  Bring to the boil then cover and transfer to the oven and cook for about an hour (if used tinned beans cook for only 30mins).  Add salt and pepper and cook for another 20 mins (or 10 mins for tinned beans).

Fast Polenta:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
250g instant polenta
Fill a pot with about 6 cups of water, then add the oil and salt.  Bring the water to the boil.  Drizzle the polenta into the water, whisking constantly for a few minutes until it is thick and smooth.  It should be a thick pouring consistency.  Serve at once.

Any left over polenta can be poured into a baking tray and spead evenly, leave to cool completely.  Cut it into wedges. Heat a chargrill pan -when hot grill the polenta until solid ridges form on the underside-and then can be used as a crostini for a savoury topping!