The new craze is baking seems to be making baked goods healthier by doing different food replacements. As you may have heard in the past, you can easily substitute applesauce for equal amounts of oil in most baking recipes. Now, the new word on the street is that you can substitute pureed black beans for oil/butter and eggs in your brownie recipes! I decided that I had to try this with my favorite gluten free brownie box mix. Note: black beans can be substituted for regular brownie mix also, does not have to be gluten free!

Discretion: I am not sure how this would taste as a fat replacement for other baked goods. It works well with brownies because the chocolate flavor overpowers the flavor of the beans.

Ingredients:

1 box of gluten free brownie mix (I used Betty Crocker)

1 15oz can of black beans (I used a lower sodium can)

Cooking spray/grease

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. In food processor (or blender), puree entire can of black beans until smooth. Do not drain beans!
3. In large bowl, mix together brownie mix and pureed black beans until blended.

 

 

 

 

 

Grease 9×9 baking dish and pour in batter 

4.  Bake brownies for 26-30 minutes (or whatever brownie mix box dictions indicate). Use toothpick/fork to test that brownies are done by sticking it right in the center and see if it comes out clean; if there is batter stuck to it, leave in oven for a few more minutes and then try again.

 

This was my second time making black bean brownies. The first time, I used the can of black beans and cut down on the amount of oil and egg the recipe called for. They turned out great but I wanted to see if they would turn out without any egg or oil. Turns out, IT WORKED! Delicious! My family couldn’t tell the difference between these brownies and regular brownies. I would call that a success!