The Other Kind of "Magic" Brownie

Sometimes I feel like being vegan is an exercise in seeing what kind of weird shit you can sneak into seemingly normal dishes without anyone calling you out on it. This week the answer is beans! Beans are almost always the answer, actually, but today we're specifically talking about black beans in the form of rich, chocolatey brownies that will knock your socks off.

I've been hearing mythical stories about black bean brownies for ages, but I had never actually tried one, much less made a batch myself. When a couple of neighborhood friends invited me to potluck brunch this weekend, I spent an unreasonably long time trying to figure out what to bring. Kiran and Hannah routinely churn out beautiful and delicious dishes for various get-togethers, so I was inspired to step up my game and try something new. And holy crap, I'm so glad I did!

You wouldn't think black beans would do well in dessert form, but you would be so sadly mistaken. I'm not going to pretend to understand the food magic that allows this to happen, but somehow the end result of this recipe is an incredibly thick, chocolatey batch of brownies that A) do not actually taste like beans, and B) will disappear in seconds once you serve them. Plus, the recipe has a grand total of 5 steps and you probably have all the ingredients in your pantry already! So go ahead, gather your beans and make yourself some brownies.

Black Bean Brownies
(slightly adapted from Lauren Goslin's Oatmeal With a Fork)

Makes 20 two-bite brownies.

1 can of black beans, rinsed thoroughly and drained
½ cup cocoa powder
½ cup oats
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ cup sugar
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup coconut oil (you can also use vegetable or canola oil - whatever you have on hand is fine!)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and grease an 8 x 8 inch baking dish with a bit of vegetable oil. Throw all your ingredients into a blender or food processor and liquefy that shit. Your batter should be just a little bit runnier than frosting; you can add more oats if it's too thin, or a tablespoon of water if it's too thick.

Blender full of beans. 

Pour the batter into your pan and bake for 20 minutes. To see if the brownies are done, stab them with a toothpick or knife - it should come out clean.

Raw...

The one and only downside of this brownies is that you can't just inhale them when they're still hot - since they're super fudgy, they need to cool before you cut them or you'll end up with a chocolatey mess. Once the pan is cool enough to handle, stick it in the fridge for about an hour.

...baked! You can tell I got a little overenthusiastic with the stabbing. 

Now, you can totally call it quits at this point and you'll be the happy owner of a big batch of incredible brownies. I was feeling fancy, though, so I decided to add some flair! I combined powdered sugar (2 cups), coconut milk (¼ cup), vanilla (1 teaspoon), and flaked coconut (1 cup) in a small bowl and mixed everything until I had a smooth, thick frosting. Then I spread that coconutty goodness evenly over my brownies, cut them into little rectangles, and decorated each one with an almond. Voila! Almond Joy black bean brownies.