Every week I try to bake something sweet but healthy to satisfy those cravings for something sugary. It also has to be easy to make and take less than 15 minutes to prepare. I realise that ‘beans’ and ‘indulgent’ don’t really belong in the same sentence, but these manage to live up to the promise. I’m trying to incorporate more beans into my diet since reading Dan Buettner’s book on ‘Blue Zones’: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blue-Zones-Lessons-Living-Longest/dp/1426207557
When it comes to diet, so much confusion surrounds what are the right foods to eat. It’s hard to argue with the evidence from the ‘blue zones’, the 5 areas in the world that have the highest number of centenarians. These places have populations where people live the longest free from disease. A common theme in their diet is eating a lot of plant-based protein such as different types of beans. Not only are beans nutritious, the protein content helps switch off hunger hormones meaning you stay full for longer.
Indulgent Black Bean Brownies
Ingredients
- 1 400g tin of black beans
- 3 lrg Eggs
- 3 tbsp Rapeseed oil
- 1 tsp Vanilla essence
- 30 g Unsweetned cocoa powder
- 100 g Coconut sugar
- 1/2 tsp Baking powder
- 100 g Dark chocolate chips or chopped walnuts
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 175 c and grease an 8” or 9” inch baking pan and line with parchment paper
- Puree black beans in a food processor into a smoothish paste
- Transfer to a large bowl and mix in the eggs, oil and vanilla
- Mix in the cocoa powder, coconut sugar, baking powder and salt till they are well mixed
- Lastly, stir in chocolate chips or nuts
- Pour into the baking pan and bake for 30 minutes. If you want to keep the brownies more fudgy in texture, then remove when the centre is still a bit wobbly when you shake the pan
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