I can make some pretty over-the-top, decadent desserts because lets face it—lots of chocolate, sugar and butter just equal deliciousness right? Well I also like to make desserts that are on the healthier side too. Not health food people….just healthier than the average dessert. I read a lot of dessert blogs, some being healthy food blogs. The desserts always include some crazy ingredients I never have on hand or are super expensive (sucanat, liquid stevia, pure maple syrup… I am calling you out here). So when I bring to you my “healthier” dessert treats, I will try to do it with ingredients you may already have on hand!
I have heard about black bean brownies for some time now, but have never made them. Besides my obsession with food blogs and baking, I am OBSESSED with playing Words with Friends. I have like 40 different games going at once (I even make my poor husband play with me). I rationalize that this makes me smarter because it’s like scrabble and you have to think. It’s what I play at night while I watch TV. One of my “Words Friends” is Brian and we have been playing Words together for probably a good year or so. It was just a random match up, but we play some pretty close games. If you play Words then you know you can message back and forth in the game app, so Brian and I talk a lot about food and recipes. Brian was telling me about some black bean brownies he had made and how great they turned out.
That got me thinking, because my favorite trainer’s birthday was coming up, and I had volunteered to make the dessert for her surprise birthday lunch. I mean, what else could I make for a personal trainer and a bunch of gym rats?! Her birthday dessert had to be healthy, but also good, so this is what I came up with! Speaking of birthdays, my birthday was today and I planned on making these as my birthday “cake,” but ran out of time to make anything. Bummer! No birthday cake for me hahahahaha.
Back to the brownies!! These are yummy and you CANNOT TASTE THE BLACK BEANS! As an added bonus these are gluten free too. You need a food processor or blender to make these bad boys though. I decided to top these with a marshmallow instead of frosting because that’s healthier, right? So go make these, give them to people to eat, and then tell them there’s black beans in it! I bet you they would have never guessed the “secret” ingredient!!
Chocolate Black Bean Brownie Cupcakes
Print RecipeIngredients
- 1 (15-ounce) can black beans, drained and rinsed well
- 3 eggs, room temperature
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon butter emulsion (optional)
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/4 brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown)
- 1 teaspoon espresso powder (I use Medagalia D'Oro)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips, melted
- 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips
- 10 marshmallows for topping
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350-degrees. Line a cupcake pan with 10 cupcake liners. Set aside.
Open your can of beans and pour the beans into a mesh strainer, dumping out the liquid from the can but retaining the beans. Run the beans under cold water for several minutes to thoroughly rinse them. Fill a large bowl with water and set the beans (still in the strainer) in the bowl of water while you assemble your blender or food processor.
In a microwave safe bowl, melt the half cup of semi sweet chocolate chips (this should only take a minute or less depending on your microwave---stop and stir every 30 seconds to prevent scorching). Rinse the beans and shake the strainer a few times to try to get as much excess water off of them as possible. Put your rinsed beans, eggs, canola oil, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, vanilla extract and butter extract/emulsion (if using), both sugars, espresso powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and melted chocolate chips all in the food processor. Blend until completely smooth and there are no chunks of beans (approximately 5-7 minutes but I was REALLY not taking any chances for chunks in mine). Stop mid way through and scrape the side of the food processor down to make sure all the ingredients are incorporated.
Once your mixture is nice and smooth, remove the bowl from the food processor and add the mini chocolate chips to the batter and stir to combine. Scoop the batter into the cupcake liners, filling two-thirds of the way. I got 10 cupcakes.
Bake the cupcakes in the 350-degree oven for 25-minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out without raw batter on it. Remove the cupcakes from the oven and turn the oven to broil on high. Top each cupcake with a marshmallow and return to the oven. I recommend sitting and watching them (if you have a window in your oven), because these marshmallows toast fast!!! Or check them every 10 seconds. Toast marshmallows to desired toastiness and remove from the oven. Remove cupcakes from pan and place on wire rack to cool.
Serve immediately or place in air tight container at room temperature. I served mine the day after I made them.
Now go clean your food processor….because we all know it takes a ridiculous amount of time to assemble, dissemble and clean the 10,000 different parts. But I swear these cupcakes are worth the work!!
Let me know what you think of this recipe!! Have you ever had a black bean brownie before? Do you like healthy desserts? Would you like me to come up with some more healthy dessert recipes for the blog? Let me know and drop me a line!
XOXO,
Kelly
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1 Comment
Healthy Chickpea Peanut Butter Blondies - Kelly Lynn's Sweets and Treats
January 23, 2021 at 12:22 PM[…] like my Black Bean Brownie Cupcakes, this recipe uses an unconventional ingredient (chickpeas in todays recipe), but YOU CANNOT TASTE […]