Beanies recipe

This has been copied from an email from Fooducate, a blog whose self-proclaimed goals are

• to healthify your supermarket choices
• to eliminate nutrition label confusion
• to offer independent, objective food recommendations

So here's the recipe for Black Bean Brownies:

This recipe, courtesy of celebrity chef Amanda Freitag and nutritionist Julie Barto employs… black beans. Beans are a low calorie, protein and fiber packed ingredient we could all consume more of. Here is an opportunity to enjoy beans for dessert.

Ingredients:
1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained very well
3 eggs
3 Tbsp canola oil
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
Pinch of salt
½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
2/3 cup brown sugar, packed or ¾ cup white granulated sugar
½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Spray an 8” x 8” baking pan with cooking spray.
In food processor, process black beans until smooth.
Add the eggs, oil, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, vanilla extract,
and sugar, and process until smooth.
Add ½ of the chocolate chips and stir, so that the chips are mixed in.
Transfer the batter to the baking pan, and sprinkle the remaining chips on top of the brownies.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean.

After I put the beanies in the oven I sampled some of the batter left on the bowl (of course!), and was kind of weirded out by the flavor. I swore I tasted beans. But after the brownies cooled, I thought they were really, really good. Would've never known their little secret.

Maybe next time I'll share my equally amazing "margaritas made from beer" recipe. Yum!!