Healthy Chocolate Brownies

This recipe was made in my food processor, which is a really efficient way to mix things. But I know not everyone has a food processor, so here are the alterations you’ll need to make if you’re mixing by hand:

• Mash the beans and banana with a potato masher.
• Chop the dates up as finely as you can – the sweetness won’t be as even as if you puree, so you may want to add some sweetener or just replace the dates with 1/2 cup unrefined sugar.

Because they’re so moist, they’re best eaten quickly or kept in the fridge. If you want to keep your brownies longer, they freeze very well, and actually taste really good when they’re solid and cold.

Ingredients

• 1 14oz can (1 1/2 cups) kidney or black beans
• 1 banana
• 1/2 cup fresh medjool dates, pitted*
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk
• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter (or any other nut/seed butter)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 3/4 cup cocoa and/or carob powder
• 1/2 cup raisins, dried cranberries or chocolate chips (or a mix of any or all)
• 1 cup sorghum flour (or oat or spelt flour)

*Note: If you’re not using a food processor, you can use 1/2 cup unrefined sugar instead of the dates.

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Put the beans, banana, dates, milk, nut/seed butter, vanilla and apple cider vinegar in a food processor and puree until smooth.
3. Add the baking powder, soda, cocoa/carob powder and flour and pulse until they’re incorporated. Don’t overmix here. Sprinkle the raisins, cranberries or chocolate chips into the mix and push them into the batter (don’t puree them).
4. Pour the batter into a greased or lined 8″ brownie dish and put in the oven for 30-40 minutes.
5. Once the brownies are cooked, pull them from the oven, let them cool completely and then cut into squares and serve.