Cookies and Catwalks

My Brownies

Meanwhile...back in the kitchen of Tracey Green...

So I'm attempting these Black Bean Brownies and feeling very wary of the outcome. I'm placing all the ingredients into my blender and, so far, loving the simplicity of this recipe. I decided to double the quantity because that's the way I roll. Go hard or go home.

My blender was wondering what was up as I finished adding these foreign ingredients to its interior. "What's with this black stuff?" it questioned. Where is the tequila? The Margaritas? The fruit smoothies? Where are the glasses with the little umbrellas? In a panic, it refused to completely blend the contents in its first attempt.

I continued to intermittently throw the switch back and forth, from on to off, while plunging and dunking the end of a wooden spoon into the sludge in hopes to get all those black beans minced into brownie batter. Upon my final try, I threw the switch to 'on' and my blender answered back, 'Huh? You expect me to keep doing this?' and its engine fried.

I decided to go another route and transferred everything to my food processor. Sweet success!


I poured the batter into a 10" x 13" pan, placed it in the oven and waited. A half hour later, I was confronted with the final taste test.

The Black Bean Brownies were....drumroll please....

Okay.

Yep. Just okay. But I wasn't sure if I mentally couldn't get passed the knowledge that legumes were messing around with my chocolate. A hook-up I didn't know I was ready to accept. So I wrapped up said brownies and took them to the school with me when I went to pick up my kids. I pushed my brownies onto some poor, unsuspecting Moms (sorry Kim, Carol, Linda and Antonietta!). And their verdicts were: "delicious, fudgy, can I have the recipe?".

Now, I'm not sure if they were just being polite but I'm going to take their words at face value. After all, these are nice, honest ladies whose opinions I respect! Also, the kids came home and dove right in, asking for seconds and thirds. So that says something.

I'll leave it up to the rest of you to decide whether these are worth gracing your kitchens. In the meantime, I'm adding 'New Kitchen Blender' to my Mother's Day wish list. (Jeremy, are you reading this!? Our poolside Margaritas depend on it!)

Black Bean Brownies
this is the doubled version

2 cans black beans (rinsed and drained)
6 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup cocoa powder
2 pinches salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place all ingredients (except for chocolate chips) into food processor or blender ( you know my sentiments on this!). Once it is all blended together, fold in chocolate chips.

Pour into greased 10" x 13" dish (I'm sure a 9" x 12" would be fine too) and bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes. Let cool, cut into squares and serve.