Fudgy Flourless Brownies

 These Fudgy Flourless Brownies are made with a secret ingredient: black beans! You won’t be able to tell, though, because they’re so chocolatey, sweet, and totally resemble traditional brownies.

Fudgy Flourless Brownies

I am so excited to be repurposing this recipe, guys! These Fudgy Flourless Brownies were the very first recipe I ever shared on my blog. That’s right – these puppies were originally posted on October 4th, 2013. Here we are in August of 2016 – my, how time flies, and how photography improves.

In honor of this total throwback, I thought I’d dig into a couple throwbacks of my own. Do you ever think back to the music you once enjoyed at a certain point in your life? Or maybe, a song comes on and it totally transports you back to a certain age, grade, or phase in your life? This happens to me all the time.

For instance, right now I’m listening to Stronger by Kanye West. I still know every single word. This song brings me back to freshman year of high school because Kanye’s Graduation album was all I was playing as soon as it came out. Now?… don’t get me started on Kanye.

Fudgy Flourless Brownies

Another trip down memory lane? Blink-182 was basically all I listened to all throughout middle school. Oh, and a plethora of “emo” bands because I thought I was really cool. Let’s see… My Chemical Romance, The Used, Brand New, Taking Back Sunday, Saosin, Circa Survive… unfortunately I could go on. I also wore chokers and pink eye shadow. Let’s move on.

College jams? Let’s see… I was really into hip-hop in high school through almost the end of college. I still listen to it, but I’m not into it as I once was. I would say my top two favorites were J. Cole and Dom Kennedy. I even saw Dom Kennedy live and he tried to pull me on stage (it was a smaller venue). If you know me, you know that I freaked out and was like NOO!!! AHHH! Yeah. #wimp… At least I got my shirt signed?

There are those certain songs that, no matter who you’re with, when they come on you look at each other and say “this brings me back to college!” (if they are your age). For anyone in their mid-twenties, I’d say this is Pitbull’s ‘Give Me Everything’, Gotye’s ‘Somebody That I Used to Know’, and ‘The Motto’ by Drake.

Today my taste in music is extremely diverse. I always have a handful of songs that I discover and listen to relentlessly until I tire them out. Right now, I’m loving…

Ain’t No Easy Way by Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
This GirlKungs and Cookin’ on 3 Burners
Wherever I GoOneRepublic
Send My LoveAdele
RagingKygo and Kodaline
We Come RunningYoungblood Hawke

Oh, and anything by The Head and the Heart.

Fudgy Flourless Brownies

As for what I was listening to while I was making these Fudge Flourless Brownies… hm, probably “F***in’ Problems” by A$AP Rocky. Don’t act like you don’t like it.

But really, can we talk about these brownies? In college I went gluten-free for a whole year while I was experimenting with different remedies for my stomach issues. During that time, I had to be the most creative with my food that I’d ever needed to. This recipe was made during that time because I needed brownies in my life, and there wasn’t really such thing as the million different types of gluten-free flours that there are now. At least, I didn’t have access to them.

Thus, I did a ton of research on gluten-free baking and different substitutes and voila, these black bean brownies were born. I was also experimenting with chickpeas, too. Like black beans, they’re a great sub for gluten-free baking!

These brownies are…

Easy

Fudgy

Soft

Chocolatey

Bold

Sweet

 [Tweet “You’ll never guess what the secret ingredient is in these Fudgy Flourless Brownies!”]

Fudgy Flourless Brownies
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
Serves: 12 brownies
Ingredients
  • 15 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 egg
  • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 2 tbs honey
  • 2 tbs nut butter (I used creamy peanut butter)
  • 1/4 cup almond milk
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Place black beans in a food processor and process until they become a paste, without any black bean chunks.
  3. Place black bean “paste” in a large mixing bowl. Add in egg and combine well.
  4. Add cocoa powder and baking powder. Mix together.
  5. Add in honey, nut butter and almond milk. Mix until well-combined.
  6. Fold in chocolate chips.
  7. Pour batter into an 8×8 greased baking dish. Top with extra chocolate chips.
  8. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

Join the conversation:
What kind of music do you like? Give me your current favorites!
Have you ever had to experiment with different types of cooking/baking?

Did you like this recipe? Put a pin on it!
Fudgy Flourless Brownies

You might also like these other gluten-free recipes:

Gluten-Free White Chocolate Banana Muffins

Gluten-Free Peanut Butter and Jelly Squares

Chocolate Walnut Espresso Blondies (GF+Vegan) 

Comments

  1. says

    I made something similar to this last year for Easter and even the little kids were chowing down on them!! Incredible how good they taste! My boyfriend thought I lost my mind when I started putting the ingredients together … haha GF can taste good and be healthier!

  2. says

    LOVING this recipe, I’m such a huge fan of black bean brownies and this is simpler than the one I usually make, so I’ve found my new staple!! :) Omg throwbacks! I’ve been listening to old Missy Elliot lately (the BEST) and old Rihanna stuff. I love any music except head-banging rock and screamo….no thanks!! LOL

  3. says

    Ahhhh loveeee music. Love all of those emo bands too! They were definitely my music of choice in HS. My favorite pastime was getting on Pure Volume and finding new bands I liked. Valencia was one of my favorite lesser known ones. Definitely gonna check out some of your current faves, I haven’t heard of some of them.
    And black bean brownies are never a disappointment. These look awesome!

  4. says

    I love black bean brownies! I make them all the time but I add some oatmeal in them. It does make it a lot less fudgy that I would like though, so I have to increase the honey in it. I know honey is a good food, but it’s still sugar, so I’m looking at ways to reduce the amount of honey in it. I think this would be a good recipe to try.

    By the way, I was the emo kid back in middle school too. Fallout Boy for life! Lol :)

  5. says

    I am ALL about country music this summer. When I workout though, I listen to a lot of techno and Lady Gaga to motivate me when I am sweating it ALL OUT! Now onto these brownies…AMAZING! XOXO

  6. says

    Oh wow! I STILL haven’t tried black bean brownies, so thank you for the reminder to do so because these look soooo good! When I started dating my BF a couple of years ago, I had never tried GF baking at all. He has celiac, though, so I had to learn pretty quick! There was definitely a learning curve–especially being able to tell the good from the bad recipes–but it was worth it! :)

  7. says

    thats too funny – one of my very first recipes was black bean brownies as well. my photos were so bad at that point that i took some off a free stock photo site! hah. i really need to re-do them eventually….
    pinning this! xx

  8. says

    Currently, I’ve been jamming to throwbacks like Fergalicious (no shame), Crank That, Get Low, and No Hands. It’s made for some interesting workouts, haha. Speaking of emo music, does anyone remember Paramore before they turned super pop? Annnnnd since these brownies have protein from the black beans, I believe they make a suitable dinner, thank you very much 😉 .

    xxMeah

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