Alright ladies and gents, we’re at the end of another week. Congratulations, you survived! Now I don’t know about you but with all my travels lately I can’t wait to do nothing but kick my feet up and throw in a good movie. Well and maybe do a little healthy baking too 🙂
Black Bean Brownies – now these are delicious! I know, I know they sound pretty weird but take my word for it. The first time I made these they were gone within a couple hours. Now I cant take all the credit, my best friend first introduced me to these a couple months ago and then I found the recipe below here!
1 1/2 cups cooked black beans
1/4 cup canola oil
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup sucanat or light brown sugar
1 tsp instant coffee
1/4 + 1/4 cup dark or semi-sweet chocolate chips*
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 – 2 TB powdered/confectioner’s sugar for dusting (Optional)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Prepare a 9″ x 9″ (8″ x 8″ works too) baking pan by lining it with parchment paper. Leave enough parchment paper on the sides to create a sling. This will make it easier when you lift out the end product.
Add all of the wet ingredients – beans, oil, eggs, and vanilla – together in a blender. Pulse a few times to get the ingredients to come together. Then blend until the mixture is smooth. Add the dry ingredients – cocoa, sugar, coffee, and baking powder to the blender. Pulse a few times again and blend until the mixture is smooth. Add half of the chocolate chips. Pulse a few times again and blend until the mixture is smooth. The chocolate chips do not have to completely disintegrate.
Add the other half of the chocolate chips to the mixture. Mix, NOT blend. You want these to be whole. Alternatively, reserve the chips to sprinkle on top before baking. Pour the batter to a prepared pan. If you chose to reserved the chips, sprinkle them on now. Bake for about 20-23 minutes, until the center is set. Don’t overbake.
Allow the brownie to cool in the pan for about 15 minutes. Cool completely on a cooling rack. Dust with powdered sugar if desired. Cut them into squares and enjoy them with a glass of milk or a scoop of your favorite ice cream.
Cook’s Note: It’s important that you don’t over-bake these brownies. Due to the nature of the ingredients, the brownies will become powdery or cakey if you over-bake them. Just bake until the center sets.
Not too much of a brownie fan? Have no fear, because one of my amazing CrossFit coaches (thanks Hil!) has spread the paleo wealth and sent out this recipe for chocolate chip cookies!! You cant even tell they are healthy, and some of my friends request them OVER the other kind.
3 1/2 cups almond flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup raw honey
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup melted coconut oil
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
Preheat oven 375. In a medium mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, combine wet ingredients, beating with a whisk or hand mixer. Slowly add wet ingredients to the dry with a hand mixer or fork until well combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and drop dough onto baking sheet (evenly spaced). Use 1-2 tablespoons of cookie dough depending on desired size. The cookies tend not to spread out a lot while baking, so if you want a flatter, more cookie shaped cookie spread the dough balls into discs before baking. Bake for 7-10 minutes or until done to your liking. Cool on a rack and enjoy!
We also wanted to take this opportunity to ask what YOU want to see on here. We know we’re slacking with the restaurant reviews (we have one brunch spot and at least two dinner places in draft form on reviews so they are coming promise), but what do you want to see more of? Recipes? Quotes? Funny life stories? This place is our little sanctuary, but we love the fact that it’s become yours too. Leave us a comment and let us know and within the craziness that is our lives, that we LOVE to share, we’ll fit it in!
Hope everyone has a great Friday night! We just whipped up a batch of brownies and couldn’t be happier 🙂