If you’re one of the few people left in this world who remains sceptical about beans in desserts, I am here to change your mind. I haven’t taken this responsibility lightly. I think I might have tired this recipe over 10 times to make sure it isn’t just another recipe that makes you think beans are for savoury dishes and they have no place in sweat things like brownies. But it’s here and it’s so fudgey and good it’s going to change your life!
The icing on this brownie is a stroke of genius if you ask me. By the end of the baking process I was lucky to have enough icing to dress the brownie – I was scooping spoon fulls of the stuff and eating it with a spoon!
The key to getting the icing just right, is to make sure you soak the dates for long enough. This way they will be very soft and easily blend down to form a smooth, thick mixture. Make sure you blend them until they reach this consistency. Apart from that, it’s a fool proof recipe!
Clearly holding back all the modesty, I can honestly say the only flaw to these brownies is you can’t stop at one. If you’re like me and are likely to consume the whole batch in one go, you can freeze the brownies for up to one week and whip them out for dessert later on when your sweet cravings hit.
Ingredients
Brownie mixture
Wet ingredients
1 ¼ cups of coconut milk (I use full fat)
½ cup of coconut oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 flaxseed egg (1 tablespoon of flaxseed, 3 tablespoons of warm water)
Dry ingredients
400g canned black beans
¾ cup of organic cocoa powder
½ cups of chickpea flour (you can also use oat or brown rice flour)
1 tsp of baking powder
¾ cup of coconut sugar
Salted tahini caramel icing
2 cups of dates, soaked for up to four hours or in boiling water for 30 minutes
2 tbsp of hulled tahini
1 tbsp of maple syrup
1/2 tsp of salt
1 tbsp of coconut oil
2 tsp of vanilla essence
Chopped hazelnuts to serve
Method
To start, grease and line a 20cm, by 7cm baking tray.
Using a blender or high speed food processor, process the black beans until they form a smooth paste. Next, add all the wet ingredients to the bean paste and process for a few seconds until well combined. Finally, add in all the dry ingredients to the blender and process again until everything is mixed through.
Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared pan and bake for approximately 30 minutes. For an extra dense and fudgy brownie, remove a little earlier, depending on the strength of your oven.
While the brownies are cooling, make your salted caramel tahini icing.
In a clean blender or high speed food processor, add your soaked dates (ensure you remove all pips) and blend until a very smooth paste forms. Then add in remaining ingredients and process until ingredients are well combined. Taste the icing and add in a little extra salt if you prefer your salted caramel on the extra salty side.
Once the brownie has cooled, spread a thick layer of your salted tahini caramel icing evenly across the brownie and sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts.
Enjoy!
