Flourless Peanut Butter Swirl Black Bean Brownies

Rich and fudgy black bean brownies swirled with peanut butter swirl are a delicious dessert or snack. These are the real deal when it comes to making gluten-free and healthier brownies at home.

Dense, fudgy, super chocolatey and best if eaten right from the pan with a fork.

These brownies took me a couple tries to get right. This version is not at all what I was originally picturing in my chocolate-obsessed head but they work. And they work in one of those I can’t stop eating them kind of way. Which, is obviously the best way.

I originally had intended these to be more of a cupcake topped with the most luscious of peanut butter frostings going. And the cupcakes were fine. They were super dense in a weird way but fine. But the frosting.

The first batch of this so-called luscious peanut butter frosting actually turned into cookies. Actually. I tried to do this peanut butter buttercream frosting. Things took a turn for the worst after about 10 minutes in and I ended up adding in some gluten free AP flour and we are now enjoying that frosting as cookies.

Ugh!

So, plan B was a peanut butter cream cheese frosting. A little while ago I posted a no bake peanut butter cheese cake parfait on Instagram… clearly, I am still drooling over it and figured it would make the best frosting to top my insanely dense cupcakes with.

Not so much.

Friends, dense cake topped with dense frosting equals a pretty huge cake disaster. I mean, cake on it’s own was fine. Frosting on it’s own was delicious. Together…

Ugh!

The worst part being, I was right in the midst of my luscious peanut butter frosting disaster right when our friends and family who I was supposed to serve these wonderful cupcakes with the luscious peanut butter frosting to were walking in the door.

Ugh!

This past Monday, we had a small gathering of family and friends over to celebrate me and Joshua. It was a super low-key thing that turned into a really, really great day… minus the brownie cupcakes and luscious peanut butter frosting.  Thankfully, everyone was pretty stuffed after a huge lunch of all things BBQ that no one was really into having dessert but I still think the most delicious brownie cupcake with luscious peanut butter frosting would have just been the icing on the cake to a really great day. Pun definitely intended.

So yesterday, in a strong effort to right the whole cake situation wrong, I came up with this.

ABOUT THESE PEANUT BUTTER SWIRL BLACK BEAN BROWNIES

First things first – Luscious peanut butter frosting was just not going to happen for me this week. And that’s fine. I switched to swirls, which are very pretty and a lot more fun.

I used some of my own homemade peanut butter, which is delicious and super easy to make (!!), for all of that beautiful swirl action. It’s super easy to do to – just drop little dots of peanut butter all over the brownie batter in the pan and use a knife or a toothpick (or anything kind of pointy) to swirl it into a beautiful design. 

But the true secret ingredient here is definitely black beans.  If you haven’t tried a black bean brownie before, I would have to say, you are missing out! Not only do they make your pan of brownies a lot more nutritious, they give your brownies the densest and fudgy texture going. Which, I think is awesome because that is exactly everything a brownie should be – dense and fudgy.

And black bean brownies are the ultimate in blender brownies. All the ingredients go into the food processor or blender and from the blender right into a well-oiled pan. Super easy. And because the black beans replace the flour, they are gluten-free and kind of nutritious.

These brownies are a little crumbly coming out of the pan, especially if they haven’t cooled completely. But that just gives me all the more reason to eat them straight from the pan with a fork. (Please tell me you do that too!!)

Or my other favourite way to eat these Peanut Butter Swirl Black Bean Brownies – with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Because a warm brownie with vanilla ice cream is pretty much the best.

Peanut Butter Swirl Black Bean Brownies

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★★★★★

5 from 1 reviews

• Total Time: 40 minutes
• Yield: 9-16 brownies 1x

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Description

Rich and fudgy black bean brownies swirled with peanut butter swirl are a delicious dessert or snack. These are the real deal when it comes to making gluten-free and healthier brownies at home.

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Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1 cup canned black beans, drained and rinsed (from about 1 15 oz can)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 cup oil (I used avocado oil)
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 tablespoons milk (almond, soy, dairy, etc)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1/4 cup homemade peanut butter

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Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F and spray an 8×8 baking pan with oil or grease with a little bit of butter or line with parchment paper.
2. Add the black beans, eggs and oil to the food processor and blend until fairly smooth, about 1 minute.
3. Add the sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, milk, baking soda and salt and continue blending, scraping down the sides as needed, until very well incorporated, another minute or so.
4. Transfer the brownie batter to the prepared baking pan.
5. In a small microwave safe mixing bowl (or you can do this in a small pot on the stove) heat the peanut butter until very runny.
6. Drop small blobs of the warm peanut butter all over the brownie batter. Use a knife, or spatula or a toothpick to swirl the peanut butter into the batter.
7. Bake for 30-34 minutes until brownies spring back when pressed with index finger and a toothpick comes out with just a few moist crumbs.
8. Let the brownies cool mostly in the pan before cutting into 9 or 16 pieces.Serve warm or cold (with ice cream or without).

• Prep Time: 10 minutes
• Cook Time: 30 minutes

Note: Recipe Updated March, 2017.