Black bean, gluten free brownies.

Skepticism. This is the word that best describes what I thought when my awesome cousin Jamie told me about this recipe from 101cookbooks. I mean, brownies, with black beans? Well, it took me a few years but I decided to finally get around to it. Helpful since I was going to a few events after making these where there would be some folks with gluten allergies.

They were ranked rather well actually, in case you were wondering.

The ingredients are straightforward: chocolate, butter, black beans, vanilla, instant coffee, honey, walnuts, sea salt and eggs.

The chocolate is unsweetened. Pure and more towards the bitter end of things. If I try this recipe again I may look into some other chocolate to see how the results compare.

Unsalted butter is added.

And mixed and melted thanks to the wonderful technology of microwaves.

Nuts, chopped.

Black beans and a share of the nuts are tossed into a food processor.

Along with some vanilla..

And a bit of the chocolate mix.

And turned into a pulse. I have to admit things started to smell quite good at this stage, a nice chocolatey and nutty smell. The taste wasn’t quite there with the lack of sugar to cut the bitterness of unsweetened chocolate however.

Hark, unsuspecting pristine melted butter chocolate liquid.

Is pillaged by a rampaging band of chopped nuts.

And instant coffee. The humanity!

This mixture is stirred together to make a smooth liquid and set aside.

Four eggs.

Beat it!

And add the honey or agave nectar. I had honey on hand.

And beat them together.

Next put the chocolate liquid into a bowl.

And start working in the puree. Yes, I am aware it looks quite lovely. It gets better.

Then the egg/honey or agave mixture is added in. But save a little bit of it!

Once well mixed, pour into a baking pan lined with greased parchment paper.

The remaining egg mixture is drizzled on top for looks.

Sort of? Is this art deco? Americana? I know nothing about art.

Bake and voila. Black bean brownies.

And here’s a piece all by it’s solitary lonesome.

It is quite fudgy and very soft.

With a rich chocolate flavor. If you’re expecting that resistance that a well baked brownie will give you, you might very well be disappointed, but taken on it’s own merits, the black bean brownie is definitely worth a look.

For the recipe, please check it out on Heidi’s lovely blog, 101cookbooks.