I LOVE beans.
I LOVE brownies.
I LOVE our recipe for brownies.
Mix our brownies with black beans and you have a combination that is more moist, more dense, more chocolaty and more delicious…WITH the added bonus of having HALF as much fat and calories as they do when they are made with all butter. Trust me..you will NEVER know!
This is what you call a win-win!! (Problem is I ate twice as many brownies as I would have otherwise–oops!)


- 4 c. sugar
- 8 eggs
- 2 cubes (1 c. butter)
- 1 c. pureed black beans (I pureed one can of black beans and there was plenty for 1 c.--I drained the bean juice out and filled almost back to the top with water and then pureed them)
- 1 c. cocoa powder
- 1 T. vanilla
- 1 t. salt
- 3 1/4 c. flour
- 1 cube butter, softened
- 1 lb. powdered sugar (3-4 c.)
- 3-4 T. milk
- 2 drops mint extract
- 1 t. vanilla
- Dash of salt
- Drop or two of green food coloring
- Andes Mints, shredded
- For the black beans, puree one can of black beans and there was plenty for 1 cup, drain the bean juice out and fill almost back to the top with water and then puree them until smooth.
- Cream together the sugar, eggs, butter and black beans until it is smooth. Add the cocoa powder, vanilla and flour and beat until smooth again. Spread batter into a greased jelly roll cookie sheet evenly and then bake at 350 for 32-34 minutes (at 32 minutes the brownies were still a little too soft so I kept them in for another 2-3 minutes and they were perfect--don't over cook your brownies or they will be too dry). Let brownies cool and then frost.
- Frosting: cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add enough milk to make the frosting a smooth and soft texture. Add the extract, vanilla and dash of salt. Add the food coloring and beat until frosting is ready to spread over brownies. Spread over brownies and garnish with shaved Andes mints.
I have SO MANY dried beans in my storage that were never getting eaten, yet I was buying canned beans every shopping trip. I loved your post about cooking them in large batches in the crock pot and freezing them. You inspired me…I have done that every week this month with different types of beans and am so happy that I have a supply of already cooked beans to use (and have already used them with great results) and will no longer be using weekly grocery money to purchase canned beans. Yea! Thanks!
My question with this recipe and the cup cakes made with the canned beans is…
Have you tried using the already cooked & frozen beans in these recipes? Do you still need to add the liquid and if so, how much?
Thanks for your great posts this month. I am now loving using beans!
Yes, you can use your frozen beans you have cooked and bagged. I haven't quite figured out the 'perfect' amounts for pureeing the beans. I just add enough water to help the beans be soft enough to puree until smooth. It seems to be about 1 1/2 c. beans and 1/2-3/4 c. water makes a good pureed bean consistency. Try adding 1/2 c. for every 1 1/2 c. of cooked beans and see if that is enough liquid to help them become smooth. Since I have made up these recipes, and every time I make my bean puree it is a little different, it is hard to come up with the exact measurements. However I can tell you that one can of beans is equal to 1 1/2 c. of beans and 3/4 c. water/liquid. Puree that all together and that gives you one cans worth of bean puree (for the cupcake recipe).
Does that help? If not, let me know and I will try and clarify again.
Thanks!