I get so excited when trying new ingredients and making a complete mess in the kitchen. Lately I’ve been enjoying the expanded availability of Bob’s Red Mill products in Australia with the opportunity to try three flours (sorghum, teff and black bean) and creating a recipe pamphlet for customers at work.
Out of the three new products I bought the black bean flour was by far the trickiest to use. A delicious, thick soup with onion, spices and herbs tasted amazing, but looked like gruel thanks to the flour’s unappealing grey colour. Making a black bean dip seemed pretty ho-hum and I didn’t find much inspiration online. Having made brownies with black beans in place of flour in the past it was now time to turn the recipe back around.
Going through my old recipe notes I had my brownie basics: dates and agave, raw dark chocolate, cacao and coconut oil. To create the fudgy texture I used half black bean and half quinoa flour. Quinoa flour in particular lends a beautiful moistness to baked goods and keeps them fresher for longer too. It’s my go-to product for creating a finer and softer crumb, much in the same way I always reach for a cup of buckwheat flour for something heartier and more filling.
These brownies are so good a friend insisted they should be named “Ridiculously Incredible Not-Brownies” after enjoying a choc-mint version! I hope my neighbours enjoy the choc-orange version, I’m delivering them some as a thankyou for mowing our lawns last week, so nice!
- 12 dried dates or prunes
- 1½ cups water
- ⅔ cup + ½ cup dark or milk chocolate (separated), coarsely chopped OR ⅔ cup dark chocolate and ¼ cup cacao powder
- ½ cup coconut oil (or other oil or butter)
- ½ cup agave syrup (or ⅔ cup rapadura sugar)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup Bob's Red Mill Black Bean Flour
- 1 cup quinoa flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp salt
- Preheat oven to 175°C. Line a brownie or other deep rimmed tray with parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan, simmer dates in 1½ cups of water until soft and rehydrated.
- Microwave ⅔ cup of chocolate in a glass on high for 20 second bursts until melted (or use simmering saucepan as a double boiler to melt)
- Blend the water and dates together before adding the chocolate, oil, agave syrup and vanilla. Blend until well combined and smooth.
- Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl and add these to wet mixture. Add ¼ cup remaining chocolate or cacao.
- Smooth into lined tray, using the back of a spoon to spread brownie mixture into corners of the tray. Bake for 35 – 40 minutes for a fudgy dense centre, or up to 50 minutes for a firmer bite.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool in the tray before cutting into squares to serve.
Comments 13
YUM, im gaining calories whilst my mouth waters to this! DELICIOUS! xx
I definately recommend sharing these with many others, too tempting otherwise to eat the whole tray!
I agree honey!! Shall have to try your lovely recipe! xx
Gosh those look amazing! I love how healthy they are! 😀
Author
I love that too, but not as much as how delicious they are! It’s not very often I make the same thing continually.. but I’m already considering a 4th tray to share with people 🙂
Author
Thankyou 😀 I just can’t believe I made 4 trays all up – but they all got eaten so fast it’s ok. These remind of the yummy brownies on your blog too, just with flour instead of beanies.
I have never heard of black bean flour! But I have already baked brownies from black beans, and they were so tasty. Those you made look so delicious, I wouldn´t mind eating the whole tray 🙂
Made these today and found they tasted overwhelmingly of quinoa. Anyone have this problem??
Author
Sorry to hear you didn’t like the quinoa flour in the recipe Taylor, I completely understand where you’re coming from though as quinoa can have a strong flavour generally.
In the time since I’ve last made this recipe I don’t use quinoa flour as much as I used to as I tend to bake a lot with almond meal and buckwheat flour these days. Due to a combination of the taste as well as being cost prohibitive I definitely have other flour preferences now.
Thank you for your question and feedback, I’m going to update the recipe to indicate that other flour choices would be suitable to sub in for the quinoa flour. Sorry again that you didn’t love the recipe 🙁 xx Ally
I didn’t see any suggestions for quinoa flour substitutions yet…that’s what I am specifically looking for:) Ifound a recommendation online to use brown rice flour but I don’t want to use any grains so, I’m wondering if a nut flour (almond, pecan, coconut) would work instead?
Author
Almond flour would be a fantastic choice Kyla, as it’s another high-protein (dense) flour. The coconut flour wouldn’t be as suitable as its very ‘thirsty’ so you would need to use a lot less of it as well as more binding ingredients.
Truth be told, I never bake with quinoa flour anymore and if redoing this recipe I would be using almond flour/meal 🙂
Although I was not looking for a GF brownie recipe, I tried this one because I had black bean flour I didn’t know what to do with. I’m pleased with the results.
I used 1 cup (96 g) of ground blanched almond instead of quinoa flour, 1/3 cup of coconut oil (less than recipe) and regular white sugar in place of rapadura, although it did not need much sugar with all 12 dates already mixed in. I sweetened to taste instead of using the full amount in the recipe.
Just don’t lick the batter off the mixing bowl, since you can taste the raw black bean flour :o))
Author
Almond flour is a great alternative for the quinoa flour, as they are both a high-protein flour. In fact, I don’t keep quinoa flour in my house anymore, using either almond or buckwheat flour instead.
I’m glad you were happy with the brownies, your comment has reminded me I need to make this recipe again one day soon. It’s been ages since I’ve made some brownies!
In reply to your other comment, it’s been so long since that post that I don’t remember the soup recipe off the top of my head. I do however promise to have a look through my recipe notes and I will report back when I find it!