I’ve been a vegetarian for 20-plus years; and I’ve followed a dairy-free, low to no processed food, plant-based eating plan for the last two years – and I’ve seen black bean brownie recipes in passing but I was skeptical about trying to create them.

It wasn’t the black beans. I love them! Black beans were the foundation for my first bean burger creations years ago. And there’s nothing like a bowl of black beans mixed with salsa and chorizo crumbles. (I love spicy) But it took a whole lot of wrapping to get my mind to settle on black beans in brownies. I usually have a pretty adaptable palate – but would my grandchildren like them? I mean, I needed to be realistic. Even though these are dairy and egg-free, they still have sugar and my weight-loss journey doesn’t need any prompting to foul it up.

I decided I’d try Sweet Simple Vegan’s recipe, which didn’t use any flour. Find it here. I try hard to stay away from flour-based processed foods and recipes to avoid that bloated feeling I always get. With this recipe I got a chance to try using flax eggs. You ever tried that? It’s a pretty good egg replacer: ground flax seed mixed with water – let thicken and then mix in recipe. After using flax seed in this black brownie recipe, I tried mixing it in with my lentil/chorizo burgers but I wasn’t thrilled about its binding properties, nor did it give my lentil burger the chewy-ness I always get when I use oat flakes – but that’s another story.

Anyway, I was pleasantly surprised with the taste of these black bean brownies. I think I was expecting to taste some hint of the black beans but I didn’t. These black bean brownies were delicious! My grandchildren loved them and so did their mom which DEFINITELY surprised me! The recipe is oil-free, flour-free, dairy-free and full of chocolatey richness, along with a few other surprise ingredients. 🙂

I’m definitely a new fan! I’m not a vegan but I’m all for recipes that allow me a bit of decadence without ingredients that I prefer not to have in my body anymore. Wanna try these? Help yourself and click the link above. The recipe is easy to follow.

Meanwhile, I froze the rest of this batch to keep from “sampling” any more of them . 🙂 Portion control is definitely a challenge for me when I like something.

Here’s to your health!