Brownies

No one should ever have to live with out brownies.  My efforts on getting a brownie recipe started the moment the Diagnosis came through.  Perhaps it was my stress and need to be blissfully taken away by homemade chocolate goodness that was driving me.  But most definitely, I knew we had to come up with a fast replacement for these as all of the kids love them and we wanted the change to be a success.

These brownies are so strikingly similar to the boxed brownie they could easily be confused.  The taste is identical and THEY EVEN HAVE THE FLAKEY TOP. The hardest part about the brownies was the fact that we needed to add flour to the recipe.  I hate the idea of a great brownie whose color is tarnished by a white flour. So I chose replacements based off of their darker color.  The fact that they add nutrition to the brownies without sacrificing flavor, is just a bonus.  

You will notice there are black beans, flax, and wild rice in them.  And I promise the taste is not affected, though nutrition is highly affected for the better.  You could have these for breakfast without feeling guilty!!  I know some of you are probably a little uncomfortable thinking about beans or wild rice in your dessert, which I think is likely very normal.  If you don't want to use these ingredients or don't have some of them, you can substitute Wild Rice with Rice Flour or Tapioca flour/starch and just omit the black beans along with 2 TBSP butter.

This recipe is also a good option for making pre-bagged mixes.  Using a quart sized ziploc bag place the entire dry list of ingredients (3rd) in the bag and write on the bag the wet ingredients missing along with baking instructions.  For easiest processing of bagging your own mixes get 10 cups or containers that can hold 2-3 cups (I like using large tall plastic cups).  To make it easy to carry all the containers to where your ingredients are, place them on a cookie sheet.  Working one ingredient at a time, add each ingredient to every cup before moving on to the next ingredient.  I hold out wild rice and flax adding them with the wet ingredients primarily because the nutrients go bad shortly after grinding.  If you don't care about the nutrients, you can go ahead and add the wild rice to the mixes.  However, Flax will actually go rancid from its oil content (that goes for store bought or home ground too), if it is not used soon enough after being ground.

For those of my readers who would like to reduce the fat and sugar, replace the butter with applesauce and the sugar with splenda (you could also replace sugar with honey and reduce the water by 2 TBSP or Agave Nectar and reduce the water by 3 TBSP).  However, the butter is one of the key ingredients to making the flakey top, so if appearance is an issue, you may not want to alter it.

Brownies

3/4 cup melted Butter or Crisco
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1/3 cup warm water 
2 eggs***

1 1/2 tsp orange extract (or vanilla)
*  *  *  *
1/2 cup well drained mashed black beans/re-fried Black Beans*

*  *  *  *

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 cup ground wild rice (use coffee/spice grinder if you don't have a grain grinder) 
1/4 cup ground flax (or other flours- I recommend tapioca, sorghum, or rice)  
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tsp guar gum (NOT xanthan gum**)
1/2 tsp salt (1/4 tsp if using canned beans)

3/4 cups chopped pecans or favorite nut (optional)

        

Note: If you are grinding your wild rice with a spice grinder, you really need to combine the ground wild rice with the water (boil the water by placing it in the microwave for 30 secs) and set aside til cools.  If you have pre-ground or wild rice ground in a grain grinder, then you can just put the water with the wet ingredients and the wild rice flour with the dry as written.  

1) If you are using black beans, put black beans in the food processor and give it a spin. Melt butter and while still hot combine with chocolate chips in a large bowl.  Not all chocolate chips will be completely melted and that is OK.  
2) After mixing add eggs, mashed black beans, and extract.  
3)Combine 2nd list of ingredients, except pecans, and mix well. 
4) Add all the wet ingredients to the bowl of dry ingredients and mix well making sure there are no lumps except possible chocolate chips. Then mix in pecans.  
5) Pour into greased 13 x 9 inch pan and bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick poked in middle of brownies comes out nearly clean.  Let cool fully before serving (I will even place them in fridge for a while to chill before cutting, then nuke individually in microwave to serve.)  

*You can choose to make your own re-fried black beans or buy canned.  If you buy canned make sure there is no garlic or onion added to the beans.  Many people add a whole can to the store bought mixes, but I don't recommend it.
** If you like the flakey top, guar gum is what you would want to use.  If you like restaurant style (no flakey top), then use Xanthan Gum.
***For egg free replace with 1/3 cup Avocado and reduce butter by 2 TBSP. There will still be a flakey top, but it is a thickened flakey top w/o the shiney appearance, the taste is unaffected and still extremely fudgey.