Protein Brownies
During the COVID-19 pandemic, many people are starting to flex their baking muscles. Stuck at home during the day, I learned of black bean brownies from a day time talk show, Kelly and Ryan Live. Ryan Seacrest was showing off these brownies as an alternative to the excessive amounts of comfort foods that he was consuming during this trying time. Facebook must have known what I was thinking because a suggested post showed up that day with a recipe for these brownies, creepy but I’ll take it. While I don’t know how healthy these brownies actually are, they are definitely packed with protein which is what lead me to this particular recipe.
Let me just start off by saying I absolutely love it when I find a recipe that has a video! I don’t know if other people get as confused while cooking as I do, I second guess myself or have to google terminology, a video eliminates many of my problems. This recipe was as easy as they come though; add all ingredients to a food processor, then pour batter into a pan, and bake. The only thing I wasn’t certain about was lining the pan with both parchment paper and grease; it seemed a bit excessive to me. I’m thinking it must have something to do with the consistency of the batter as it cooks.
I baked the brownies for 25 minutes and let me tell you they smelled delicious! I let them cool then tasted them and I believe this recipe was a total success considering it wasn’t an actual brownie. I wish I wouldn’t have told my husband what was in the brownies to get an unbiased reaction, he was not as impressed as I was. He commented, all though they look like a brownie, and smell like a brownie, the texture left something to be desired for him, and he couldn’t get over it. Whatever, more brownies for me!
UPDATE: These brownies are best day one, fresh out of the oven. The recipe advises to refrigerate, but by day two they have less of that ooey-gooey chocolate smell and more of the left-over bean funk. If you can make it past the smell it’s not terrible but less reminiscent of a delicious fudgy brownie.
