When I saw this recipe over at 101 Cookbooks, I knew I had to try it. Many Asian desserts use the red azuki bean and I always like them a lot. I recently bought a loaf of red bean bread, which is similar to cinnamon swirl – except the swirls were a smooth and creamy red bean paste. It was delicious. I wanted to try this recipe with the azuki beans, but alas, I was short on time and couldn’t find canned azuki beans. I did buy a bag of dried azukis for another time, but decided to settle for black beans, at least for now.
I also decided to try three permutations of the recipe. I can’t think of many things that are sadder than someone turning down dessert because she thinks it’s too unhealthy. In an effort to promote dessert and experimentation, I tried two different butter substitutes: applesauce and banana. I made three half batches and tested them on my coworkers, friends, and roommates. I think the banana won out in the end, but the applesauce was a close second and (surprisingly) butter was a definite last.
Another change I made had to do with the sweetening method used. The original recipe calls for unsweetened chocolate, which I don’t particularly like to bake with. It also calls for an exorbitant amount of agave nectar, which is fairly expensive (and I’ve never used it before). I decided to use semi-sweet chocolate chips and less than half of the agave nectar that it called for. It turned out very well – if you like your desserts very sweet, up the amount of agave nectar to 1/2 cup instead of 1/3 cup. You can also substitute honey for agave nectar at a ratio of 1:1. If you don’t know where to find agave nectar, try Trader Joe’s or any local health food store.
Just to reiterate, I made three half batches, so I’m going to list the recipe for a half-batch below. In the first version, I used creamy unsalted butter. In the second I used unsweetened applesauce, and in the third I used mashed banana.
This is how (my version of) the recipe goes:
Ingredients
2 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (about 1/3 cup)
1/2 cup unsalted butter OR 1/2 cup applesauce OR 1/2 cup mashed banana (about 1 medium)
1 cup soft cooked black beans, drained
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1.5 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/8 cup instant coffee
dash of salt
2 large eggs
1/3 cup agave nectar
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325F. Line a 9×9-inch pan with wax or parchment paper. Spray with nonstick cooking spray (optional – but makes for much easier removal, as I found out. I did not use the spray, and mine stuck to the paper.)
2. Melt the chocolate and butter/applesauce/banana in the microwave (about 1 minute). Stir to melt completely. Place the beans, 1/4 cup of the walnuts, the vanilla extract, and a few spoonfuls of the melted chocolate mixture into a food processor. Mix on high until creamy, about 1.5-2 minutes. The beans should be smooth. Set aside.
3. In a separate medium-sized bowl, mix together the rest of the walnuts, the remaining chocolate mix, the instant coffee, and the salt. Mix and set aside.
4. In another bowl, beat the eggs until light and creamy (I did this by hand and didn’t get them as creamy as I would have liked; the brownies turned out fine anyway). Add the agave nectar and set aside.
5. Add the bean mixture to the chocolate mixture, stirring well. Then add in most of the egg mix, saving a few tablespoons to drizzle on top.
6. Pour the batter into your baking pan. Beat the remaining egg mixture a big more, then drizzle overtop of the batter. Using a toothpick, mix around the batter and egg drizzle to create a marbled effect.
7. Bake about 35-40 minutes, until brownies have set. You can use a clean toothpick to determine whether they are done. Let cool, then cut into squares. It’s best if you refrigerate them before cutting as they are quite soft.
Adapted from Baking With Agave Nectar: Over 100 Recipes Using Nature’s Ultimate Sweetener by Ania Catalano. (Ten Speed Press 2008)
These are the ones with applesauce (I mixed the beans a little bit longer than I did with the buttery batch, so they look very smooth):
And these are the banana ones (they were slightly thicker because I used a different shaped pan):
The butter ones are pictured at the beginning of this post – as you can see, they are a little more chunky than either the applesauce or banana ones! As I kept on making batches, I learned the proper times for mixing the beans and the appropriate amount of egg mixture to reserve for drizzling. It all comes down to personal preference, so bake as you like!
Notes: In Asian desserts, sometimes the red beans are whole. If you want more of the bean flavor in these brownies, don’t blend them too long in the food processor. When I make these with red beans I’m only going to mix for about 30 seconds to keep some of the beans from being completely mashed.
TheSaladGirl Tweets
As a Weight Watchers member, I’ve heard of the black bran brownies often, but never tried them. (YET;) I like the variations you offer.
Thanks! I’ll have to plan to make these soon.
Hmmm…interesting. which of the 3 did you prefer. What kind of texture did the banana, applesauce and butter ones produce?
i tried this recipe yesterday and used azuki beans, maple syrup and banana. and they turned uit delicious!! i ate it all, it was so good.