don't fear the black bean brownies

Trying to catch up with my recipes, starting with Alicia's challenge for January: Amazing Black Bean Brownies from 101 Cookbooks.

I wasn't really sure how much I would like these, but I wasn't expecting anything too terrible or inedible since 101 Cookbooks never disappoints (as a side note, I encourage you guys to try the recipe for Winter Pasta. I used collard greens instead of kale, and it turned out fabulously—so far I've applied it to paninis, pasta, and pizza—love it). Plus, beans are a key ingredient in at least two popular Filipino desserts (halo-halo, hopiang mungo)—so not completely uncharted territory.

I found the recipe pretty straightforward, though it did leave me wishing that I owned a larger, more powerful food processor. The recipe directs us to add "a couple of spoonfuls" of the melted chocolate/butter mixture to the beans in the processor, but I think I added much more because I found the beans much too dry to process into a smooth consistency . . . also, I only had 1/2 cup walnuts available (I used the other half for the winter pasta last week and forgot to buy more), so all of that went into the processor with the beans. I figured that wouldn't be a problem . . . aaand . . . it wasn't. :)

So I poured the batter into a jelly roll pan and popped it in the oven. Baked it for 30 minutes . . . then 10 more minutes . . . then maybe 5 to 10 minutes more until I was satisfied that they were actually set. Let them cool, then put them in the fridge overnight—not soft at all when I checked on them the next morning.

As for the taste . . .

Not bad, though I'm not sure I'd make them again. I prefer my brownies chewier and a bit sweeter (though definitely not as sweet as the browned butter brownies on the cover of February's Bon App—yikes), and I found that these to be quite fudgy with a strong dark chocolate flavor. I'm sure they would make many other people happy, though! I made them on Saturday night, served them for a Super Bowl gathering on Sunday, and had TJ take the rest to his class today (I hear that they got pretty good reviews). I did give them another try before he took them away, and I think I liked them better—just needed to give them more time to meld together and mellow out, perhaps? I was thinking that they'd also be good with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top to balance out the deep, rich flavor of the brownie. TJ did bring back a few leftovers, so perhaps I'll give that a try later this week.

Up next: peanut butter cups!