Gorgeous, gooey and gluten-free brownies

July 11, 2018
by Jacqueline Whitehart

Boredom-free baking. Discover this quick and simple recipe for gooey brownies. Oh, and they’re #glutenfree too.

Chocolate mousses made with avocado, cakes moist with beetroot and brownies full of black beans? My Pinterest feed is awash with these dubious-sounding recipes at the moment – and I’m loving it!

The best thing about the current boom in vegan and gluten-free cookery (apart from the health benefits we can all share) is the sheer experimental bonanza. The search for natural alternatives to dairy or flour has really sparked off some genuine baking innovations.

A number of these weird and wonderful ideas have actually been around for a while but it’s great to see them reach a wider audience. And it’s also true that some work better than others – but I promise you, this is one of the good ones.

The black beans replace the flour and, yes, I was sceptical too but I promise you they don’t taste like the ugly offspring of a cake and a taco. All you get is a gorgeously gooey and chocolatey brownie.

Like all traybakes, they’re easy to whip up and cook – and you can cut them into different sizes depending on the greed of your family. Just don’t tell the fussy ones how you made them.

Chocolate Black-Bean Brownies

262 calories

Makes 16 brownies • Ready in 40 minutes

2 × 400g tins black beans, rinsed and drained
15ml vanilla bean paste
½ tsp salt
6 large eggs
200g butter, at room temperature
100g dark brown sugar
100g caster sugar
100g cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
100g good-quality (70%) dark chocolate chips

• Preheat the oven to 180°C (160°C fan/Gas 4). Lightly grease a 20cm square cake tin.
• Place the beans, vanilla bean paste, salt and two eggs in a food processor or blender and blend until smooth.
• Put the butter, brown sugar and caster sugar in a mixing bowl and beat with a wooden spoon until creamy. Beat in the remaining eggs one at a time. Add the cocoa powder and baking powder and mix thoroughly. Finally, fold in the bean mixture together with the chocolate chips.
• Scoop the mixture into the prepared tin, level with the back of the spoon and bake for about 30 minutes. Cool completely in the tin, then tip out onto a chopping board and cut into squares.