Black Bean Brownies

Before you say "ew" or "wtf" let me just tell you that you cannot taste the beans in this. They taste just like any other brownies, except maybe even more delicious because they come out a bit more dense and gooey. It's also one of the easiest recipes I have ever encountered and the clean up was AWESOME. The only ingredients you need? A box of brownie mix and a can of black beans. Yep. The total cost? $4. Double yep.

Ingredients:
Ghirardelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix (I got it on sale for $2.99, but you can pretty much use any brownie mix)
Can of black beans (make sure they're plain and don't have any seasoning…)
Water

1. Open up your can of beans and rinse them out. I pressed some of the excess liquid out of the can first and then put the beans into a separate bowl. Rinse the beans a couple more times until they don't have much of that liquidy brown bean juice left. Then rinse out the can and pour the beans back in. Fill the can up with water.

2. At this point you want to puree the beans, leaving you with a gooey/liquid mixture of beans. You can use pretty much anything for this step, but it's obviously easier if you use something like a magic bullet or what I used, an electric mixer.

3. Now, pour your brownie mix into a larger separate bowl. Pour the bean puree in the same bowl and with a spatula mix together. Don't over mix! This step shouldn't take more than about 2 minutes, if even that.

4. Grease your pan if it's non-stick and pour the brownie mixture in, spreading evenly. Your oven should be preheated to the temperature noted on the brownie mix box (the mix I used said 325 degrees.) You're going to want to leave it in the oven for less time than what it says on the box. In my case, I cooked the brownies for about 30 minutes and they came out perfect. With brownies you usually want to take them out when they're still gooey (even if you think they're not ready) because as they cool they harden up a bit.

(note: I'm impatient, as always, and forgot to take a picture before digging in.)

That's it! Quick and easy. They're not exactly the "healthiest" brownies, but substituting beans for the oil and eggs certainly gives it a better rep. It's also added protein! Hopefully you're used to eating beans so these brownies don't give you some intense gas, haha. But seriously, watch out for that.