These Black Bean Brownies are vegan and gluten free as well as fudge-y, delicious and easy to make! They taste indulgent and downright sinful, but they feature the added protein, fiber and nutrition of black beans.
Spray an 8 x 8-inch baking pan with pan spray and set aside.
In a high speed blender or food processor, add your cooked black beans, egg replacer, water, oil, vanilla extract and salt and blend until smooth. There may be flecks of black bean skin but they will be incorporated well once they bake. Once you have a smooth consistency, add in your last ingredients (cocoa powder, sugar and baking powder). Pulse the ingredients until they are well incorporated.
Use a rubber spatula to scrape the sides of the food processor and pour the batter into your prepared baking pan.
Lastly, sprinkle your chocolate chips on the top of the brownies liberally. You can also add walnuts if you’d like!
Bake the brownies for about 45 minutes. You want the middle to appear dry and the edges of the brownies to pull away from the pan slightly. The inside of the brownies will always be moist, so the toothpick test will not work.
Let your brownies cool for about 20-30 minutes before cutting into them. They will be delicate, so chilling them in the fridge before cutting them helps to avoid crumbly brownies!
For the Icing
In a microwave safe bowl, microwave 1/2 cup coconut oil for about 30 seconds. This step is highly dependent on your microwave’s strength. You want the oil to be mostly melted with some solid pieces floating in the bowl.
Add Smart Balance and let the vegan butter melt into the hot oil. Once your solution has melted, add vanilla extract and sugar. Use a whisk to incorporate the ingredients completely until smooth.
Pour the icing into a zip-top bag and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Once the icing has chilled, snip the end of the zip-top bag and use the bag to drizzle icing over the whole pan.