I have a problem with making desserts in that I always try to find a way to be able to eat the whole thing. Doing that often requires some risky, health-minded substitutions, like bananas for eggs or applesauce for butter. And you know, when I’m alone in my room and no one is there to watch the tree fall, I can happily spoon my sweetened glop. If I bring it to a party, however, I usually end up eating it in the corner by myself like some kind of leper. In the end, most recipes just aren’t the same without conventional confection.
So I’ve made this before, without butter or eggs, and it was pretty forgettable. The nice thing is, even the original recipe has a major substitution — and if you use a food processor, I swear no one will be able to tell that there are black beans up in there.
Ingredients
I’m going to send you to 101cookbooks.com where the original recipe lives. Below are some details of what I changed in the ingredients/methods:
- I halved the recipe and used an 8”x8” pan lined with aluminum foil for easy removal
- I used 3oz of chocolate
- I used instant coffee as the recipe suggested (I was making it for a gluten-sensitive friend)
- Instead of agave nectar I used 1/2 cup of Truvia baking blend; if you’re using regular sugar do 1 cup for a “half” recipe
- I did the “jiggle test” to see if the brownies were set (35-40min); once there didn’t seem to be a ton of movement, I left them out to cool completely and then upended them on a plate (I later turned them over onto another plate. I cut them with a pizza cutter, then covered them with plastic wrap and put them in the fridge. They firm up to be fudgy after about an hour.
