Black Bean Brownies

I have a bulletin board that I chat at where I learn all kinds of things. Some of these tidbits are really, really useful. Some things I wish I could bleach from my mind (two girls one cup comes to mind. No. Don't google it. Trust me. You don't want to know).

A couple days ago, they were talking about a new brownie. A low calorie, easy to make brownie. Instead of adding the eggs and oil to a brownie mix, you add a can of pureed black beans. Most of them swore it was just as good as regular brownies.

After a trying day yesterday, I was ready for chocolate overload. However, my fat clothes are starting to feel a bit snug, so I didn't want to gain a bunch of weight from my binging. Perfect time to try the black bean brownies.

To make, I just needed a can of black beans and a brownie mix. I chose Betty Crocker because it is totally nut/egg free. I don't worry about that for my kids, but my niece is allergic, and I was thinking to future family get togethers when I did this experiment.

I drained the water out of the black beans because that stuff is always so gooey and freaky. Then, refilled the can (still filled with beans) with water. Dumped all of that into the blender. Blended it til it was perfectly smooth. I then added the dry brownie mix, and mixed til it was all incorporated.

Pour into a greased pan and baked at 350 for 30 minutes. It made 24 brownies. My guesstimate is that each brownie had 93 calories and .5 grams of fat. That is AMAZING! A regular betty crocker brownie has 9 grames of fat.

I fed them to the family last night. I didn't tell them what was different, and just fed them to the kids. K and M could tell a difference, but said they were good. All five kids (I'm babysitting my nephew for a few days) scarfed down two brownies each, and probably would have eaten more if I'd let them.

I could also tell a difference. I will admit I didn't like them nearly as much as the "real" brownies, but they were definitely a good substitute. They were better the next morning too.