Dark chocolate cherry egg-free brownies that are made with black beans?! You betcha!
These are a favorite for adults and kids alike.
Over Fourth of July weekend, I finally had a bit of downtime to experiment with some baking. I do a lot of healthy meal experimentation during the week, but have a bit more limited time to experiment with the fun treats. And if we’re being honest, I’d end up eating cookies and cakes for meals if I did too much recipe development with the sweet stuff!
I wanted to try making a brownie recipe that involved aquafaba, since I’ve been having a lot of fun experimenting with all the things you can do with this magical liquid (it’s the liquid leftover from a can of beans). It’s an awesome egg substitute, since it has a similar texture and you can whip it somewhat comparably to egg whites.
I know some people use black beans in brownie recipes, so I thought I’d throw some of the actual beans in this recipe too – and figured I’d use the black bean aquafaba as my egg substitute for these egg free brownies.
And I had some cherries that I knew wouldn’t last too much longer in the fridge, so I figured I’d toss those in too.
I scratched down a rough recipe on a piece of paper and headed into the kitchen. I promptly told my husband that I was making dark chocolate cherry egg free brownies with a secret ingredient – black beans. He turned to the baby and said “Oh no, here goes mommy again.”
My last baked good recipe that involved beans (there was a bean cookie at some point recently) was less than stellar. And by less than stellar, I mean somewhat crappy. You can’t blame him for doubting me. Heck, I doubted myself a bit on this one.
I whipped up the batter and nervously grabbed a spoonful of batter. It was chocolatey. It was sweet. It had bites of tart cherries. It wasn’t gritty or a weird texture – it was smooth and delicious. In other words, this batter was ah-mazing.
And since it was egg free, that meant tasty spoonfuls of batter without worry. 😉
The pan of batter went into the oven, and 25 minutes later out came a bunch of yummy dark chocolate cherry brownies.
The finished product does have a little lighter texture compared to super fudgy brownies. But I gave a bite to my hubby about two minutes after they came out of the oven, and asked him if he would classify it as cake or brownie. He said it was more on the brownie spectrum of baked goods. And to our surprise, when we went to have them later for dessert, after cooling they definitely took on more of that rich, fudgy consistency.
This is seriously my favorite baked good recipe that I’ve developed to date. It was so delicious – in a dangerous I-need-to-get-these-outta-the-house-before-I-eat-them-all kind of way! 😉
Plus, for any of you that have friends or family members with dietary limitations – these brownies meet a lot of needs. They’re dairy free, soy free, and egg free. If you need to modify them to be gluten-free, ana ll
Grab some fresh cherries from the grocery store and give these egg free brownies a try asap. If you struggle with portion control and willpower, find a few friends to share them with.
PS – If you’re looking for more cherry recipes, check out this cherry recipe roundup with delicious ways to use both ripe sweet & tart cherries.
These chocolate cherry egg free brownies are a vegan-friendly, indulgent treat that you'd never know was made with whole wheat flour and black beans!
- 1/2 cup black beans
- 1/3 cup the liquid from the can of beans (aquafaba)
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup applesauce
- 1/3 cup oil (vegetable, coconut - whatever you prefer)
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (Enjoy Life are dairy free if you can't have dairy)
- 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup chopped pitted cherries
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (additional to mix in)
-
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-
Puree black beans and aquafaba in a food processor or blender. Add to bowl.
-
Add sugar, applesauce, oil, and vanilla to bowl and whisk with black bean mixture.
-
Melt the 1/2 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave (it should only take about 30-60 seconds - do this in 20 second increments and do not overheat). Add to the bowl with previous ingredients. Whisk mixture.
-
Add flour, salt, and baking powder to bowl and stir to combine. Fold in chopped cherries and remaining unmelted chocolate chips.
-
Pour into a brownie pan or a pie plate and bake at 350 degrees for about 20-25 minutes, or until the top looks dry and a knife pulls out clean. (If you want it a little fudgier, you could try baking a smidge less – I haven't tried it but there's no need to worry about food poisoning from undercooked items since there are no eggs in it). Let cool and slice into squares. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips:
- Recipe can be made vegan as long as sugar is used that does not include a bone-char filtering process.
- Because there are beans and cherries in this recipe, I recommend storing in an airtight container in the fridge. When you’re ready to have another, pop one out and reheat in the microwave for a warm treat.
Oh brownies are my weakness! I don’t do beans well, or else I would make these and gobble them all up! YUM!
I bet you could figure out a way to do a modified version if the beans bother you 🙂
What? Beans and bean juice in a brownie? lol I am such the traditional baker that this sounds ….I don’t even know what! BUT the picture above is definitely enough to make me think twice about my closed-minded baking habits! Thank you for sharing. I do use cherries in cake and brownie recipes though as my husband loves the mix of chocolate and cherry. My favorite brownie would be something along the lines of dark chocolate – peppermint. Have a great day!!
Haha, I promise – these are delicious and do not taste like beans. It’s just one of those weird things that just works in this recipe.
I’ve never experimented with black bean brownies but I’ve heard good things! I don’t know how you squeeze it all in my friend, you are super momma!
You are too sweet! I’m a busy lady but I love it!
I love making brownies with blackbeans! They make them so fudge-y and delicious. I need to try this recipe with the cherries, it looks fabulous!
Let me know how you like them when you make it! 🙂
Yum! I’ve never made anything with black beans before, but a friend made a black bean cake a few months ago, and I was surprised by how good it was. Definitely need to try this. Pinning for later!
It’s amazing how well black beans work in this recipe. I’m curious about the cake your friend made! What kind was it?
I’ve had black bean brownies before and these sound better — love the cherries!
Yes, the cherries totally add another level of flavor to this recipe!
Yummmm! These look so delicious. And there’s that scary liquid making another appearance 😉 You are making it more and more tempting for me to give it a try!
One thing I’m wondering though – I usually buy the no-name canned beans from the store (bad? maybe? I’m not sure). But I always rinse them out to get all the extra salt off. In using this liquid in baked goods, would that just replace the salt you would normally add to a recipe?
Can I ask why you use applesauce in this recipe? Is it being used as a substitute for something? Is there something else that can be substituted for it, if I don’t have any on hand? (I do have raw apples, though.)
Hi Sylvan! I believe I used applesauce to add a little more moisture, since the overall oil content was only 1/3 cup (compared to most brownie recipes where you’re using more like 1/2 cup). You could certainly try skipping the applesauce to see how they come out though. Or if you had another fruit puree (or maybe mashed bananas?) you could also try that. I’m all about experimenting in the kitchen 🙂
Whatever you decide – let me know how you made ’em and how they came out!