Beannies!

Have you ever had a chocolate craving but you really didn't want to eat something totally devoid of any nutrition? If so, then Beannies are for you!

I have to confess--this idea was not original with me. I first heard my cousin mention that she had tried some brownies made with black beans at a healthy cooking class she had attended at her church. My sweet tooth antenna immediately went up.

Brownies? With beans in them? What is this world coming to????? Did I hear that right?

I e-mailed my cousin back and asked her more questions, upon which she told me that it was just a Betty Crocker brownie mix that they had used a can of blended up black beans in place of the oil, egg, and water that the directions tell you to add. Well, this I HAD to try! My first attempt tasted remarkably good, but I felt like the ones in the middle of the pan were a bit too moist for my tastes. The ones around the edges of the pan were really good, however, so this had potential!

I started thinking about those fancy "edge" pans you see in catalogs sometimes, where you are supposed to put your batter into a pan with zig zag type of edges--therefore giving you more of the "edge" part that you wanted. Well, I don't have money for a lot of fancy unique one-use-only types of pans, but I thought perhaps mini muffin pans might work. It would give more pan edge to the batter, therefore "drying" that batter out just a bit more. Anyway, I tried it and I think it works GREAT! My family does too. And while this idea was not original with me (I NEVER would have thought of this on my own!), as far as I know, the name "Beannies" is. I can't really call them brownies--but I thought "Beannies" fit pretty good!

I was having trouble getting a good picture with my camera this morning, so you will just have to realize that they were scrumptious even though they may not look like it in my poor photo. And by tonight, they are mostly gone--just a few left, and I only made them late last night after the kids were in bed!

O.K., I realize it may be a stretch to call these "healthy," but if you are GOING to eat something sweet and chocolate anyway, at least these are low fat and have some good fiber in them now! :)

As far as the recipe goes, one box of Betty Crocker brownie mix. One can black beans. Blend the black beans up in a food processor or blender until smooth--do not drain, just dump them in right straight from the can. Then dump the processed beans into the bowl with the dry mix, and mix good either by hand or by mixer. Fill mini muffin pans around half to three fourths full, and bake at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Enjoy! These are a great way to eat beans in my opinion!