Black Bean Brownies

Have I already turned some of you off with the title of this post? I get it- it sounds weird, and the comment I've received the most from people in my life is "why would you want to ruin perfectly good brownies." Of course I had a great response planned for this:)

I'm lactose intolerant, so I've cut out a lot of desserts from my life. One of the few desserts that I regularly make is brownies, because apparently a few of the boxes of mix I've found are lactose intolerant. So when I started seeing people talking about black bean brownies on twitter, I was intrigued. Since going to Ecuador, I've been eating beans on a regular basis as well.

So the answer to the big question "Why ruin perfectly good brownies?": Well, because this is a dessert I can eat, I want to try to mix it up a little to add variety. I like black beans, and they are healthy. Black beans are a great source of folate, manganese, thiamin, and iron, and is protein packed! Obviously there are a great more elements included in this great food! Finally, they actually don't change the taste of the brownies much at all! Basically, you're just adding all sorts of great vitamins and minerals to your brownies. Sounds like a great deal to me!

Here's What I Did:

• Throw ingredients listed on brownie mix in a bowl (mix, egg, oil, etc...)
• I added a splash of vanilla to it to add a little zing!
• One can of black beans, drained (whole bean)

I cooked according to directions on the box and viola, this is what you get (sorry for the photo quality-this was taken on my phone):

They were actually pretty good. 

*A disclaimer: If When I make these again, I'm going to try mashing up the black beans before putting them in the mix. Although I couldn't taste any difference, the beans got a little hard, which was a little disconcerting while eating them! I think I'd like them more if I wasn't eating a hard chunk! 

So what do you think? Can you stomach this idea, or do you just think I'm crazy? :)