Black Bean Brownies with Peanut Butter Cookie Topping

These are two separate recipes that I’ve combined and tweaked to my liking. I’m posting this here due to the amount of request I have from friends for the recipe. They are dairy free if you follow the recipe exactly. I tend to “eyeball” some of the ingredients, but last time I made it, I tried to write down what I used. They can each be made and enjoyed separately, but I really only like the brownies with the peanut butter topping. The peanut butter cookies however, are divine on their own. Good luck and I hope you enjoy them as much as my family does! I would love if you let me know how you like them, or if you have any suggestions.

Peanut butter cookie

1 c. Creamy peanut butter

1/2 c. Sugar

1/2 c. Brown sugar

1 egg white

1tsp. Baking soda

Dash of vanilla extract

Cream peanut butter, and sugar. Add egg , vanilla and then baking soda. Mix until well combined.

Set aside for brownies. (this recipe makes approx. 2 dozen cookies if you want use it for just cookies. Bake in 350 oven for about 10 minutes. They are delicious!!!)

Black Bean Brownies

Non stick cooking spray

1 (15 oz) can of unseasoned black beans, rinsed and drained

5 egg whites

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate ( it’s worth it to get a good quality chocolate, I used Ghirardelli)

1 TBS. Butter ( I used Earth Balance dairy free butter)

Appprox. 3/4 cup sugar, plus approx 1/2 cup Agave (original recipe called for 2 cups sugar)

1/3 c. All purpose flour

1/2 tsp. instant espresso powder

Pre-heat oven to 350. Coat 9×13 inch baking pan with non stick cooking spray.

Blend drained beans and 2 egg whites in a food processor until very smooth. Set aside.

Place chopped chocolate and butter in a microwaveable bowl and heat for 60-90 seconds, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Set aside.

Combine bean purée, sugar, flour, espresso powder, and remaining egg whites in a mixing bowl and beat until well combined. Blend in the melted chocolate. Pour mixture into pan( it will be a lot thinner than regular brownie batter). Finally, crumble peanut butter cookie mixture evenly over top of the brownie batter. Then use a knife or spatula to gently swirl cookie dough into the batter.

Bake for 30-35 minutes or until brownie pulls away from sides, and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Cool completely before cutting….if you can wait;-)

“Sensory Snapshot”

It was an extremely rare, warm day in January.  Fifty-eight degrees warm to be exact.  I decided to keep my little girl home from school, not to play warm weather hookie, she had a cold.  It certainly wasn’t keeping her down though.  She came with me to work for a bit, and patiently waited while I did my usual chores.  My last chore was to rid the yard of puppy land mines, which with the weather being so nice was not near as much of a chore as usual.  Of course I was on a timer, as most mothers are.  Squeezing the most out of every single second of the day.  This time the timer was set for about thirty minutes, before we had to make our way to the bus stop to pick up my other precious one.

She was so happy to play outside, and once again anxiously waiting for me to be finished this one last thing.  ”Mama, will you play with me?  Let’s fly on the airplane!” I responded with my usual reply, “Just one more second, and I’ll be all done.  Then I can play.”  I sensed her disappointment and frustration, and as I was scooping another pile into the bag, I was struck by the realization that I was wasting precious time.  This pile of $&!#, didn’t matter!  It didn’t matter if I picked it up right then, or next week, it was $&!# after all!  I put down that scooper and said, “You know what? I’m done!  Where are we going on that airplane?”

I hopped on the seesaw airplane, and we flew.  ”Mama, you be the driver, and I’ll tell you where to go.”  So, we flew to Hawaii.  I’ve always wanted to go there.  The flight was surprisingly short.  When we arrived, she instructed me that we needed to get on a boat (the swing set) for the next part of the trip.  So, we sat on the swings and started swinging to power the boat.  She giggled at the dog when he nervously barked at us,  ”Why is he barking Mama?”    ”Well, I guess because he’s never seen us swinging on a boat before!”  More giggling.  We were going pretty high, “Wow, I’m getting dizzy!”, I said. “Why are you dizzy Mama, that’s silly!”  ”I guess ’cause I’m old”, I replied.  More giggling.

Then it happened.  I looked over at her as she was chatting away to me, and realized that we were swinging at the exact same pace.  We used to say we were “chained together” if that happened when I was kid.  And as I looked and told her this, she smiled the most beautiful smile I had ever seen.  It was one of those moments.  You know the ones where your brain takes a snapshot.  You will never forget a single detail of that very  moment.  It was mid-afternoon sun, and it hit the side of her face.  It made her glow. I wasn’t just seeing her beauty, I was feeling it.  I was feeling her purity, innocence, her joy.  I was feeling her heart.  I was warm from the inside out, from my head to my toes,  and I have a feeling the freakish weather had nothing to do with it.  I would have felt that warmth on the coldest of cold days.  I didn’t just have a visual snapshot, I had a sensory snapshot.  I have an imprint of what the air smelled like, hearing the squeaking swing chains and her tiny giggling voice, the warm sun on my face,  the tiny butterfly in my stomach from swinging so high, and the joy of having that simple moment. That is what spirituality is for me.  I saw her soul.  I took in my surroundings on every level.  Call it God, call it whatever you like.  That’s what it all about for me.  It’s now filed away in my heart.

(Of course I don’t have an actual photo of that moment, but this one evokes the same feelings!)

(Photo property of M. Fani.  Not to be used or copied without permission)