This is a dense and utterly delicious brownie with a fudgy rather than a cake-like texture. The black beans keep the brownie moist, but impart no flavour.
INGREDIENTS
150 grams dark chocolate, chopped
200 grams butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 x 400 gram tin organic black beans (I used Ceres), drained and rinsed
150 grams caster sugar
finely grated zest ½ an orange
50 grams walnuts, finely ground
3 eggs
75 grams walnut pieces, roasted and roughly chopped
⅓ cup dried cranberries, chopped
METHOD
Grease a 22 cm x 22 cm square cake and line fully with baking paper.
Preheat the oven 170˚C
Melt the chocolate, butter and vanilla in a bowl set over a pan of simmering water. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
Put the beans in a food processor and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary.
Add the sugar, orange zest and ground walnuts and pulse to combine.
Add the eggs, one at a time and mix well. Add the chocolate
and mix thoroughly. Using a spoon, stir in the walnut pieces and cranberries.
Pour into the tin and bake for 20-25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out with just a few damp crumbs attached. Don’t over bake. Cool the brownie in the tin then remove and cut into small squares. Dust with icing sugar to serve.

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