This is our favorite dessert!  It’s made with no eggs, dairy, oil, added sugar and little to no added salt depending on preference.  We encourage you to use organic ingredients if possible. 

½ cup of unsweetened almond milk  

2- 15 oz cans of organic black beans, use the entire can: beans and liquid.  We use beans where the total sodium is less the amount of calories per serving.  For example, the organic Whole Foods 365 brand, has 85 mg of sodium and 110 calories per serving.  You can also use no salt added beans, it just may not be quite as tasty if salt is in your diet.  We’re trying to make this a healthy dessert and normal canned beans have a lot of added salt.  Canned beans = time saver. 

½ cup of Cacao powder.  Not cocoa.  Cacao is full of calcium, iron, magnesium and antioxidants. 

1 tbsp of chia seeds 

1 tbsp of fresh ground peanut butter.  Many grocers now have a peanut grinding machine for fresh peanut butter.  If you buy it in the jar, look for peanuts as the only ingredient on the label.  Food companies will hide hydrogenated oil, salt and sugar in mainstream nut butters. 

10 large medjool dates, pits removed and cut into quarters.  Buy the dates as fresh as possible. Organic is key as dates come right from the tree, and we want them pesticide free. 

We would encourage you to double the recipe as it’s going to be like potato chips…hard to eat just one.  Even when doubled, it fits perfectly into a regular 9×9 glass dish.  Start with the almond milk and then add the other ingredients in the order they are listed to get the liquid at the bottom of the blender.  A high-speed blender works best as the dates are tough to blend.  Once you have all of the ingredients in your blender, let it do the work until your mixture is turning over well and then pour it into your cooking dish.  It will take an immense amount of discipline to not start spooning the mixture out of the blender and eating it right away, but it’s worth the wait.  There will be a few spoonfuls leftover after filling your cooking dish to try. 

Set the oven on 200˚ and cook them uncovered for an hour and a half.  Once finished, turn the oven off and let them sit in the heat and cool down for an hour or two.  You can actually leave them as long as you’d like, just don’t forget them as you will not be happy when it’s dessert time.  We have found the cool down to be key as the top half of the brownies will firm up nicely while leaving the underneath creamy almost pudding like.  If you want the brownies more solid, try not doubling the recipe, using the almond milk and/or cook them a little longer.  After sufficiently cooled, cover and refrigerate.  Here’s the trick…you need to make them a day before you want to enjoy or serve them as we think they are better cold.  You can certainly speed up the process by using the freezer if you can’t wait.  We like to add a few crushed walnuts and/or fresh, organic raspberries/strawberries/blueberries as toppings.  It’s our weekend treat, and it just may become yours!  Enjoy!    

Watch the Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSaKU46vbf4&feature=youtu.be