And now for something completely different… yet familiar. I love looking to the origins of food for inspiration, and the thing that has always amazed me about chocolate – that smooth and velvety treat I can’t imagine living without – is that it comes from such a rustic, down-to-earth ingredient. That got me thinking more about beans in general and how to use them in unexpected ways. Well, have you ever tried using them in brownies? They’re amazing! Their gentle mealiness adds a filling, satisfying quality while at the same time giving these brownies a more decadent, fudgier consistency. I also feel like I used less flour as a result. Doesn’t everything just taste better when you use good, honest ingredients?
4 eggs
375 ml canola oil
5 ml vanilla paste
1 x tin (410 g) butter beans
400 g (500 ml) sugar
140 g (250 ml) cake flour
50 g (125 ml) cocoa powder
100 g 70% dark chocolate, chopped
100 g macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
Heat the oven to 180 °C. Line the base of a 20 x 20 x 5 cm baking tin with baking paper and spray with edible food spray.
Place the eggs, oil and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Beat with a balloon whisk.
Drain the butter beans, but keep about 15 ml of the liquid. Place beans in a mixing bowl and add the 15 ml liquid. Use a hand blender or a food processor and blend till soft and smooth.
Add the pureed beans to the egg mixture and mix well, using a balloon whisk.
Add the sugar, flour, chopped chocolate and nuts. Mix well.
Pour mixture in baking tin and place in oven. Bake for 45 minutes.
Take out and let it cool for about 10 minute in tin before turning out and cutting into blocks.
Dust with a little cocoa powder.