Easy Vegan and Gluten Free Blackbean Brownies with NO OIL!

So, I am still on a plants only diet, since Veganuary January 2017 but did you know, you're not automatically slender, if you only eat plants? There are some products that are 'accidentally vegan' and I have been enjoying those, like the original Oreos and some others that I can't remember now because they are so off my radar, as I am now concentrating on a vegan diet and a healthy one. 

I still want to enjoy tasty things though, like Brownies! The Black Bean Brownie recipe that I have shared on this blog is in itself quite healthy but I am using My Fitness Pal to count those calories and make sure that I am getting the right nutrients and I have seen that oil in cake adds quite a few unnecessary calories. Swapping in apple puree instead of oil doesn't work in all recipes but it works in this one and gives the brownie a truffle-like dessert texture. I ate mine whilst still warm and enjoyed moist pockets of melted chocolate, however, I can imagine it also tasting great if kept in the fridge, as a cool dessert.

So, here's how to make your very own batch of easy vegan black bean brownies with no oil!


1/ Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

2/ Take a 9" x 9" square brownie tin, line with grease proof paper.

3/ Place the following ingredients into a blender:

400g can of drained black beans

Two tablespoons of Divine Cocoa powder.

1/4 of a cup of Essential Applesauce.

1/3 of a cup of Chantico Organic Agave Sweetner 

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1 x teaspoon of Taylor and Colledge Vanilla Bean Extract vanilla essence 

1/2 a teaspoon of Doves Farm Gluten Free Baking Powder.

1/2 a cup of gluten-free Oats

A pinch of ginger and a pinch of chilli, or leave out, or put more in according to your taste!

4/ Blend it all together, I use the smoothie setting on my blender.

5/ Smash up a 100g bar of Divine Chocolate and stir it into the mix.

6/ Then pour the whole mixture into the brownie tin and cook for 24 minutes. 

Don't forget, you can buy all the ingredients you need in our shop, online and instore.

Enjoy but if you can't be bothered to make them yourself, just pay us a visit in Shepton Mallet and we will make them for you.

Nutritional Information:

Amount Per Serving
calories 173
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 6 g	10 %
Saturated Fat 3 g	16 %
Monounsaturated Fat 0 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 15 mg	1 %
Potassium 128 mg	4 %
Total Carbohydrate 25 g	8 %
Dietary Fiber 4 g	16 %
Sugars 13 g
Protein 5 g	9 %
Vitamin A	0 %
Vitamin C	0 %
Calcium	1 %
Iron	6 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.

Iron Man Waffles!

I am really pleased that I have at last perfected these tasty waffles and they tick so many boxes for people with special dietary needs too!

I specifically wanted to create a recipe that was rich in iron, with about 2% of your daily iron intake in every waffle but it had to be gluten-free, suitable for vegans and low in calories, at only 81 calories per waffle and low in sugar, all at the same time.

These waffles taste great topped with strawberries, which are very high in vitamin C, which helps the body process the Iron and they have a low Glycemic Index (GI).

This is the kind of recipe that you will be able to take out, for example 20g of the Buckwheat Flour, and sub it with 20g of a protein powder instead, for example Pulsin Rice Protein Powder, in order to up the protein content and lessen the carbohydrates at the same time.

Instead of Almond Milk, you could sub some alternative dairy-free milk that is chocolate flavoured to give a different twist but don't forget that would of course slightly alter the nutritional content.

This is a great basic recipe but feel free to add your own tweaks and adjustments and let me know how well you got on.

I like mine topped with strawberries and melted dark chocolate. How do you like yours?

IRON MAN WAFFLES

1/ Turn your waffle maker on and if you need to grease it first, make sure that you do!

2/ In a small jug pour in:

 3 x cups of Almond Breeze Unsweetened Milk 

 3 x teaspoons of  Biona Apple Cider Vinegar with Mother.

3/ Into a large jug mix the following dry ingredients:

1/2 a cup of Nairns Gluten Free Porridge Oats

2 x cups of Clearspring Organic Buckwheat Flour

1 and a 1/2 teaspoons of Doves Farm Gluten Free Baking Powder

1 teaspoon of Cinnamon

2 x teaspoons of Ginger

Pinch of salt.

4/ Into the smaller jug with the almond milk mixture inside, mix in the following:

1 x tablespoons of Meridian Blackstrap Molasses  

1 x Tablespoon of Meridian Dark Tahini

3 x Tablespoons of vegetable oil 

3 x Tablespoons of Essential Apple Puree

1 x Teaspoon of Taylor and Coleridge Vanilla Bean Extract

5/ Then pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well, make sure the flour and oats are well combined. 

6/ Then pour the correct amount of mixture into your waffle machine and cook according to that model's instructions. Mine is a heart shaped waffle maker bought for my birthday, I get 18 waffles out of the mixture and they take 2 minutes exactly to cook through. You might need to experiment to find out how yours works best.