After eating plant-based for so many years, and basically educating myself on the internet and then experimenting at home, tweaking recipes to work best for my situation, I end up with a lot of delicious fragments of former recipes I read or made floating around in what’s now my long term memory. This recipe is born from those magical fragments, and I couldn’t be more delighted to venture that it might be my most delicious “weird” dessert using traditionally non-dessert items yet!
Back in 2008, the first year I was eating low fat no oil vegan, I cut my teeth on how to do that by following Susan Voisin’s Fat Free Vegan Kitchen blog religiously, going through archives and/or trying out her current offerings, and developing a wonderful conversation with Susan through commenting on the blog. That led to the treasured friendship we share today, and to her inviting me to write this blog on her Fat Free Vegan site.
But long before that developed, I just had to try her Can’t Be Beet Chocolate Cake–using carob, instead of cocoa powder. It was a delicious version. Later on, I would also try her amazing Roasted Beet-Tofu Burgers, and learn the pure ambrosia and ease of roasting whole beets in a package of foil lined with baking parchment. I loved these so much I even did a watercolor of them, which sold at my first community art show at the Moscow Food Co-op 5 years ago.
“Beets,” watercolor by Maria Theresa Maggi
So these two recipes, countless black bean brownie recipes I’ve read on the internet, a thread on McDougall friends that led me to sweet hummus recipes on Pinterest, my own Gluten Free Happy Birthday Cake recipe (a mostly carob and different fruit riff of FFVK’s Chocolate Blueberry Cake), and a wonderful tip from Italian baking I read about throwing whole bits of orange in breads and cakes, led me to the combination of flavors you’ll find below. If a recipe could be a mosaic, something new made from bits of treasured old, this is it.
And on the Slow Miracle truly miraculous side, it’s a wonder that I can use the beets again at all. After eating them raw in salads years ago I started to develop an allergic reaction in my throat and had to avoid them completely for a few years. But now, if I cook them, I can have a little. So this recipe is a celebration of that, too.
And on the funny side of life, I’m pretty sure this recipe would pass muster as a vegan–or even non-vegan paleo offering. Or pretty close, which is the last thing I ever would have expected.
And if this is important to you, as it is to the future of my own teeth, this recipe is (almost) completely sugar free.
And if nothing else, it’s an innovative way to eat my black beans! Plus, the heavy dense batter is a stupendous color, which darkens but stays in the finished brownie:
Can’t Be Beet Black Bean Brownie Wedges
Ingredients:
6 medjool dates, softened in boiling water
a few nuts of choice (I used hazelnuts, pecans would also work well)
1 1/2 small red beet, roasted and skinned
a small mandarin orange
1 packet of stevia
1/2 cup of carob powder
1 15 0z can of black beans, drained and rinsed (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 tbs of coconut flour (or oats or garbanzo bean flour would also work)
1 packet of stevia
1 tsp of vanilla
dash of cinnamon
1 heaping tablespoon of chocolate chips (I like Enjoy Life Vegan brand. They are doable for me in small amounts.
optional: one tablespoon of okara (soy bean pulp left over from making soy milk, or one tablespoon of tofu)
Preheat oven to 375. Line an 8 inch cake or tart pan with baking parchment
It’s easy: after softening the dates, put them in the food processor with the peeled mandarin orange sections and the beets and process them a little–nuts could go in then too. (Keep aside the water from the dates and add if/as needed.) Add everything else and process until you have a very thick hummus-like batter. Add the chocolate chips if using and process with a couple of pulses.
Bake for 30-40 minutes, until a toothpick or skewer comes out clean.Let cool before slicing into wedges. The texture will be more like a fudge than a cake and can be a bit crumbly while still warm. I like to put the wedges in a container in the freezer and eat them nearly just out of the freezer. Nearly frozen, they are a wedge of black bean brownie heaven.
Notes: This recipe is an adventure, and depends on the sweetness of the dates, the beets and the orange, which can vary. Roasting really brings out the sweetness of the beets. To do that, wrap in foil lined with parchment paper and roast for about an hour at 450. You can also put your packet in when you’re roasting sweet potatoes at a slightly lower temperature, it will just take a bit longer than the potatoes. The skins come right off after cooling.
The orange, dates and beets made this so lovely in sweetness that I probably could have left out the packet of stevia if I wanted to. Carob is sweeter than cocoa powder however; so if you want to make these with cocoa powder, my guess is you’re going to need that stevia, and possibly even a little more, depending on your sweet tooth. This is the kind of recipe the “taste and see” method works well on. You can always add a little bit more of something to the food processor bowl to balance taste out.
Oh, and the one sugar exception is the Enjoy Life chocolate chips. But with using just about a tablespoon or two, there’s just the right amount of occasional intensity in each wedge. But they can also be left out as well. Experiment!
One last note: these can also be made successfully with roasted winter squash in place of the beets. (I shared one of those with a neighbor who reads the blog. She was skeptical, never having had a black bean brownie before but reported back they were delicious.) If winter squash is used the stevia is needed since the squash is not as sweet as the beets. If you don’t have the little mandarin oranges a slice or wedge of an organic navel orange, chopped up, peel and all, is a good substitution.
Here’s to imaginative desserts more full of beans, veggies and fruit that don’t taste like, well, beans and vegetables. Kinda makes me wish I had a picky kid around to fool. Bon appetit!
{ 18 comments… read them below or add one }
I’m so glad to see we were in sync again! And to see the idea of putting beets in desserts is still alive and well. 🤣 Great post!
Thanks Susan–I love our recipe synchronicity, too! xo 🙂
This sounds delicious! I really like your idea of keeping the slices in the freezer and eating almost frozen – that’d be perfect for the coming warm weather season. You’re always so creative in your recipes, I’m glad to see you’re still working that magic! xoxo
Hey Veronica, so happy you think these sound delicious and that you like the idea of eating them almost frozen. I just love them that way. You really made me smile with the compliment about still working the magic–thank you!! xo
Could you use a blender instead of food processor? Thanks!
Thanks for your question, Lisa. You could try. It’s a very thick “batter” though, sort of like hummus. I’d start with the dates and their cooking water, the orange, the beets, and then try to add the rest. It might take a lot of start and stop and maybe a few splashes of water or non-dairy milk, but, heck, give it a go!
1 1/2 small red beet, roasted and skinned
Please clarify if you mean 1 small beet and half of another small red beet. The recipe sounds yummy. Beet is an essential ingredient and I don’t want to use too much or too little.
Thanks for your question Christina. Yes, that’s what I meant. It would probably amount to a healthy half cup, so about a third of the amount of black beans you are using–somewhere between 1/2-2/3 of a cup, roughly. I don’t think you can mess it up unless you put a HUGE beet in. Maybe even that would be okay because once roasted they are so sweet! Remember, no skin. We’re sort of eliminating the earthier taste of that here. Hope you enjoy–it’s a forgiving recipe–make it your own! xo
You and I roast our beets the same way! And I love the looks of this cake. I’ve had really good luck so far with the beets & chocolate combination, but less with black beans in baking. This encourages me to try a new formula 🙂
XOXO
Great beet minds, Gena! It’s the best way! It’s an adventure when beans are the main ingredient. The black beans work pretty well in this. I’ve also played with a blondie one with chickpeas. I just tried a white bean adventure, and while it tastes fantastic, it never really firmed up into a cake and had to be frozen in piece–blondie popsicles anyone? Maybe some day. . .xoxo
Oh, WOWOWOWOW! These are beyond delicious, Maria – thanks so very much for another frabjous recipe :). The only problem is I want to eat the whole batch at once…hey, it’s only a can of beans and some beets, right???!?
Oh, I forgot – in case someone wants to skip the nuts and chips – I do, too and the brownies are still divine…
Thank you–really good to know!
Hah! That’s a great rationalization, Marilyn!! I am so happy you find these beyond delicious! Makes my day.
Hi maria, haven’t seen a post in awhile. Hope you are ok. Maybe I got dropped off your list accidentally!
Hi Peggy, I got your sweet e-mail but just haven’t gotten to respond to it yet. Thank you so much for checking on me! I really appreciate it. I have been very sick and am much better but still getting better. I am finally able to work on a new post telling about this and more, and hope to have it up in the next week. This is the longest I’ve been away from the blog and I miss it! Thanks again xoxo
Hi, I just discovered you and these sound delish! I am not a Stevia fan, is there any reason why I can’t just add more dates? I’m thinking chopped dates in place of the chips will give it the extra sweetness. Thanks!
Absolutely you could Susan! If I was making it today that’s what I’d do as well. Maybe 10 or 12 dates instead of six? Thanks for your question and hope you like them!