Fudge Brownies

This is a recipe (maybe slightly adapted) by Dr Joel Fuhrman. Please visit www.drfuhrman.com for more information on his nutritional approach to good health and long life. Take time to look at the Member’s Centre and access resources such as past news letters, teleconferences, tutorials, etc.

Ingredients:

2.5 – 3 cups of cooked or canned low-sodium black beans, drained

12-14 fresh medjool dates or 1.5 cups

3 Tbsp coconut oil plus 1 Tbsp of raw almonds (or use 2 Tbsp raw almond or cashew butter)

1 tsp vanilla bean extract (not essential if you don’t have any)

1 cup of natural cocoa powder, unsweetened

1 Tbsp chia seeds (optional but very healthy)

2 tsp maca powder (optional)

1/2 cup of chopped walnuts or macadamias (optional)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 100 degrees (200 degrees F). This is a slow cook, low temperature process which maintains most of the nutrients in the food. Make sure your black beans are pre-cooked. If using raw beans, follow the cooking instructions at the end of this recipe before commencing. Tip: If you like a firm, harder fudge cook the beans and immediately rinse. If you like a softer fudge, simply leave the cooked beans in the cooking water for about 2-3 hours and then rinse. This will just soften them even further and does change the texture.

Combine the 2.5 – 3 cups of cooked black beans and ALL other ingredients in a food processor or high-powered blender. Process until very smooth. If you like a crunchy fudge, keep the walnuts aside and add them to the mix at the end. Oil an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with organic coconut oil and spread the mix so it is even in thickness. You want to try and go for a thickness of about 15mm – 20mm. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. Cool completely and apply optional topping if desired. Cut into small squares.

Store in a covered container in the refrigerator up to one week.

Ingredients for Topping (optional):
1 ripe avocado
1/2 cup of water
4 Tbsp organic unsweetened cocoa powder
5 medjool dates, pitted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method for Topping (optional):

Blend topping ingredients in a high powered blender or food processor.

Cooking instructions for black beans:

Cooking black beans from scratch is a simple process. While it’s true that it requires a lot of time, very little is actual hands-on cooking time. Dry black beans are available in the bulk section of many supermarkets or in a variety of sized bags at most supermarkets.

Black beans are an excellent source of fiber, folate, and the mineral molybdenum. A pot of freshly cooked black beans can be used in a variety of recipes and will keep for five to seven days in the refrigerator. Cooked black beans can also be frozen in an airtight container and kept for up to six months.

Soaking Beans (optional)

If you like soaking foods, measure out three times as much water as beans, in this case, three cups. Place the sorted black beans in a large container and cover with the water. Allow the beans to soak for six to eight hours. Allowing them to sit overnight will work well. The beans can soak either covered or uncovered, results will be the same.

Drain and rinse the black beans. At the end of the soaking time, the water will be very dark, but won’t stain your hands, the container or the colander. If you can replace the soak water along the way that is also probably useful.

Also be aware that the longer soak times will also remove some of the minerals and nutrients. Just find a good balance.

Cooking Beans

Add about 1 to 1.25 cups of raw beans to a pot and fill with water. They will more than double in size once cooked.

Bring the water and beans to a boil, cover, reduce heat, and let simmer. Pre-soaked black beans will take approximately 45 minutes to one hour to cook. The slower and longer the cooking process the more of the unhelpful oligosaccharides are removed. Beans are done when they are tender. Drain the black beans and rinse.