Fudgy Oat Bran Brownies

Adapted just slightly from Chocolate Covered Katie

With a secret ingredient that makes these fudgy buttery brownies extra healthy and still less than 100 calories per serving, these oat bran brownies definitely satisfy your chocolate craving without ruining your healthy eating plan. Gluten free, egg free, and flourless, these brownies are a good source of fiber and protein and totally awesome for anyone who’s fighting high cholesterol, trying to avoid gluten, allergic to eggs, or just trying to eat a little healthier. You can even make them dairy free by substituting coconut oil for the butter. (Personally, I’ll stick with grass fed butter, for the vitamin K2 that grass fed butter provides.)

Do these taste like real brownies?

Although these brownies are rich and fudgy and buttery, to be completely honest, they don’t taste exactly like your regular sugar and fat-laden brownies. There’s a little bit of an oaty flavor to them and the texture is not quite as rich and decadent.  Still, for a healthy brownie, they have a nice rich texture, a really good chocolate flavor with a nice buttery taste and a hint of vanilla … I’d say these brownies are damn good, and seriously, if you don’t TELL anyone they’re healthy, they would never guess.

Why oat bran?

Oats are one of the most-recommended cholesterol-lowering foods, but oat bran is much higher in fiber (7g per serving!) than rolled oats or even steel cut oats. Fiber helps keep your digestive system working properly, but for those of us who are concerned about heart health, fiber lowers “bad” cholesterol levels while reducing blood pressure and inflammation. It also helps regulate blood sugar levels, so important for those with diabetes plus it fills you up, so you’re less likely to overeat! Oat bran contains around 17 per cent fiber, mostly a soluble fiber known as beta-glucan, which helps lower blood cholesterol levels and keeps your heart healthy.

What’s the secret ingredient?

Maybe you guessed from the picture … if not, yeah, I’ll admit it. The secret ingredient is beans! Not garbanzo beans, not black beans, MIXED beans.

So now that the cat’s out of the bag and you know that there are beans in the brownies, I realize some of you might have been subjected to some pretty crappy bean brownies in the past. In my history, I have tasted (and even made) some REALLY BAD bean brownies … oh, I wanted them to taste good, I wanted to believe, but I admit I’ve definitely had my share of disappointment in bean brownies and yeah, I was reluctant to try again. But I’ve recently tasted some REALLY good bean brownies … and after reading Chocolate Covered Katie‘s post, I was encouraged to try again. Partly because I just wanted them to work, but mostly because I wanted some brownies I could eat on a low-cholesterol diet that would satisfy my chocolate craving. It was just a bonus that they turned out to be gluten free and eggless! I’m SO freaking happy that these brownies turned out to be delicious.

If you didn’t know, you seriously would not be able to tell these are bean brownies. In fact, if you take a pan of these brownies somewhere, set them out, don’t tell anyone they are bean brownies and let people try them, nobody will even guess there are beans in there. In fact, Katie says that’s the rule with these brownies. Set them out, let people eat them and see if ANYONE can guess there are beans in the brownies! I work from home now, so this is not something I have the opportunity to do very often anymore, but oh if I did, I would totally take these to work just to see people’s reactions.

Do I have to include the chocolate chips?

Real chocolate chips are a critical ingredient in this recipe. I recommend dark chocolate chips for both the health factor AND the deep dark chocolate flavor, but you definitely want some real chocolate bits hanging out in these brownies. Do NOT leave out the chips! (Personally, I wonder if melting the chips and stirring them into the batter would have the same effect … I’m not recommending that approach because I’ve not tried it, but it’s a thought …) … I think you MIGHT be able to get away with carob chips, if you absolutely cannot handle real chocolate, but if chocolate fits ANYWHERE in your diet, please, please, please include the chocolate chips.

Do I have to use mixed beans?

Technically, no. You can use UN-seasoned black beans or perhaps pinto beans or white beans. I don’t recommend chickpeas (aka, garbanzo beans). They have too strong of a flavor (in my opinion) to be used in brownies. You do NOT want your brownies to taste like hummus, right?

Do I have to cook my own beans? Can I substitute canned beans?

Yes, you can use canned beans. Personally, I am sensitive to that “canned” flavor, and I seriously think that using home-cooked mixed beans make these brownies taste so much better, but I think most people wouldn’t notice the difference.

How to cook my own beans?

If you have an instant pot (or other pressure cooker), you can make beans in the pressure cooker in a fraction of the time normally required for beans, with no soaking! It’s so easy. (Reference my Instant Pot Beans post …) For this purpose you want to use just beans and water. No garlic, no onions, no broth or any other aromatics and no salt. Just cook 1 lb. of beans in 8 cups of water at high pressure for 50 minutes, then let the pressure release naturally. Taste and make sure the beans are nice and tender. They should be, but if not, pressure cook them a bit longer at high pressure. You can do the same in your crockpot, but they’ll take 8-12 hours to get the same results.

Once your batch of beans is done, if you want to take out the beans you’ll need for your brownies and then season the rest of the beans for another use, go ahead and do that! I totally did that on my last batch of Instant Pot beans and they made some splendiferous Cowboy Caviar … and my beans also made their way into a yummy chopped Chicken Artichoke Salad and a really good breakfast stir fry I have yet to blog, but I’ve made several times.  Although I’ve really enjoyed the beans, I’m kinda regretting not saving some more of the unseasoned beans because I really really want to make these brownies again. I guess I’ll just have to cook up some more beans!

How long do these brownies last?

Not long, if you have several eaters, they’ll be gone in a flash! But if you’re just one person, trying to slowly eat away at the brownies, I recommend covering and refrigerating the brownies if you think it might be over 2 – 3 days before you get them all eaten.

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Look at that lovely fudgy texture!