Linda’s Black Bean Carob Brownies with Tart Cherries

My friend Linda came to visit me today. What a great lady, she’s always been very supportive of my cooking and you can blame her for this blog (haha). But on a serious note , I’d like to give her a big Thank you! Linda and I have alot in common but one thing on the cards to day was our allergies !  You could write a book between mine and her allergies ! So I wanted something that was a treat for both of us something sweet to catch up over , but still safe too. It had to be Dairy  Egg, Coconut and Chocolate  free for me, and no Grains and not too much Sugar for Linda. I’d spotted a grain free brownie recipe in a new cook book I had. So now it was time to adapt it to me too and I was more than happy with the results , accomodating us both was a tall order ! But here we have it. Fudgey, Carob Brownies. With a little kick from some Tart Cherries. I have Linda’s approval that these are a winner. I hope you like them too !

Recipe:
1 Pear
1 Carton Black Beans
1 1/2 Cups Ground Almonds
1 1/2 Cups Milk of choice (I use Almond)
1 Cup Carob Powder
1/2 Cup Sweetner – Honey or Maple work best here.
1/3 Cup Ground Flax seed
2 Tbs Oil (I used Avacado)
Sprinkle of Salt
1/2 Cup Dried Tart Cherries

Optional drizzle :
1 Tbs Maple Syrup
1 Tbs Carob
1 Tbs Hot Water.

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9×9 tray with Baking Paper and give it a good spray with oil.

Remove the Seeds from your Pear and pop it in the processor. Drain your Black Beans and add them too. Pop in your ground Almonds and Milk and blitz into a paste. Then add your Carob , sweetner Flax , Salt and oil. Give the processor another blitz. Then leave it to sit for 10 minutes. It’ll be pretty thick but this time just gives the flax it’s opportunity to bind everything.

After it’s resting time, pour into your Baking Dish. Then I poked the  Cherries into the batter lightly. But if you want to stir them in first go ahead.

Pop into the oven for 40 minutes or until set. It takes a good while so keep checking. They will still be squishy and fudgey though so don’t panic.

Leave them to cool in the dish completely before lifting out and cutting.. (It helps them firm up a little more.)

Once cooled I cut these up and drizzled with a little Carob and Maple syrup watered down. But that is completely optional as they were great without too!

Piled them high and they were ready to go!

And a lovely afternoon catchup with a good friend really made my day !