I have bad luck with red velvet cake. Last time I made it, I accidentally cooked it on broil which ended in a leathery soup. Not a good thing, unless you are a special effects person trying to create very realistic blood. Seriously, if you don’t believe me, give it a try!
I have learned a thing or two since last valentines day so I decided to revisit my cake nemesis. Although, I’ve also been trying to eat healthy. Cake in the house when you’re trying to stay fit is never a good situation. It usually ends with me sitting on the kitchen floor in my gym clothes stuffing handfuls of cake in my mouth. It’s not a pretty sight.
A few months ago I saw several recipes pop up online for healthy black bean brownies and chickpea blondies. This got me thinking about other possibilities. I figured if you could make beans taste like dessert, and disguise vegetables in baked goods, why can’t I make red velvet brownies with red kidney beans and beets?
I experimented quite a bit with this recipe and I’m very pleased with the results. The beans made the brownies rich, chewy and moist while the beets added that perfect crimson colour of red velvet cake. (Much better than using red food colouring, which can have negative health affects).
Now, when it came to ice my fudgy treat, I knew an ordinary icing wouldn’t do. What’s the point of making a healthy brownie if you drown it in unhealthy fat? I threw together a vegan cream cheese icing using tofu and cashews which turned out much better than I anticipated. Since I did add a moderate amount of sugar to the icing, I only drizzled the brownies with it. Then ate the rest with a spoon.
These red velvet brownies are not only healthy, they’re low fat, a great source of fibre, high in protein, vegan, and gluten free! They would be a perfect valentines treat for anyone’s sweetheart.
Healthy Vegan Red Velvet Brownies
1 cup red kidney beans
½ cup cooked beets
½ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp almond extract
¾ tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda
4 tbsp apple sauce
1/8 tsp salt
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup ground flax (I put ¼ cup of flax seeds in a clean coffee grinder and pulsed until smooth.)
¼ cup chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat oven to 350.
Spray an 8×8 inch pan with cooking spray. Set aside.
In a food processor, puree kidney beans and beets. Transfer to a large bowl.
Add remaining ingredients and mix by hand until smooth and fully combined.
Fold batter into the greased pan.
Bake for 35-40 minutes, turning the pan halfway through.
When the brownies are done, test them with a toothpick. You want some batter to cling to the toothpick. Do not over bake.
Let cool completely. Refrigerate for one hour.
Cut into squares or use cookie cutters to make heart shapes.
Vegan Cream Cheese Icing
¼ Cup raw cashew pieces
3 Tbps. Soy milk
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. maple syrup or agave nectar
1 Cup firm tofu, crumbled
¼ Tsp. salt
½ Cup margarine
2 Tsp. vanilla extract
3 Cups vegan friendly icing sugar
In a food processor, combine cashews, soy milk, lemon juice, vanilla extract, salt and maple syrup. Pulse several minutes until it is a smooth, creamy texture. Add tofu crumbles and continue to pulse until thick and smooth.
Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Add margarine and icing sugar. With an electric mixer, blend until combined and thickened.
Refrigerate at least one hour before icing brownies.
These look awesome! I’m going to have to try these.
Thanks!
There was a recipe for red velvet cake in the newspaper which used beets for the red color, I think the recipe called for 2 cups of pureed beets. If I can find it, I’ll mail it to you.
If you can find it, I’d love to take a look at it. Thanks!
Oooh man these look great! I’m off to the kitchen to make them now! Just crossing my fingers that I have some kidney beans.
Out of curiosity, do you have the nutritional info for these?
Thanks for the recipe!
For one brownie its about 150 calories, 7 grams of fiber, 6 grams of protein, 1 gram of fat, and cholesterol free
I was looking for a good gluten-free recipe for Valentine’s Day, and this is perfect. My boyfriend loves beans AND beets! Can’t wait to make it, thank you!
If he loves beans and beets, he should really enjoy these! (although I usually don’t say what’s in them until after someone has taken a bite, I love the look on their faces when I tell them what’s in them!)
So it’s cooked or canned red kidney beans? I use bean flours, so that ingredient could go either way…
Makes me eager to give this a try – it looks easy enough – Thanks.
I used cooked red kidney beans but you could use canned too. If you try it with bean flour, I’d be interested to know how it turned out.
[…] or muffins, they always seem to complicated or i miss some ingredients. However, when I found this recipe for vegan gluten-free brownies on Friday night in my Facebook feed, I knew it’ll be the first […]
Wow, these are such unique and healthy brownies! I’ve made chickpea blondies before that turned out great, but this is the first recipe I’ve seen that uses kidney beans… I also love finding new ways of using beets in recipes!
I’ve also made chickpea blondies before which is how I got the idea for these. Love filling my sweets with unexpected vegetables!
Whoa, sounds super interesting! I have always wanted to make a brownie recipe that called for beans. I’ve added this to my bookmarks. So future reference…maybe even Valentine’s Day reference…?
Thanks! They’d definitely be a fun treat for Valentines. 🙂
Can you sub another sweetener? Like maple syrup or honey (obv that would not be vegan) I am staying away from refined sugar.
I’m unsure about honey or syrup as it may make the texture of the brownies too soft. If you are trying to stay away from refined sugar, you could try using raw or Turbinado sugar.
Do you have to use almond extract? Could this be left out? (allergy)
You could leave the almond extract out. I’d maybe just add more vanilla
Your red velvet brownies are incredible! And I’m so happy to see there’s no red food dye – love that you used beets! I have featured this post in today’s Friday Food Fetish roundup. Let me know if you have any objections and thanks for the inspiration
Thanks for featuring me! Glad you enjoyed the brownies 🙂
Hello there,
These look AMAZING!! I’ve been looking for red velvet brownies all day and yours look the best!
I was just wondering if there is anything else you can use instead of the flax seeds (since I don’t have them on hand…)
Thanks in advance!
– I
Thanks! You could use any sort of flour instead of the ground flax seeds.
Can you substitute milled flax seed for ground flax? I keep finding all these recipes but they all call for ground flax seed, but I have a huge bag of the milled kind! Thanks for the recipe, I’m making them tomorrow!
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