Lately, I have no idea what kitchen adventures are in store for me as I begin my day. Today ended up being warm enough to venture around town and do some errands in a t-shirt, certainly not the weather that conjures up the making of brownies...

But really, I did it for the greater good. Last December I made these Vegan Black Bean Brownies and they were alright, even tasty, but not perfection. I've been meaning to make them again ever since. Last time, I overcooked my beans in the pressure cooker, and used an amount that I had weighed and mentally noted to be an equivalent to a 15 oz. can. So when I paid hard earned cash on a can of Goya beans today, I deconstructed their weights and contents thoroughly, in relationship to the original recipe posted at No Meat Athlete, so I can slip this recipe into my uses for beanery in the future.

Enter the soapbox, please, since I did not realize that there is so much salt in a simple whole food like beans. I'm sure the amount varies by brand, and I know there is a canned bean market for "low sodium" audiences. When I checked out the U.S. Dry Bean Council website (yes, there is such a thing), dry beans are virtually nil in the sodium department. When I read Michael Rulman's book The Elements of Cooking a couple months back, I recall reading a passage about the usage of salt in home cooking. In essence, he advocates using salt to flavor food to your taste, and now I can see that if I add a pinch of salt (probably less than 500 mg.), it is an unbelievable low amount if compared to a processed food of the same type. If you are a home cook and rarely eat processed foods, sodium consumption truly is of no issue to you - unless of course you have a medical condition requiring you to eat extremely low amounts of sodium. Just think, if a can of supermarket black beans is that salty, think of what is in other more "processed" foods, and how as a nation, we are training our tongues to look for this substitute for flavor in everything. OK, I'm done.

I'm by no means the most virtuous of eaters, mind you, I am obsessively deconstructing a brownie recipe after all. And with the subplot of trying to sneak in some non-cereal nutrition for the Boy-O, I cut the sugar back more than I did before. I think these articles that I've been reading about sugar being more addictive than cocaine (thanks, Mike G.) are absolutely true, and the more I read about the questionable refining processes of supposedly healthy sugar alternatives like agave syrup, the more I feel like just eating plain old sugar (or honey), and just eating less of it.

So, without further delay, here is the Vegan Black Bean Brownie, served with non-vegan (but perfectly worth it) Cayenne-Cinnamon Whipped Cream!

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish (9x9 for the 1/2 amount). Mix dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Puree beans in water using a food pro or blender. Add to the dry ingredients along with the additional water and the vanilla extract, and mix until well combined. Fold in walnuts, and spread into a pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes until edges pull away slightly, and middle is set. Tester should come out mostly clean, but this is a judgment call on how well done you like your brownies.