Black bean brownies

Hold on to your hats!  This recipe is a little strange.

I heard about this at my weight watcher's meeting in Randleman, NC.  A bunch of old southern ladies in a Methodist church basement trying to lose weight in the land of fried foods.  The leader said these were good so I made them and was pleasantly surprised.

You'll need:

package of regular brownie mix
Can of black beans
food processor
9 by 13 pan
cooking spray
adventurous attitude

First step: drain the beans and rinse them really well.

Put beans back in can and fill with water.  (Not a whole can of just water, but water + beans to fill the can.

Pour the beans and water into food processor or blender and give it a good whirl.

Add brownie mix.

Pour into greased 9 by 13 pan (or a smaller one if you want thicker brownies).

Bake according to package.  Mine baked at 350 for 25 minutes.

The end result: dense, chocolatey, a little flat, but worth the 5 points for a 12th of the pan (which is a pretty big square!)

Like my pretty plates from Mom & Dad Spence?

And I promise, they don't taste like beans!

Rice Krispie Treats with a Twist!

It's hot out!  I hate having to turn on the oven and heat up the whole house.  This dessert can be made on the stove-top in just a few minutes.

We've all made regular rice krispie treats, they are a classic!  This recipe shakes it up a little bit.

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons butter
10 oz. mini marshmallows (one small bag), reserve some for on top too!
3 cups rice krispies
3 cups cocoa krispies
chocolate chips or melting chocolate (about 1/4 cup)

Instructions:

1. Melt butter and marshmallows together in large pot.

2. Remove from heat.

3. Stir in cereal.

4. Press into greased 9 by 13 pan.

5. Sprinkle with marshmallows and melted chocolate.


Let cool and cut into squares!  ENJOY!

Chocolate Mayo Cake

Look at how lovely this cake is! Rich, chocolate-y, moist, and easy to make.

Would you ever guess it has MAYONNAISE IN IT?! Well it does and you probably figured that out from the title. Mayo makes this the ultimate wasp cake. After all, mayonnaise was voted the waspiest condiment last week!

Here we go:

Preheat the oven to 350.

Lightly spray a 9 by 13 pan with cooking spray.

Combine dry ingredients:

4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
4 teaspoons baking soda


Add wet ingredients:

2 cups water
1 cup mayonnaise
4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix well.


Pour into pan and bake for 35 minutes.


Let cool.

Icing:

I made a butter cream icing too. Here's the recipe: 1/4 cups softened butter, 1/4 cup shortening, and 2 cups of confectioners sugar. Add a dash of vanilla and beat on high in the mixer.

Special thanks to Lena for giving me this recipe!

Here's my review:

Pretty good! I guess mayonnaise in a cake makes sense when you consider that cakes usually have eggs and oil in them. This came out a little more dense that I would have liked. I think it could also use more chocolate- maybe a cup of chocolate chips added!

Cake-inna-Mug

Adventures of Cake-inna-Mug

What's better than chocolate cake? Why, chocolate cake that you make in a mug in the microwave in 3 MINUTES, of course!

Royall's grandmother introduced us to cake in a mug and gave us a recipe which I lost somewhere. Her recipe used chocolate chips instead of cocoa powder and was so rich that we couldn't eat a whole mug in one sitting! This is the recipe I used, which is similar.

Disclaimer: This isn't going to taste like a cake that you labor over and cook the old fashioned way. But it's darn good for something made in a microwave and it satisfies a chocolate craving after a long day. I never had an easy bake oven, but I hypothesize that it might yield something like this. It's rich and dense. Hope you have some milk handy!

You're going to need 5 minutes, your favorite mug and:

4 tablespoons flour (cake flour is best)
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
4 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
1 egg

Mix all the ingredients in your favorite mug. Mix it again and again. You don't want scrambled eggs cooked in your mug or flour stuck on the bottom. Speaking of eggs, check this out: double yolks ?! Does that mean fraternal twin chickies? FYI: I researched this and it turns out that double yolk eggs usually never hatch because the two baby chicks fight each other to the death before they even hatch. Not appetizing, I know, sorry. Let's move on...


After everything is mixed well, put in the microwave on high for 3 minutes. DON'T FREAK OUT: the cake will rise up and look like it is about to overflow. Just let it finish in the microwave... it's kinda cool to watch! It will go down after it cools a little bit.


Add some cool whip if you'd like and eat up!