Natural Sweet Recipes

Mint Brownies

We all know of people that despise the mention of “healthy” and “dessert” in the same sentence. People that think black beans in desserts are a waste of time or that treats made butter-free should be illegal may need a little extra convincing. These brownies may be just the thing to convince anyone to love healthy desserts.

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At the end of the day, we don’t need to convince anyone. These delicious mint brownies will naturally do all the convincing. What’s more important is that these will reaffirm to you your excitement for good food and good health.

These chocolate and mint brownies contain some “popular” healthy ingredients like black beans but to really push these brownies over the edge, I dug even deeper. Blueberries, flax, avocado and pear would make these even more healthy.

And would you know, even more delicious. Seriously!

And let’s not forget the creamy mint filling that will gush out with each chocolate covered bite.

Healthy Mint Brownies

Healthy ingredients truly can be combined for rich, decadent treats. Blueberries can become another healthy sweetener. Avocado can become a sweet, creamy mint filling. And you really can feel fantastically good after eating a rich, chocolate brownie.

Something that good should be shared with every single soul you know. Enjoy!!

Mint Brownies

Brownies
1/3 cup Almond Milk
3 Tablespoons Ground Flax
1/2 cup Frozen Blueberries
1 Whole (2 halves) canned or jar unsweetened Pear (I use Trader Joe’s)
1 15-ounce can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
2 Tablespoons Melted Butter (use Earth Balance Butter to keep vegan)
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
3/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon Coconut Sugar
3/4 cup plus 1 Tablespoon Cocoa Powder
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 teaspoon Baking Soda
1/2 teaspoon Pink Sea Salt
3 Tablespoons White Spelt Flour or Rice Flour*
1/2 cup Dark Chocolate Chunks or Chips

Mint Filling:
1/4 cup ripe, soft Avocado
1 Tablespoon Full-Fat Coconut Cream or Heavy Cream
1/2 cup Powdered Xylitol
3/4 teaspoon Pure Peppermint Extract
1 drop Natural Green Food Coloring (for this brand, use 1 drop blue, 1 drop yellow)
2 Tablespoons White Spelt Flour or White Flour

Chocolate:
5 ounces Dark Chocolate**
1 teaspoon Neutral Oil of choice

Instruction:
Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 by 9 or 7 by 11 baking dish with parchment paper and set aside. Combine the flax and almond milk in a small bowl and set aside to thicken.

In a food processor, combine the blueberries, pear, black beans, oil and extract. Pulse until the mixture become very smooth. Remove contents from processor into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add the flax/almond mixture and add the coconut sugar, cocoa, baking powder, soda, and salt and mix. Add the flour with the chocolate chips and mix until just combined. Pour the batter i prepared dish and bake at 350 for 44-45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 1 hour. Place brownies in the fridge for 30 minutes to speed up cooling time. Begin on the mint filling:

In a small bowl, combine avocado with cream. Beat on high for about 5 minutes until the mixture is fluffy and smooth. Add the powdered xylitol and mix well. Add peppermint extract and coloring if desired, and beat until all incorporated. Once the mixture is perfectly fluffy and creamy, add the flour and beat. The mixture should be thick and smooth. Spread the mixture evenly over the cooled brownies and place in the fridge for 10-15 minutes.

Add the oil to the melted chocolate and stir to combine. Pour chocolate over brownies and gently and quickly spread the chocolate evenly over the brownies. The mint filling should be cold so the chocolate will cool quickly once it touches the cold mint. Make sure to work quickly so the chocolate layer will be even and the mint filling does not melt. Return to fridge to cool until the chocolate is set.

Cut the brownies after the 5 minutes with a sharp knife. Serve brownies chilled or at room temperature. Store any left overs in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Notes

Be sure to cut all the brownies immediately with a sharp knife. I cut some of the brownies when they were really, really cold, and they didn’t cut easily.

Wheat or white flour would work in this recipe. For wheat, decrease the amount by 1 tablespoon. For the filling, be sure to use a white color flour to keep the mint filling a bright pretty green color.

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Vegan Mint Brownies
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Comments

  2. KE says

    How much apple sauce? It’s not in the ingredient list and I’ve read through it a billion times. Am I crazy??

    Reply

  5. Sasha says

    Stumbled across these and they look amazing! And I was really stunned to see how much great healthy ingredients you packed into them! I’ll definitely be trying these!

    Reply

  6. RC says

    This is by far the best black bean brownie recipe I’ve ever tried!! These were gone in about 2 minutes. So good!!!

    Reply

  7. Jamie says

    Thanks, Chelsea! These were phenomenal!! I have had healthy (black bean) brownies before and they tasted like…black beans. They were dis.gus.ting!!! These are better than any other brownies, however, than I have ever had…without any of the guilt! Unbelievable!!! Thank you!!

    Reply

  8. Chelsea says

    I’m so sorry Jamie! You are right, it was unclear. You mix it in once you’ve processed all the fruit and extract ingredients. We edited the recipe so it’s more clear. Thank you for commenting on that!

    Reply

  9. Sara says

    Omg- these brownies are delicious! I made only a few small changes (didn’t have the full amount of coconut sugar so just decreased it) but still were perfect. I love the mint filling. SO good! Thanks for sharing!!!

    Reply

  11. GF Girlfriend says

    just wanted to let you know that spelt flour contains gluten, just not wheat. I’d recommend using sorghum in this recipe as a gluten-free alternative! :) they look absolutely amazing though.

    Reply

    • Chelsea says

      Thank you for that suggestion! We suggest spelt only because friends of ours who are gluten intolerant eat spelt with no problems (due to its low and fragil gluten content). It may not work for everyone, but we like to suggest it anyway. Thanks for clarifying and for the nice comment!

      Reply

    • Annie says

      Hi Rachel,
      Here are some ideas for substituting the avocado: First, you could use banana. Make sure the banana is ripe and soft. If doing that, I would increase the peppermint extract to a full teaspoon and increase the xylitol by 1 Tablespoon so to help mask any banana-y flavor (I tend to be very sensitive to banana). Second, you could substitute with coconut butter. Personally, this would be my first choice, as I think coconut butter would blend very well and it’s a little more smooth than a banana. Also, if not using any food coloring, the coconut butter would look a lot prettier than the banana. :) If you try any of these, I’d love to know how they turned out! Thanks!

      Reply

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