Black Bean Brownies

I just made these last night and they came out great! So yummy! There are a lot of very similar black bean brownie recipes on the internet. This is the one I made. So for Rebecca who buys black beans 25 lbs at a time and Mary who is looking for healthy dessert recipes, here you go!

Ingredients:
2 C cooked black beans or 1 can black beans, drained
3 eggs
1/3 C melted butter or melted coconut oil
1/4 C cocoa powder
1/8 t salt
2 t vanilla
1/2 C honey
1 t baking powder (optional) for a slightly more cakey brownie.

1/2 C chocolate chips or chocolate chunks (optional)
1/3 C chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8x8 baking dish. Place all but the final two ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth. Fold in or sprinkle on optional nuts and/or chocolate chips. Pour batter into prepared baking dish. Bake for 30 min; until brownies start to pull away from the edge of the pan.

From what I read, the brownies taste better if they have been refrigerated overnight. I left mine out on the counter overnight b/c they were still hot when I went to bed. I had one this afternoon and it was delicious!

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Custard

These are SO GOOD! Serve them warm with some whipped cream on top. When I made them, I used one 12 oz. can of 2% evaporated milk and 4 oz. of half-and-half. I got the recipe from a New England innkeepers cookbook.

3 eggs
1 cup mashed, cooked pumpkin
2 cups 2% evaporated milk or half-and-half
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Gently beat eggs in a medium bowl. Add the pumpkin and mix. Stir in evaporated milk, brown sugar, salt, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon and vanilla and mix well.

Pour mixture into custard cups or small ovenproof dishes and place them in a 2-inch deep baking pan. Slowly add enough hot water to fill the baking dish halfway.

Bake in a preheated 325 degree oven for 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the edge of one of the cups comes out clean. (The middle of each custard will firm up as it cools.)

Jordan Marsh Blueberry Muffins

This is the best blueberry muffin recipe! Jordan Marsh was a department store out in the Boston area when I was a kid, and my Mom somehow got the recipe for their famous muffins. I do not recommend substitutions in this recipe. They just will not come out anywhere near as good - trust me, I've tried.

1 stick unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 cups flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
2 1/2 cups blueberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, a little at a time. Stir in berries. Pour into lined muffin pan and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake at 375 for 25 minutes.

Rhubarb Crisp

This is Ben's favorite Rhubarb Crisp recipe so far. We've tried many! I should also add that he likes to have a double amount of the topping on his crisp. So I double the topping part of the recipe, and spread the filling out a little more in a larger dish. But it tastes great with the regular amount of topping, too.

Filling:

5 cups rhubarb, sliced into 1/2 inch pieces
2/3 cup white granulated sugar
2 tbsp. flour
1 tbsp. melted butter
1/2 tsp. grated orange peel (I use grated lemon peel instead sometimes)
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Topping:

2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup oatmeal OR chopped, toasted walnuts
1/4 cup flour
2 tbsp. melted butter

Mix all filling ingredients. Let this mixture sit for a little while, anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 375. Then put the filling in a baking dish and bake it for 10 minutes. While it's baking, combine topping ingredients. When those 10 minutes are up, take it out and crumble the topping on the rhubarb filling. Bake for 20 more minutes. Cool for at least 15 minutes. Then enjoy, maybe with a scoop of vanilla ice cream...

My Mom's Pumpkin Bread

My Mom's beloved pumpkin bread recipe is as follows. It makes 3 loaves.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

4 cups flour
3 cups sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. allspice
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 cup oil
2/3 cup water
4 eggs
1 can pumpkin (smaller can - approx. 15 oz.)

Combine all dry ingredients with a whisk. Mix liquid ingredients, except for pumpkin, in a separate bowl. Combine dry and liquid ingredients, then add pumpkin.

Bake at 350 for one hour, or until toothpick inserted in center of each loaf comes out clean.

Broiled Banana

I got this from All You magazine. A super easy, yummy and relatively healthy dessert!

Ingredients:
Bananas
chocolate chips

Cut bananas lengthwise in their skins.
Broil 5-7 min
Top with chocolate chips (about 1 T per banana half)

Serve, enjoy!