3/4 c. cold-pressed Coconut Oil
5 oz. 85% organic Dark Chocolate, broken into pieces
2 c. cooked organic Black Beans, drained
3 Tbs. organic raw Cocoa Powder
3 Tbs. Coconut Flakes (more to taste)
1 c. organic Walnuts, roughly chopped
1 pinch of Pink Sea Salt
2 Free Range Eggs
3 Tbs. freshly ground Golden Flax Seeds
2/3 c. Birch Xylitol or 1 c. Chicory Root powder

Preheat the oven to 325°F and line an 11-inch square or 8 x 11 baking pan with parchment paper.

Melt the coconut oil on low heat in a medium size pan, add dark chocolate pieces. Stir around until the chocolate is completely melted.

Chocolate Black Bean Bars2 — Chocolate Black Bean Bars

Put beans, cacao powder, coconut flakes and 1/2 cup of the walnuts in a blender or a food processor. Blend for one minute or until well chopped, then add the chocolate mixture and blend for one more minute, scraping down sides once.

In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with an electric mixer for about 2 minutes, add the flax seeds and xylitol and beat for one more minute.

Save 1 tablespoon of egg mixture in a separate cup and pour the rest into the chocolate and bean mixture and process just until incorporated.

Add remaining walnuts and dark chocolate and stir gently with a spatula to blend.

Pour into the baking pan.

Drip the remaining egg mixture on top of the chocolate mixture and use a toothpick or a knife to create a marble effect.

Bake for 25 - 30 minutes depending on size of pan. They might still feel a little soft in the middle when you test with a toothpick, but they will harden when they cool. These are decadently chocolaty!

You can spread a little no-sugar-added raspberry jam on top for variation.

~ Enjoy! ♥

Something is happening to our baking, frying and dough shaping skills! :(

At least someone thinks so...

I think it's reached epidemic proportions because you can't turn around before another innovation in the field of bakeware, uuh, excuse me ... "Novelty Electrics" pops up!

Apparently, a slew of us no longer know how to pour cupcake batter into a muffin tin and place in an oven to bake, someone decided to make a gadget that bakes cupcakes. Phew!

Oh, and we can't cut dough into rounds that puff up when cooked, so we need a doughnut hole baking gadget. Seriously?

I learned that eggs need to be fried in circular molds in an Egg cooking gadget so they look like uniform flying saucers.

And dare you bake Brownies in anything but a pre-sliced and ready to serve sectioned pan? We've been convinced that 'edges' are tastier than the gooey center pieces, so apparently we need brownies that have 4 outer crust edges.

Nordic Ware Platinum Brownie Bites Baking Pan

Finally, for the thousands of us who have tried and tried, but still can't manage to roll puff pastry around mini hotdogs to make pigs-in-a-blanket for the tailgater... FEAR NOT! -- the Perfect, Photogenic, Pesky, Personal Pigs-in-a-Blanket Baker has come to the rescue! (say that three times in a row...)

I don't mean to sound old-fashioned (when did that become an old-fashioned word?), BUT I likerolling dough with a wood rolling-pin that I've had for 15 years; I like shaping dough with my hands; I enjoy putting a tray full of dough thingies in my oven and having each creation be a tiny bit different from the one next to it.

I want my fried egg to be slightly asymmetrical, with fluted wings around the perfect golden center.

And if you don't like the gooey middle cuts of my Brownies...well, boo you!

I don't need a rice cooker because I AMa rice cooker! :D

The only 'gadgets' I own and use enough to warrant having them, are my Crock-pot (God Bless it's hard-working soul), and my new BOSS (I bow to its oil-less creations).

I own the perfectly acceptable and necessary kitchen electrics... a high quality mixer, a food processor, a toaster oven, a masticating juicer, waffle maker and a powerful blender.

And who has room for all those extra Novelty Baking doodads? Do they last more than 2 years before they fall apart? Are you really still cooking with Teflon coated cookware? I threw mine out 2 years ago, and that was rather belated.

I feel it's honoring the skills my mother taught me to knead, roll, cut, stuff and crimp dough. No one is going to rob me of the pleasure I get from doing so.

My son and his cousin were 14 when we sat around our kitchen table, and I taught them how to stuff grape leaves. They did a marvelous job. In 15 years if someone decides we need a grape-leaf-stuffing-and-rolling gadget, I hope those two refuse to buy it.

I hope they remember the day we sat together joking about the juices squirting all over as they rolled each leaf, and my telling stories about helping my mother make fabulous dishes that took 2 or 3 hours to complete. I hope they remember the pride they felt when I served our family the grape leaves at dinner, and praised the boys for a job well done.

And when they sit around their kitchen table teaching their children how to crimp a spinach pie or stuff grape leaves, maybe they'll have a story to tell about me.

Something is happening to our baking, frying and dough shaping skills! :(

Here's to being old-fashioned! Yes? ♥