Cooking with Kids: Black Bean Brownies

Encouraging Speech & Creating Yum! Black Bean Brownies

Brownies, how about adding some nutritional goodness like protein and fiber into this sweet treat? Try these black bean brownies. Don’t let the name fool you; these brownies are sweet, moist, light and fudgy. They are child friendly and no one will know that they are made out of black beans! Also, it’s super simple to make in the blender. Easy prep, easy recipe, easy clean up!

Watch PSN Black Bean Brownies Video

Black Bean Brownies Ingredients

• 1 standard size box of brownie mix
• 1 can of black beans drained and rinsed
• 1 cup of milk
• ½ cup of chocolate chips

Cooking Directions

Adult: Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Adult/Child: Grease 8 X 8 pan with butter Adult: open can of beans Child: pour beans into strainer and rinse.

Adult/Child: pour beans and one cup milk (or almond milk) into blender or food processor until becomes liquid.

Adult/Child: In a separate bowl add brownie mix. Pour the puree black beans (wet ingredients) into the dry brownie mix and stir until well blended.

Adult/Child: fold in a half-cup of chocolate chips.

Adult/Child: pour into greased baking pan.

Adult: Bake as directed on the box for about 20-30 minutes; use a toothpick to test until it comes out almost clean.

Adult/Child: Let brownies cool in pan. Frost or Dust with confectioner sugar on top. Cut into squares using a plastic knife and short sawing motions.

PS: Please note the batter does smell, but once the brownies bake they are delicious!!!!

Eat! Talk! Enjoy!

Language Time Tips:

1. Build vocabulary with nouns and actions! Nouns: black beans, milk, blender, brownie mix, bowl Actions: open, drain, rinse, puree, ;our, fold, mix, bake, cut, eat

2. Colors and Size: With this recipe, focus on the contrasting colors of black, brown and white. The black beans are dark black and the milk is white. Discuss the different shade of the brownie mix and how it changes when you add the liquid. Does it get lighter or darker? What happens to the beans when you puree them with milk? Compare the size of the black bean with another type of bean, such as a northern bean. When cutting up the brownies, ask your child, “Do you want a small piece or a large piece?” Discuss size during this opportunity!

3. Comment and Describe! Encourage words such as dry, wet, thick, thin, sweet, salty, etc. Help facilitate comments such as “The beans are salty “The brownies are sweet”. Encourage more specific vocabulary that describes the food in detail.

4. Sequencing and recalling information: Follow the sequence of the recipe and emphasize the steps of pureeing the beans and then adding them to the brownie mix. Given the simplicity of the recipe, you can review the steps in a variety of ways through auditory or visual cues.

5. Answering and asking “wh” questions: Sample “wh” questions include, “What are we making?” “What makes the brownies sweet?”, “What is our secret ingredient?”, “Why did we add beans?”. Encourage your child to ask questions. If your child has difficulty with this, have a list of questions either written down on in picture form to help facilitate asking questions.

Literacy! Help build your child’s literacy skills by encouraging him or her to read the recipe and/or write the steps to the recipe. Encourage reading sight words and highlight the key words in the recipe that you would like your child to learn (see vocabulary list plus action list above)

Books recommended: Betty Bunny Loves Chocolate Cake, One Bean by Anne Rockwell

Becca Eisenberg is a mother of two young children and a speech language pathologist, author and instructor. Her website, www.Gravitybread.com encourages learning time during mealtime. On her website, she writes children’s book recommendations, app recommendations, as well as child friendly recipes with language tips their family.

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This post originally appeared on our September/October 2015 Magazine