I have been working on this black bean-based recipe for a while now and think that I have finally come up with a suitable guilt-free substitute for fudge. The funny thing is that this fudge doesn’t take on the texture of fudge until after it has been baked and then put in the fridge overnight. Something magical happens in the fridge.

Keep in mind that the texture of this fudge will not be as smooth and creamy as “real” fudge, but it also does not have all of the sugar, fat, and cholesterol (i.e. GUILT) of said fudge.

This is my new favorite dessert recipe and I have been consuming A LOT of it lately.

INGREDIENTS

• 14 dates
• 1/3 cup nut butter (cashew and peanut work well)
• 4 oz jar baby food prunes
• 2 Tbs. Organic Decaf freeze dried coffee crystals
• 2 Tbs. hot water
• 50 drops (approx 2 dropperfuls) of Vanilla Crème liquid stevia
• 2 Tbs. flax meal

• 15 oz. can sodium free black beans, rinsed
• 1/2 cup + 1Tbs. cacao powder
• 1/3 cup almond flour

PREPARATION

1. Dissolve the coffee in the hot water.  Place the dates, nut butter, prunes, coffee mixture, stevia, and flax meal in the food processor and process until very smooth. You will need to stop the processor and scrape down the sides with a spatula several times during the processing.
2. Once the above mixture is smooth add the black beans, cacao powder, and almond flour to the mixture. Again process until smooth scraping down the sides as needed.
3. Pour the fudge mixture into a very lightly oiled 8 x 8 pan, spread the mixture evenly, and bake at 225 degrees F for 45 minutes to 1 hour.
4. Cool and then refrigerate overnight. You can either cut the fudge into bars and then refrigerate or refrigerate the pan and cut the fudge into squares after refrigerating.
5. I store my fudge in a Glasslock container in the fridge and stack each piece on its cut edge to help prevent  sticking.