Lighten Up! Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

Who woulda thunk it, but it's gettin' healthy up in here people!!! After making my healthified red velvet cupcakes, I got inspired to keep going with more low cal, low fat, all natural dessert options. It's really fun to take a decadent dessert and lighten it up, a guiltless pleasure if you will.

So today we are featuring one of my faves, dark chocolate cream cheese swirl brownies. And the secret ingredient in these bad boys is.....Black Beans!! According to Healthdiaries.com, the health benefits of black beans include cancer prevention, nervous system health, blood sugar regulation and digestive tract benefits. This is a gluten free recipe. There is no butter, and only 3 tablespoons of coconut oil in the whole recipe. I replaced the sugar with Domino Light, a mix of regular sugar and stevia, and I replaced part of the cream cheese in the cream cheese swirl with Chobani fat free greek yogurt.

I looked around on the web, and found that Betty Crocker's recipe for cream cheese swirl brownies has 220 calories, 9 g fat per serving. Pilsbury's recipe has 180 calories and 8 g fat per serving.

My recipe has approximately 73 calories and 4 grams of fat per serving!

So go ahead, indulge in brownies, and feel good about it!

Lightened Up Dark Chocolate Cream Cheese Swirl Brownies

1 15 oz. can black beans, thoroughly rinsed and drained
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup Domino Light sugar
1/4 cup dark cocoa powder
2 eggs
3 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1 ounce dark chocolate, chopping into chips

2 ounces 1/3 less fat Philadelphia cream cheese
1/4 cup Chobani non fat greek yogurt
2 tablespoons Domino Light sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place parchment paper in the bottom of an 8×8″ baking pan. Grease the parchment paper with non stick spray. 
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Place all the ingredients except chopped chocolate in a food processor or blender and pulse thoroughly until smooth and well combined. Stir chopped chocolate into batter and pour into the prepared pan.

Wash out blender, then add the cream cheese, yogurt, sugar, vanilla and salt and purse until well combined and no lumps remain. Dollop cream cheese mixture on top of brownie batter and use a knife to swirl it all around.
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Bake for about 30 minutes or until the top is dry and edges begin to pull away from the baking dish. Cool completely in pan before cutting. 

Makes 16 brownies