Father's Day Brownies

It's hard to buy presents for my father, especially for Father's Day. Up until yesterday, stores were filled with grilling tools and football paraphernalia and commercial after commercial urged me to buy my dad a gift card to Home Depot or Target or wherever they sell tools. My dad doesn't want a part of any of these things.

You see, he doesn't know how to use a grill (that must be where I get it from). He doesn't watch football. Or baseball or basketball or Foosball, for that matter (again, that must be where I get it from). He's not into hockey or mowing the lawn or building things on his workbench. In fact, he doesn't have a workbench. He's not into cars. He just likes them to be reliable. He doesn't drink beer. It's just never really been his thing.

He loves public transportation and not just using it, but studying it -- he especially loves subways. He loves New York City (his hometown) and, of course, his family. And we love him. Of course he has other interests and passions, but those were the first that came to mind. The next one that comes to mind is his love of sweets. Oh, does he LOVE sweets. This man has the sweetest tooth of them all. But he's trying to be healthy and watch his weight. And I totally respect this -- I want him to be as healthy as possible. But year after year when it comes to holidays like Father's Day and I try to think of the perfect gift for him (because believe me, my dad deserves THE PERFECT GIFT for all he does for me, my family and everyone else he comes across), a pound of Hershey's Kisses is usually the first thing that pops into my head. Or black and white cookies. Or brownies or 7-layer chocolate cake. Or cheesecake. But the thing is, since we all want him to be healthy, I quickly decide against these treats.

You might think it's OK to splurge on a holiday, but you don't know my dad. He has a tendency to be sneaky with the sweets. And by sneaky I mean he has a tendency to sneak down to the kitchen at 3 a.m. and eat each and every last donut, or that whole pound of Hershey's Kisses in one sitting, or all six of those black and white cookies at once, while my mother, who is his voice of dietary-reason, sleeps upstairs, not having a clue that he just ate three slices of chocolate cake. That is, she doesn't have a clue until the next morning, when she goes downstairs and finds the evidence on the kitchen counter -- you know, crumbs, wrappers, empty bakery boxes, whatever. He's not very sneaky in that way, my father. But that's okay.

The other day, I had the brilliant idea to make him black bean brownies. And then I thought I would make them even more dietetic and make them sugar free. A quick google search also made me realize that they're super easy to make. This was something I could feel good about giving my dad -- especially because he might not eat them at all.

Wait, what? Black bean brownies? I wanted to give him something he wouldn't want to eat? In retrospect, I should have just given him one really, really delicious, chocolatey-buttery-sugary brownie -- but in a very small serving. Oh well.

If  you're curious, here's how to make them:

Ingredients:
1 16 oz. can of black beans, drained and rinsed
1 box of brownie mix
Tin foil
Cooking spray

Preparation:
Heat your oven according to the instructions on the brownie mix box. Fill the can your black beans came in with water to the brim, and then put all of it in a blender and blend until it's completely smooth. Line an 8 x 8 baking sheet with tinfoil and spray it liberally with cooking spray. Pour in your batter and make it according to the instructions on the brownie mix box. Once they're done, let them cool completely before cutting. Enjoy. Or don't! I thought they tasted pretty good.