Yesterday was Oreo's 100 Birthday.  I remember as a kid going to my grandparent's house and always finding Oreos in their cookie jar.   Oreos and milk is about as classic as it gets.

Lately we have had some requests for dessert recipes and since I am definitely in the camp of letting my kids have the occasional treat I wanted to come up with my own Oreo recipe.  I really believe in healthy balanced eating, and eliminating entire food groups is just not a part of my philosophy.  With that being said,  I also believe there are ways to make foods from home more healthy - especially more than buying a package of cookies from the store!

Without further ado, this is my Black Bean Oreo recipe:

Begin by mixing dry ingredients:

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp Flour

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1/4 Tsp Baking Powder

1/4 Tsp Salt

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 - 1 cup Sugar (regular Oreo cookies really aren't that sweet - so if you are trying to make yours more like a real Oreo, use less sugar.  Especially if you are going to add a sweet frosting)

Next comes the Black Bean Puree.  I rinsed my black beans really well.  Then I used my blender to puree until very very smooth. Look at that puree - smooth and creamy.  Very important for texture in this recipe.

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp Black Bean Puree

Mix with your dry ingredients.  Also add:

1 egg (lightly beaten)

1/2 cup butter, at room temperature

Mix until blended.

Spray your cookie sheet with cooking spray.

I wanted to see if I could drop the batter onto the cookie sheet.  The batter is soft, more like a brownie batter than cookie dough, and so I decided to experiment and try spreading and dropping.

In the end, the batter is too soft to drop.  It will just run together and flatten.  I would suggest spreading the entire thing across a cookie sheet.  Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes depending on how crunchy you want your cookies.

Then you can use a cookie cutter to cutout desired shapes (after it is baked).  I made four-leaf-clovers as St. Patty's Day is coming up.  But I think circles would probably be super easy and less likely to break.  I made up a quick frosting and put 2 cookies together to create the Oreo.  Click here for some frosting recipes.

Verdict:  These were delicious!  You can't tell at all that there are black beans in them.  Seriously.  I baked mine on the longer side because I like the crunchy Oreo type cookie.  I would like to experiment and substitute all of the flour for black bean puree - then they would be gluten free!

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