BEAN WEEK!
First, why more beans?
- Beans are healthy! In fact, Joel Fuhrman recommends a full cup of beans PER DAY!
- Beans are cheap! Food is not cheap, but dry beans can help you get control over your food budget.
- Beans last a very long time! Besides having 50lbs of oats, we probably have 150 lbs of different dried beans.
So, Tip #1 Add them to baked goods
Are you still substituting applesauce for the fat in your baked goods? I think bean puree turns out a better result.
The Journal of the ADA reports when pureed cannellini beans were substituted for shortening in Brownies for 25% and 50% of the fat, no difference was detected. (You can read the abstract here) “Yielding an acceptable and more nutritious product”.
So, while this practice is best when you replace 50% of the fat in cake like baked goods, we replaced 75% of the fat in a cookie (because I love cookies!). They also turned out pretty good. They were eaten at least. 🙂
First, I used
- 1 can of white beans (I used Great Northern Beans).
- Placed them in a food processor (remember, mine is just a $25 Cusinart from Costco)
- Blended until smooth (I did not add any water). It turned out the consistency of shortening
White Bean Chocolate Chip Cookies
- · ¾ Cup Pureed White beans
- 1/4 cup butter
- · 1 Cup brown sugar
- · 1 Cup white sugar
- · 2 Eggs
- · 1 tsp vanilla
- · 1 cup whole wheat flour
- · 1 ¼ cup White flour
- · 1 TBL baking soda
- · 1 tsp baking powder
- · 2 ½ cup Ground oat flour (put regular oats in blender or food processor until the consistency of flour)
- · Chocolate chips
Mix pureed beans, butter, brown sugar, white sugar, eggs, and vanilla thoroughly. Mix dry ingredients together. Pour wet ingredients into dry and mix softly with wooden spoon just until all flour is mixed in.
Drop by TBL onto cookie sheet. Bake at 400 for 6 minutes.
Makes 3 Dozen cookies
Natalie Monson
I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.
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I have never considered using beans in cookie or other recipes! That does sound like a great way to sneak another healthy ingredient into a dessert 🙂
I am SO excited for BEAN WEEK!!! Thanks Amy! And These cookies look delightful!!! My husband loves cookies so this will be perfect for my kids and my husband!
I am definitely going to try the bean thing. I just might head to the store now to get some!!
I’m so glad you visited my blog, because I just LOVE yours. I just bookmarked it, I’m sure I could use a lot of your advice and tips. I just printed off this cookie recipe and I’m going to make them tonight with my daughter. Thank you so much! And how did you make that link into a printable pdf file? Love that!
Thanks Crystal! I hope the cookies turn out. They aren’t exactly as good as a full fat version (I probably wouldn’t take them to a baking contest 🙂 ), but for family snacking, they are perfect!!
In Microsoft word (I have 2007) when you click “Save As”, pdf is an option to save it as. Then I upload it to my website using filezilla! Super EASY!!
Love sneaking the good stuff in! Great idea!
These look great! I just found your blog recently and have loved looking through it…
I’m really curious on your take of eating canned food–Are you concerned about BPA in the cans? As far as I can tell Eden Organics is the only brand that does not have BPA but I am having a hard time finding as many products as I can need…
Would love to hear your take on it!
Thanks, Julia
I like to use white bean flour (I just grind up beans in my wheat grinder) in place of corn starch for thickening soups and sauces. I also occasionally use the flour in place of some of the flour in my baking.
Hi Julia, As far as I understand you are right, Eden Organics is the only one with BPA free cans.
My opinion: Avoiding BPA is not a priority for us. I think there are bigger issues that have a bigger impact and are easier to tackle (such as avoiding trans fats and High fructose corn syrup, and hormones in our meats..etc.) With that said, if there are options I will choose BPA free, such as in water bottles, etc. But until there are more choices in canned foods, I do not avoid canned foods because of BPA. We do try to eat fresh where we can and use dried beans when we can.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond! I am pregnant with my second right now and I think I’m a little more anxious about BPA than I would be otherwise…I am glad to hear your opinion and take on it, very helpful…It is so hard to tackle all of the many issues there are!!
Thanks again, and LOVE the blog!
julia
(Oh, and I think Muir Glen is trying to have BPA free cans in the next year or two…)
Hooray! I think more companies will come along shortly. Congrats on the pregnancy!
Mary- I’ve heard that! I really need a grinder 🙁 I may be borrowing yours.
When you mention ground oats in your recipe, do you mean to grind up oatmeal? When you say regular oats what does that mean?
Yes, I put rolled oats, or even quick oats (regular) into a blender. Turn it on, and it becomes flour – like
Wow, thanks for the quick response. I appreciate it. I love your blog and have passed it along to my friends. My son will be going to Montessori school in a few months so I am reading up on healthy, freezable recipes to send in his lunch. Your blog has been a great resource. THANK YOU!!!
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I’m so excited to try this recipe. I would never have thought to substitute beans for the fat source. Will be trying this with my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.
I am so excited for these recipes!!! If these are a winner with 3 little ones, I will be a very grateful follower….and worthy discipline! Lol
Thank you
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I haven’t done the pureed beans yet, but i use white bean flour for part of the flour – add 2 tbsp. to a one cup measure, then add your regular whole wheat flour. do this for each cup in a recipe. Increases the fiber and protein of the product. (I have my own grinder, but you can get bean flour in the supermarket in the natural foods section)
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Really need to buy a food processer lol i have seen so many things that i need one im thinking i have to go shopping this week for one and muffin and bread thing.
I was hopeful that these would be great. Despite the dough being a little sticky as I rolled out the balls, they turned out looking so cute and yummy. But, they were pretty much flavorless and dry tasting. Hmmm…don’t think I’ll try them again.
Hi all: I received this recipe at a nutrition site and are these ingredients right? It seems too much dry ingredients.
Please help.
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I tried this recipe using a mix of cooked dried orca beans and navy beans. I substituted coconut oil for the butter. It turned out great! Thanks for the recipe!