Black Bean & Oats Cookies

Yup.  Black beans make for some pretty yummy cookies.  :o)

I had seen recipes for black bean brownies before, but not for cookies.  That is, until I stumbled upon Vermont food blogger Kitchen Ninja.  Her recipe is a bit different from what I ended up with, and her cookies (and pictures of cookies!) are way prettier.  [You should check out her site, good looking food on there!]  Annnnnnyways!  Having a sweet tooth, but trying to not fall into the abyss of buttery and sugary goodness, I decided I'd give a black bean based dessert a whirl.

So, without further blabbering on my part, I bring you the moist gooey delicious black bean cookie! :o) 

Black Bean & Oats Chocolate Cookies
Adapted from the Kitchen Ninja

• 1/4 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 T. whole wheat flour (or rice flour if you'd like this to be gluten free)
• 1/2 t. salt
• 1 t. baking powder
• 1/2 t. cinnamon 
• 1/3 c. agave (or honey)
• 15 oz. black beans (rinsed and drained)
• 2 T. milk (cow or soy or almond)
• 3 T. peanut butter
• 1/2 c. oats
• 2 T. olive oil
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/2 c. dark chocolate chips
• 1/4 c. dark chocolate M&Ms

1. Preheat oven to 375*
2. In a food processor, combine: agave, black beans, milk, peanut butter, oats, olive oil, and vanilla.  Pulse pulse pulse!
3. In a separate bowl, combine dry ingredients: cocoa powder, flour,  baking powder, cinnamon, salt.
4. Slowly add dry ingredients to bean mixture in the food processor.  Combine until smooth and completely blended.
5. Stir in chocolate with a spoon/spatula/spoontula
6. Bake on a cookie sheet (parchment paper or a silpat would have been a good idea...) for 12-15 minutes.
7. Eat for dinner! (Well, at least that's what happened at my house! Haha!)

Yum!  They're pretty stinking delicious, and have wayyyy more protein than your average cookie. :o)

 

 

Why I'd recommend parchment paper or a silpat. :o)  Pretty though!

 Ben & Jerry's Banana Peanut Butter Greek FroYo + Black Bean Cookies = an awesome lil ice cream sandwich!!!  

Man, I wish I had some left...

Sweet Treat

I really liked the quinoa parsnip cookies I made a while back, so when I stumbled upon this pin of quinoa cookies, I figured I'd pin it to try later.  Glad I did! 

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Quinoa Cookies
Adapted From: 366 Days of Pinterest

• 2 c. cooked quinoa, chilled
• 1/2 c. peanut butter (I used pb2, which makes it even HEALTHIER!)
• 3 T maple syrup 
• 1/4 t. sea salt
• 1/4 t. cinnamon
• 3/4 c. rolled oats
• 1/2 c. shredded coconut
• 1/2 c. (or so) chocolate chips (I used dark chocolate)

How To:

1. Preheat oven to 350*
2. Mix together quinoa, peanut butter, maple syrup, sea salt, and oats together with a hand mixer.
3. Stir in coconut and chocolate chips
4. Form into balls onto parchment paper or Silpat 
5. Bake for 20 minutes.
6. Eat one right after they come out of the oven because they are gosh darn delicious and gooey!

A healthy'ish treat that totally satisfies my sweet tooth.  :o)  I'm fairly certain I could almost make this pass as a breakfast food...  Maybe if I added banana... ;o)

Tofu Tuesday - Chocolate Mousse

Wellllllllllllllllll I fell asleep at 8pm last night and woke up when we had an earthquake at 7am this morning.  Oops!  I think I'm still recovering from the nasty little virus that rocked my world last week.

Anyways, here is the slightly late Tofu Tuesday post!

Chocolate Mousse!

I made this when my parents came to visit a few weeks ago, and didn't tell them what was in it (well, at least not initially!).  The non-tofu lovers out there just might love this!  It's a MUCH healthier alternative to regular old chocolate mousse (which I adore, by the way), and honestly, if you didn't tell someone you put tofu in it, I bet they'd never guess that is what they were eating.  I loved it, and it got the non-tofu-eating-parents mark of approval, so I think you should try it.  :o)

Ingredients:

• 1 pkg of firm tofu
• 1 1/2 c. chocolate chips
• 1 t cocoa powder
• 1 t vanilla
• 2 T milk 
• 2-3 T agave
• pinch of salt

First, you use your double-boiler (or something like it, for example my make-do double boiler contraption seen below) to melt 1 1/2 c. of chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate, but you can use whatever kind your heart desires).

 Get the rest of your ingredients ready and in the food processor while your chocolate is melting (but don't forget about that chocolate on the stove!  Keep on stirring that sucker until it's melted, that way you won't burn it.  Clearly I've never made this mistake...)

Turn on your food processor (or blender) with all of the ingredients added and blend blend blend until it is nice and smoooooooooth.  If you don't have a food processor or blender, you can use a hand mixer, but you'll end up with a less smooth (but still delicious) mousse.  I made it sans-food processor the first time I made it.

Then if you want to add a little pizazz to your mousse, add some shaved chocolate to the top.  I added some coarsely chopped dark chocolate espresso bean chocolate and white coconut shavings on top.  I must say, I stood in front of the chocolate bar selection at Fred Meyer's for at least 8 minutes trying to decided what kind to go with.  I love the chili chocolate, but wasn't sure that's what I was looking for...  [speaking of chili chocolate... sometime I'll have to share my cookie recipe...]  In the long run, I think it ended up being a good combination.  PLUS you'll have extra to snack on.  :o)

I just like all the stars on it.  :o)

Put it all together, licking your fingers in the process of course, then smile and enjoy!

Yesterday I didn't eat tofu...  I haven't fallen off my tofu wagon, I'm just not as consistent about eating it on Tuesday...  After school we went to a Mexican restaurant nearby to send off/congratulate the wonderful Miss Croston as she [sniff sniff] leaves us for another school, and I ordered the largest fried ice cream known to man me.  Oh, and a beer of course to go with it.  Beer and ice cream compliment each other, right?  ;o)

Anyways, point is, I was so stuffed from half a beer and half (ok, I'll be honest, I ate almost all of it) the ice cream, that I was in no way in the mood for dinner.  Tofu Tuesday is coming to my house the Wednesday instead.  :o)