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)

Making Mugs

I have seen tutorial after tutorial on Pinterest on using a sharpies on porcelain.  I think I pinned one of them over a year ago.  In true Krista fashion, I just now got around to trying it out.  :o)

Oh, and pardon the pics.  I took them before I left for work (which was like 7:00 am, which is also pitch black dark in December)

One of my schools was auctioning off cookie trays to benefit Abused Women's Aid in Crisis (AWAIC) in Anchorage.  Last year they were able to donate over $1000 (this is my more affluent school) from parent/teacher bids on cookies.  Well, give me any excuse to bake copious amounts of cookies and I will do just that.  :o)  I wanted to try hot chocolate on a stick (FAIL!) and serve it in custom mugs with marshmallows (I toyed with the idea of trying to make my own... but then I realized I was uber busy) and homemade sugar cookies.  I'd share the sugar cookie recipe, but its a family one from my Great Aunt Dorothy that I'm not ready to share yet.  Maybe next year. ;o)

Okay, like I was saying... mugs.  I picked up two plain white porcelain mugs for $1 at the thrift store with "good lines" (dunno why I felt the need to stick that in quotations... It just felt right...).  I followed this tutorial from A Beautiful Mess.  I drew on them freehand, then baked them at 350* for 30 minutes.  Cooled, washed, then ready to go!

I went with "Merry and Bright" and "Comfort & Joy" because I love how two (okay, technically three) words can encompass the coziness of the holidays during the darkness that is Winter.  Love, love, love!

Here are the final platters I brought in.  No clue how much they auctioned for, but hey, they went for something, and that something went for good.  Oh, and I got to be a bit artsy fartsy and decorate mugs AND cookies!  Sounds like a win-win-win to me! :oD