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)

Layers of Deliciousness

I've seen overnight oats on SEVERAL blogs such as: Kath Eats Real Food, The Smart Kitchen, and The Edible Perspective.  However, I've always had a "meh" reaction to seeing them.  Well, since it's [sorta] getting warmer here, I figured I would give them a chance since warm oatmeal might not always sound super awesome.  That and I have some fresh peaches, and I wasn't sure I wanted to eat them warm.  :o)

Overnight Oats:

• 1/3 c. oats
• 1/3 c. Greek yogurt
• 1/3 c. milk
• 1 T chia seeds
• pinch of salt
• smidge of cinnamon
• my addition - half a scoop of vanilla protein powder

Please excuse the pictures, as these are overnight oats, I made [and photographed] them at night. :o)

 I added some acai berry juice in place of the soy milk.  I'd say I had a 50/50 combination of soy milk and acai juice.  I was going for the whole berry and peaches combination for the final product.  :o)

Combine all ingredients. 

Stir them up, cover, then stick in the fridge.

The next morning, I mixed together some more Greek yogurt with a bit of agave.

I layered my overnight oats (which were yummy by the way!) with yogurt, flax seed hemp granola, sliced peaches, and sliced strawberries.  These were grab and go in a handy dandy mason jar.  Unfortunately, I had one bite in the morning, then thanks to meetings and running between schools, didn't get to them until lunch.  I think I'll plan on doing this again for breakfast (or lunch!).  :o)

It was a beautiful morning (but sadly a windy and nippy afternoon for field day!).  

I love tulips.  :o)  Thanks Full Circle!

Alright, three blog posts in one night.  I'm feeling a bit more caught up on the going on's over here.  I still have pictures I took, updates to share, and recipes to post for five more things from the past two weeks...  Perhaps I'll tackle one or two tomorrow later today (as in not at 1 am).  :o)