Bean Desserts

A while back, I made a bean-based version of brownies.

Note that I never made them again.

It's not that I didn't think they were edible -- they just didn't capture some of the essence of "brownie."  Substitution can work in some cases, but I didn't feel like this was one of the cases.

I recently tried to see if the bean substituion would work in another case.  I've seen this bean cookie-in-a-pan recipe quite a bit around blogs and decided to try it because I had all the ingredients lying around.

I pretty much put everything but the chocolate chips into a food processor and dumped everything back into a pan and baked it.

When it came out, I had to stop myself from eating too much of it.  I think what made this one pretty good is the fact that I am not exactly a fan of the "original" (non-bean) dish.  Although I like other cookies, I've never been a chocolate-chip cookie fan, and I think it's because of the way the baked cookie dough interacts with the chocolate chips.  So somehow, this different baked cookie dough worked for me.

I wrapped most of these guys up and froze them for future use.  These never made it to reheating, as I kind of ate them as cold protein bars.

So why beans?  I am picky about my sweets (because I eat so many of them!) and think that attempts to "healthify" a recipe are often in vain because you end up going back to the original thing anyway.  Or is that just me??? 

Anyway, when I alter/vegan-ize recipes, it's only because I either find that I actually prefer the different texture (more chewiness, for example) or am protecting myself against my lactose intolerance.  When it comes to using beans, I mostly try it out of curiousity, and so far, this "cookie-in-a-pan" has been the only case in which I would repeat the experiment.  Using beans doesn't make desserts any less meant for moderation, nor do they help with calories. 

However, I guess it doesn't hurt to pack in more protein and fiber into these desserts if I'm going to be eating them, anyway.