For nearly three years, I had the dream job of developing and testing recipes. Imagine, if you will, being asked to come up with a recipe for cheesecake that tasted like Spumoni ice cream. I barely knew what the flavors of Spumoni ice cream were! Research ensued: eating of said ice cream, plus lots of review of existing recipes for both ice cream and cheesecake. Educated guesses were made, application of known principles of baking, a couple of trial runs, and at the end of the day we were all pleased with the results, especially the hordes of tasters that were required to deal with the experimental batches.

But I digress. Beanie Babies. For your amusement, here is how I developed this recipe.

We all know we should be eating more beans for their plant-source protein and fibery goodness — good for your body, and good for the earth as beans “give back” to the soil. For some of us, “eat more beans” means hiding them in various ways. I had been playing around with chickpea peanut butter cookies and black bean brownies, when it occurred to me that a combination of the two might be a match made in heaven. The chickpea cookies had produced a very wet batter that didn’t spread when baked, They had a slightly strange but fudgy-texture that generally met with favor among many tasters, but they weren’t an unequivocal hit. Black bean brownies, while also tasty, were crumbly and difficult to serve. I wondered if I could combine the two. I’m always looking for treats that pack a nutritional punch, but I volunteer in a nut-free school, so I don’t get to experiment on the student population when I’m working with peanut butter. Carter was peanut-buttered out from his camp counsellor days, but if I combined it with chocolate, perhaps I could coax some taste testing out of him.

Research, research, research, research. Lots of recipes on the internet. I knew a few things. Eggs bind ingredients together. Brown sugar is better at producing a chewy cookie (hygroscopic – look it up). Fat makes things tender. I like butter for flavor much better than oil, which most of the internet recipes call for (yielding cookies that are suitable for vegan diets, which is not my concern). In spite of indications to the contrary (source recipes), I could find black beans in 14 ounce cans, and 19 ounce cans, but not the 15 ounce cans called for. Problems. Solutions? Guesses.

I assembled what I thought would be a good recipe, and gave it a run.

Do you have one of these measuring devices? They’re great for sticky stuff like molasses or honey, or peanut butter. You set the amount by positioning the piston part, then squeeze up and scrape off whatever you’re measuring. Alton Brown uses his all the time on TV. I have one for tablespoons too.

Back to the Beanie Babies. The batter looked mighty runny in the food processor. What did I have in my cupboard that might help? I added ¼ cup of coconut flour, thinking that it wouldn’t upset the flavor profile, and the cookies would still be gluten-free, a little side-bar issue I enjoy working on. Regular flour would work just as well. In retrospect, a pinch of Xanthan Gum wouldn’t have been out of place.

The amount of peanut butter chips in the batter looked pretty scanty. If I added more peanut butter chips, which I think taste a bit waxy and overly sweet, would I really be doing the cookies any favors? I added half a cup of mini chocolate chips, because I happened to have them in the cupboard. This is an example of the “serendipity factor” that sometimes leads to improvement as a recipe is developed.

I didn’t happen to have any plain roasted peanuts, so I didn’t add any. I would have been tempted to do so if I had some on hand.

The batter was still pretty soft, so I made an executive decision (who was going to overrule me?) and baked a batch off in silicone muffin liners to contain a potentially runny outcome. I smoothed the tops, as bean-based batters don’t seem to melt and spread like flour batters. My friend Vicki loves to tease me about my military cookies – all the same size, all the same shape, usually standing in neat rows in a Tupperware container. I am nothing if not consistent. I like to use a portion scoop to achieve this effect.

While my little muffins were baking, I took the remaining batter and popped it into the refrigerator, a good idea from a food-safety perspective, because of the eggs in the batter. I was thinking that the butter and peanut butter would both re-solidify in the cold, the coconut flour would have a chance to absorb some of the liquid in the batter if it was going to (from the eggs and the beans and even a bit from the butter), and I might just get a cookie dough rather than a batter) out of this recipe after all.

The refrigerated cookie dough, while firming up a little after 40 minutes, didn’t show any signs that it was going to become firm enough to roll by hand into cookie balls. I like little cookies (‘cause then I can eat two), so I portioned out 1-tablespoon scoops quite close together, popped them in the oven, and set the timer for 15 minutes.

Both approaches yielded lovely results with nice fudgy interiors. I left some cookies on the counter to see how they would fare 24 hours later, some were refrigerated, and I froze a few to see if they would survive that process.

So now I can offer you the following recipe with confidence. I must admit, in the interest of disclosure of scientific method, I haven’t tried to replicate my results – I’m counting on you to do that!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Beanie Babies

Name: Chocolate Peanut Butter Beanie Babies
Yield: 24 medium cookies
Cuisine: Gluten Free Option
Ingredients: 1 15-ounce can Black Beans (rinsed and drained); 3 Large Eggs; 1/4 Cup Softened Butter; 1/4 Cup Peanut Butter (any kind); 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar; 1/4 Cup Unsweetened Cocoa Powder; 1/4 Cup Flour (or gluten-free flour, like coconut flour); 1/2 tsp Baking Powder; 1/4 tsp Salt; 1 tsp Vanilla; 1/2 Cup Peanut Butter Chips; 1/2 Cup Chocolate Chips

Ingredients:

One 14-ounce can black beans, well rinsed and well drained (be wary – while I don’t think using a 15-ounce can would do much harm, I think using a whole 19 ounce can would be a mistake. You might want the few extra beans for salsa or soup, though. My drained beans measured out to about 1 ¼ cups, but without squashing them, it’s difficult to give an exact measure)
3 large eggs (a higher protein cookie than many)
¼ cup softened butter (or 3 Tbsp oil, if you must)
¼ cup peanut butter (I don’t think it would matter if it was organic or not)
½ cup brown sugar (a liquid sugar, like agave syrup or honey, will affect the texture of the batter and the cookies, so substitute at your own risk)
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa
¼ cup coconut flour (or gluten-free flour blend, but the coconut flavor is nice)
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla (mine is colorless – so in the photo it looks like an empty little dish)
½ cup peanut butter chips
½ cup chocolate chips

Method:

This recipe requires a blender or food processor.

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Line muffin pans or cookie sheets with parchment or silicone liners. I really like the parchment muffin liners.

Blend beans and eggs until pureed, 45 seconds minimum.

Add all remaining ingredients except chips. Blend, process, or mix by hand until smooth.

Stir in peanut butter chips and chocolate chips by hand so they don’t get chopped to bits.

Cookies baked in muffin liners may be portioned immediately. If free-form cookies are planned, refrigerate cookie batter for at least 1 hour (and probably up to 24 hours in a covered container).

Portioning options: 2 rounded tablespoons of batter in lined regular muffin pans or scooped onto prepared cookie sheets for larger cookies; 1 rounded tablespoon of batter in mini-muffin pans or on cookie sheets for smaller cookies. Leave 1 inch between cookies on baking sheets.

Bake in a pre-heated 350°F oven, 15 minutes for small cookies or mini-muffin pans, up to 20 minutes for larger cookies or regular muffin pans. Baked cookies become dry on the surface, somewhat firm to the touch, and slightly crackled when done. Cool completely on (or in) pans before removing; hot cookies are fragile.

Yield: about 24 regular muffin pan sized cookies, 48 or more mini muffin pan sized cookies.

Store at room temperature for up to 12 hours (ie, you can leave them out for consumption on the day you make them; then move them into the fridge for longer storage). Store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to a week. Store in the freezer for up to 6 months.

P.S. I don’t think there’s any reason why you couldn’t bake these up in an 8 or 9-inch square pan and serve them like regular brownies. Make sure you grease your baking pan and line it with parchment paper or non-stick foil to make it easy to remove them, and I would suggest you refrigerate them so they firm up before you cut them. If you wanted to take it over the top, you could glaze them with a mixture of chocolate and peanut butter, something like half a cup of chocolate chips and 1/3 of a cup of peanut butter, melted together on a low setting in the microwave.

P.P.S. If you’re trying to hide the bean content from, say, your kids, just don’t call these “Beanie Babies”. I don’t think they’ll know. On the other hand, if you get those same kids to help you make them, (maybe after they’ve tasted and raved over the first batch) you might achieve success on several levels.

This is how my kitchen looked on testing day. Nobody’s perfect.