Basic Food Storage: Baking with Beans

If you didn't store enough oil, or you just want to be a little healthier when you have some treats, here's a substitute for baking.  Or, if your neighbor says, oops, I ran out of oil, may I have some of yours, you can offer them beans to use in their baking.  If they object that their food won't taste so good, say neither will your own when you run out of oil because you gave it to your neighbor who didn't prepare.  Smile, and offer them the beans again.  Besides it's for their own good.  It's healthier this way.

Bean puree is also advocated as a substitute for oil in baking and boosting the nutritional value of sweets. I’ve read rave reviews from people praising the use of bean puree in chocolate chip cookies and cakes. In the interest of research and providing my classes with samples, I have made some of these recipes. Using the full amount of bean puree recommended results in a very heavy product. Small children might be fooled; I don’t know, as I didn’t have any around at the time to offer samples to. My older children and teens were not fooled. When I used half of the recommended amounts of bean puree or mashed beans, most people said the result was tolerable but not desirable. Basically, they’d rather just do without.

If you want to give this a try, here are the suggestions on how to go about this. For bean puree to substitute for oil in baking, mash beans with enough water to make a puree. To substitute for butter in baking, mash cooked, drained beans into a paste. Substitute in a 1:1 ratio, meaning that if your recipe calls for one cup of oil or butter, use one cup of pureed or mashed beans instead. White beans are recommended as being the best to substitute in baking.


I'm going to post several recipes below for you to check out, as well as general reviews of friends and family.  That way you can compare them to your own recipes and decide whether you want to give them a try.  If you do decide to try any of them, do it before TEOTWAWKI.  You don't want to risk wasting good food when it really matters. 

Black Bean Brownies

1/4 cup black bean puree
1/4 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 c nuts (optional)

Mix it all up, pour it into a 9x9 pan, and bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Review:  Hugely disappointing.  Nobody wanted more after the first bite.  However, I should be fair and note that no one who tried these likes cake-like brownies.  We all favor fudgy brownies.  Beans will only make cake-like brownies.

Carrot Bread

1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white bean puree
1 extra large egg, or two small eggs, or equivalent amount of egg powder
1 cup grated carrots (or substitute dehydrated carrots that have been rehydrated--about 1/2 cup dehydrated carrots and 1/2 cup water)
1/2 cup crushed pineapple, drained
1 1/2 cups wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup raisins, boiled for a few minutes to rehydrate a little
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Combine sugar, bean puree, and egg(s), and then stir in carrots and pineapple.  In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, soda, and cinnamon thoroughly, and then stir in carrot/pineapple mixture and vanilla, raisins, and walnuts.  Pour into greased bread pan and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
Review:  Most adults liked it.  I absolutely loathe raisins.  I felt this carrot bread definitely had too many raisins.  I think it would be better if the raisins were omitted and more carrots and/or pineapple were added instead.  And I kept eating it anyway.  I'm kind of embarrassed about it.  I mean, it had raisins in it.  A lot of them.  And it's even better with butter on it.


Pumpkin Bars

1 16 oz can pumpkin
4 eggs
3/4 cup white bean puree
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Mix wet ingredients, then stir in dry ingredients.  Pour batter into a 9x13 pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes.
Review:  Of all the recipes we taste-tested, this was the absolute overall favorite. 

Pumpkin Bread

1 cup canned pumpkin
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3 egg whites
1/2 cup milk
1/4 cup bean puree (white or pinto)
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix first six ingredients in a large bowl.  Stir in remaining ingredients.  Pour batter into a greased bread loaf pan.  Bake at 350 for 60-65 minutes, or until bread tests done.  Cool on wire rack for ten minutes, then remove bread from pan and cool completely. 
Reviews:  This was okay, acceptable, not to die for.  But when chocolate chips were added, it was way better.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1 cup cooked white beans, drained and mashed
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon soda
3 cups oats
2 teaspoons cinnamon
2 cups raisins (boiled and drained)

Cream together first five ingredients.  Combine dry ingredients and stir into wet ingredients.  Drop tablespoonfuls of dough onto cookie sheet.  Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.
Reviews:  These were okay.  Again, I thought there were way too many raisins.  I substituted cranberries for just a few cookies' worth of dough, and I liked the cranberry ones much better.    

Conclusions and observations.  The general consensus seems to be that using bean mash or puree in a recipe that is more of  a bread works better than in using it in a recipe that is more of a dessert.  When we are having a treat, we want all the fat, all the flavor.

Links to related posts:
Baking with Beans
Beans in Food Storage
Refried Beans
Bean Flour   
Pinto Bean Fudge  

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