Prep School Daily: Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café

Back in February, regular reader and friend Exile1981 shared with me images from the cookbook Pulses: Baking with Beans, Peas, Lentils, and Chickpeas. (You know that had to be a best seller, right?) Reading the images on my screen was a little difficult, and I somehow got lucky and found a link to it online, and which I have included below. I promised to try some recipes out after I finished writing Good Eats at the TEOTWAWKI Café and got it published. And right as that happened, my dad passed away, so that took a bit of time and mental energy as well.

And somehow with the passage of time and a couple of big events, the online bean cookbook I got from Exile1981 morphed into something that wasn’t from him at all. I have no clue how it happened, but given my technology skills and apparently failing memory, well, I don’t know what to say. Sorry, Exile, I haven’t yet tried any recipes from that cookbook. I’ll have to try again.

The bean recipes I started playing with came from the Pulses.org website (link below). Every dish there looks totally fabulous. And while I’ve been a good girl and dutifully tried out some soups and entrees on my family, I haven’t yet fallen in love with any of those items, so nothing to share there yet.

Wednesday was a bit chilly, still too cold to work outside much and while the snow is melting away rapidly (I was beginning to think it would never happen), the soil is far too wet for working. It was a great day to spend in the kitchen trying out some garbanzo bean recipes. I’ve actually made good food with these, so I’m much less intimidated by them than lentils. I tried out three treats, one winner, one loser, and one somewhere in between.

As I already knew and which got reinforced this week, good photography doesn’t necessarily mean the food itself is good. And some people commit atrocities in the name of healthy eating.

First up from that cookbook is Gluten-Free No-Bake Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Balls. Now, we’ve all eaten “safe” chocolate chip cookie dough in ice cream, right? It’s pretty good, and I figured we ought to be able to make something similar. Let’s just clear the air right now—this is not the recipe for that. The recipe is linked below. No way I’m posting it here.

I followed the recipe exactly, using oatmeal instead of the pea protein (because the recipe author suggested the option and because I don’t have pea protein), and then substituting arrowroot powder for the coconut flour because I don’t have the latter, either.

Like many people, I sample the dough along the way. I was pretty sure 2 teaspoons of vanilla was going to be too much, but thought it might be necessary to mask the flavor of the chickpeas or honey. Yes, that was too much vanilla, but it didn’t matter. This is just bad stuff—the taste of the chickpeas and honey is too strong and there was no point wasting the chocolate chips in there. I divvied the batter up between the three dogs. One just flat out walked away. The other two himmed and hawed for a long time, but finally reluctantly ate it. (And yes, as the dogs have a toot-off, I am re-thinking my life choices.)

Next up was the super simple 3 Ingredient Dark Chocolate Chickpea Bark. I’m not posting that recipe, either, because it just wasn’t all that great, but it wasn’t horrible, either. Just not something I will make again for myself or others, though I’m sure we’ll finish off what we have here

And finally, we have Wednesday’s winner: Fudgy Brownie Batter Truffles, or as King of the Picky Eaters (KOTPE) calls them, Bean Balls.

Bean Balls

¾ cup canned garbanzo beans, blended until smooth

¾ cup nut butter

¼ cup honey

½ cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips

½ cup arrowroot powder

Coating

½ cup chocolate chips

2 teaspoons coconut oil

Optional garnishes

2 teaspoons finely chopped nuts

¼ teaspoon kosher salt

¼ teaspoon cocoa powder

In a food processor, blend bean ball ingredients together until well combined. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and roll the dough into individual balls. Refrigerate about 20 minutes.

In the meantime, melt the chocolate chips in microwave with coconut oil, heating at 30 second increments until fully melted, or use a double boiler to melt.

Dip each ball individually in the chocolate and place back on the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with chopped nuts, kosher salt, and/or cocoa powder, if desired. Refrigerate for another hour to set. Store in an airtight container for 5 days in the refrigerator or two months in the freezer.

Notes. I used almond butter the first time and sunflower butter the second time. Both work very well. The original recipe calls for coconut flour instead of arrowroot powder. As I don’t have coconut flour and don’t plan to get any, I looked online for substitutes. The best option for me was arrowroot powder because it substitutes measure for measure and because it is something I already store. As I’ve written here on the blog, arrowroot powder has some medicinal uses and is essential to making arrowroot biscuits for teething babies.

Reviews. These bean balls are quite fudgy and brownie batter-like. There is definitely no bean taste or texture, and surprisingly, I couldn’t detect any flavor from the honey, either. They are just slightly sweet. They looked really good (well, the second batch did). Becky and I both would take these to a picnic or church dinner in a heartbeat. KOTPE really likes them and keeps going back to the fridge for more. The father of KOTPE (and, let’s be honest, the original KOTPE) does not care for them.

Links to related posts:

The Medicinal Uses of Arrowroot

Arrowroot Biscuits for Teething Babies

Aquafaba—What It Is and Why You Want It

Garbanzo Beans? Chocolate Mousse? You’ve Got to Be Kidding!

Socca—Another Amazing Use for Garbanzo Beans

Basic Food Storage: Beans

References:

https://albertapulse.com/recipe/

https://pulses.org/us/recipe/fudgy-brownie-batter-truffles/

https://pulses.org/us/recipe/gluten-free-no-bake-chocolate-chip-cookie-dough-balls/

https://pulses.org/us/recipe/3-ingredient-dark-chocolate-chickpea-bark/