If you haven’t baked with beans before, you may be wondering something along the lines of ‘but…why?‘ I love to bake, and I completely understand where you’re coming from. But. These bean blondies are so tasty. If you have baked with beans before, then I don’t need to convince you – you already know!
The beans make these blondies moist, dense (in a good way), super satisfying, and help balance the flavor so it is not overly sweet. And these bean blondies are practically health food, right? 😉 So I mean really, what’s not to love?!
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Bean Blondies
Course: Desserts, On-the-Go, SnacksDifficulty: Easy6
servings5
minutes20
minutesBaking with beans may sound strange, but you’ll be hooked once you try it. These bean blondies make a satisfying and tasty snack, treat, breakfast…you name it!
Ingredients
1.5 cups cooked Mayocoba beans (aka yellow beans)
Note: Cannellini, great northern, or navy beans could work well, too.60 g oats (~1/2 cup) – I used old-fashioned, but (unflavored) instant oats would also work
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
Note: If you are using salted peanut butter, salted beans, and plan to top with flaky sea salt, you may not need to add any additional salt to the batter.120 g maple syrup (~1/2 cup) **see note
64 g peanut butter (~1/4 cup) – I used natural peanut butter
Chocolate, your favorite type and percentage, to taste
This is really up to you! I like to chop up about one-third or one-half a bar of chocolate, but you could also use chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.Flaky sea salt, to top (optional)
1-2 Tbs milk of choice, if needed
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (~175 degrees C).
- Drain and rinse beans well.
- Blend oats in a food processor or high-speed blender to the consistency of flour. Or be lazy like I often am and skip this step (assuming you have a high-powered blender that works smashingly) and just dump the oats in with the rest of the ingredients in the next step. However, blending the oats first can help.
- Add all ingredients except chocolate, flaky sea salt, and milk to a high-powered blender and puree until smooth. If it is not blending well, add 1-2 Tbs of milk of your choice to help it along.
- When the batter is smooth, scoop it out of the blender and place in a bowl. The batter will be very thick – that’s okay! Add chocolate of your choice to the batter and stir to combine. I chopped up about 1/2 a bar of 72% dark chocolate, but this is the time for you to use whatever you have on hand and enjoy! Chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or even (*cringe*) no chocolate.
- Grease a baking vessel of your choice (like an 8×8 baking pan or mini loaf pan) well with cooking spray or a neutral oil, or line it with parchment paper. Pour in the bean blondie batter and top with flaky sea salt, if using. You can also top with more chocolate if you want because, well, that is always a good idea. Note that while chocolate chips hold their shape because of how they are made, this is not the case for a chopped up chocolate bar (see sad image below for proof).
- Bake until the edges are firm and the middle is set, which is ~18 minutes in a mini loaf pan and will be slightly longer in an 8×8 pan.
- Allow to cool slightly in the pan so that the blondies hold their shape when you remove them.
- Enjoy! If you have leftovers, they store well in the fridge for a few days. Tip: If you warm them up a little before eating, the chocolate gets all nice and melty.
Notes
- You could also use 60 g of oat flour instead of whole oats.
- **Someone suggested using maple syrup to taste (and that only about 75% of the 1/2-cup is enough). So, if you like things a bit less sweet, keep that in mind. Thank you for commenting on recipes – I truly look at your feedback! 🙂
Like I mentioned above….chopped chocolate bars don’t hold their shape. In my mind, I was imagining delicious looking pools of molten chocolate, like you see in those amazing photos of cookies that are really more melted chocolate than batter. So, in great anticipation, I topped the blondies with nice large chunks of chocolate. But you know what actually happens when you don’t stir the large chunks of chocolate it and you just leave it sitting on top? Correct. It melts in unattractive – albeit delicious – blobs. #nailedit
Love the peanut butter and chocolate combination? Check out my recipe for peanut butter chocolate banana ice cream.
Thanks for the recipe. These are good. I would add maple syrup to taste— I used about 3/4 called for and they are still quite sweet. I added some espresso powder, just because!
Thank you for commenting! Good to know about the maple syrup – I think it depends on people’s preference, what peanut butter they use, etc. I’ll make that change. 🙂 And YUM on the espresso powder, great idea!