I continue replacing grain-based foods with legumes and others, to stay low carb but also have some treats. The black bean chocolate cake is so good (Now I make an amaretto version, sort of). I decided to try making black bean chocolate chip cookies. The thing about black beans is, if they are rinsed after cooking, they have such mild flavor that you don't know they are there. They are good protein and fiber. I cook them in the pressure cooker until very tender, for these recipes. I couldn't find a recipe that suited me, so I started with several recipes, combined them, and added some other things and made some more changes. This was my first ever attempt. They are actually better than they look. The flavor and texture are similar to the store version of "Grandma's Chocolate Cookies" but a bit better. (I know. Comparing to a store bought cookie is faint praise). Not ready for "Prime Time" yet but pretty darn good. I don't think I should post the recipe until I tweak it a bit more, but the mixture contained 1 1/2 cups of cooked, rinsed black beans, 1/4 cup shortening, 2 duck eggs (I think 3 chicken eggs would be similar), 1/2 cup maple syrup (I think I should change to a less sugary syrup), 2/3 cup cocoa powder, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp iodized salt, 8 tbsp fine almond flour (I just kept adding almond flour until the dough was thick enough) and a tablespoon of flax seed meal as a binder (because I didn't want to add more liquid in the form of eggs). And a cup of no-sugar-added chocolate chips. This is made in a food processor, not a mixer. The dough consistency is like a mousse. It stayed as clump in the oven, instead of spreading out like many cookies do. I tried coating a fork with cocoa powder and using that to smash down the dough before baking. That left too much powder residue but the flatter cookie baked more tender. A wet fork worked better. I wear a continuous glucose monitor to help with my low carb diet. Three cookies raised my blood sugar to 150. I think it's the maple syrup, which is why I want to try a no-sugar substitute. It might also be the knee injection I had a week ago, which raised my blood suga a lot. Im not diabetic, but Im trying to avoid becoming that. I think these are pretty good. Next time - try a low sugar syrup instead of the real thing. Maybe peanut butter chips instead of chocolate? Or sandwich peanut butter between two layers of chocolate? I never know what I'll do next
Monk fruit is a sweet substitute. I see it at the grocery store but I use Splenda because it's easier to figure out how much converts to a tsp or a cup for baking.. I don't have diabetes but you know Doctors, they all say we should avoid sugar, but avoiding chocolate? I'm just not doing that !!
That's my big challenge. Converting from one sweetener to another. This recipe uses maple syrup, because the cake recipe uses the same amount for the same amount of black beans. So I thought maybe use a syrup-based sweetener for these. I saw a recipe for almond flour peanut butter cookies and might try that again. I lost the recipe I made before. They were pretty good. It used monk fruit sweetener. I found another recipe that wasn't as good. The main thing for me now is avoid most carbs and sugars. That means no flour, no carb flours (corn meal, coconut flour, millet flour, whole wheat flour, etc ) and no sugar, brown sugar, honey in significant amounts. It's limiting but my 32# lighter body (so far) feels a lot better than before and it's better on the joints. Ten more pounds and I lose the officially "overweight" label.
This gal uses a lot of different products I have discovered over the years. Maybe somethin to help you too.
Thanks @Pacnorwest! After watching that I ordered some keto flour. I looked in several grocery stores, no luck. There were formulas on some websites - mostly almond flour and coconut flour with psyllium and/or xanthan gum. I'll just try King Arthur first. They have usually been reliable for me.
Yes… King Arthur is great and Bob’s Red Mill is one I use a lot. Depends on what you making . There are an enormous variety of veggie flour including broccoli, cauliflower flours, carrot, pumpkin and pumpkin seed flours . You can even find fruit varieties such as banana flour which is high in protein and fibre. It takes some experimenting to find what’s good. Below recipe for making tortillas from carrot flour . https://hungryhappens.net/cheesy-carrot-tortillas-gluten-free/
These are vanilla cookies made using coconut flour. They are very low carb. The recipe claimed they are a keto version of Nillas, but the texture reminds me a lot of madeleines. Just no lemon flavor. That can be changed . A year ago, I never imagined baking with coconut or almond flour. Or black beans or white beans. I'm still not that good at it, but it seems a lot more natural to me now.
There's never been a year that I thought about baking at all !! When you screw up premixed packages from Betty Crocker, it's time to visit the Bakery !!
