Healthy Bean Bars

Submitted by Chef #858819

"I found this recipe in the June edition of After 50 magazine. It is one of Chef Jim Rebholz recipes. I made a few easy changes to his original recipe, by using a can of garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed; and used canola oil; and mixed everything in my blender. This taste like a spice cake with raisins, and smells so good cooking. I will definitely make this again, and add nuts and toasted wheat germ to it."

 

• Ready In: 55mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 16 squares
• Serves: 16

ingredients

• 2 cups cooked beans
• 2⁄3 cup powdered milk
• 1 cup wheat flour
• 2⁄3 cup applesauce
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 egg whites, beaten
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1⁄2 cup molasses
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1⁄3 cup olive oil
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 cup raisins
• 1⁄2 teaspoon ground allspice

directions

1. Mash the beans into a paste consistency.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients to the paste.
3. Stir mixture thoroughly.
4. Pour into 8 x 8 baking pan.
5. Bake in a preheated 350 degrees oven for 40 minutes.
6. Optional:.
7. The use of pears, or other fruit can be used to replace the applesauce.

Reviews

[Nichola M]

Pretty good. I might try this recipe again using a larger pan (13 X 9?), since it resulted in more of a cake (that is not very sweet) rather than bars. I can see lots of different ingredient possibilities for this recipe. I used a "bean blend" (beans, peas and lentils), rhubarb compote in place of applesauce, one whole egg and half the cloves. The whole wheat flour makes the product somewhat dense, but the beans seem to give it a smoother texture that is more moist (and easy to cut). Little bits of beans here and there (food processor) but not bad. My personal tendency would be to add frosting! :) Thanks for posting!

 

[Jujubegirl]

I was pretty dubious about this recipe. But it's good. It doesn't taste like bean at all, but you'll get the healthiness of beans all the same. It tastes like a spice cake. I halved the cloves to 1/4 tsp but still found it to be too much. I'd like to try cutting out the oil and replacing it with more applesauce, too. I used olive this time, and it was quite tasty. I used garbanzo beans (for the high protein). I recommend whirring them in the food processor. I had a few rogue beans that didn't get mashed and you definitely taste that if you bite into it.

 

[Joje in Oklahoma Ci]

I made this recipe yesterday (June 13, 2008), using one 15.5 oz can of Cannellini (white kidney) beans; rinsed of course. I discovered too late, that I didn't have any allspice, so I just added an extra 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon and a couple extra shakes of cloves and nutmeg. Aside from this, the only other change I made to the recipe was Canola oil, instead of olive oil.....and they turned out GREAT!! I plan to make them again and again. I've already put Allspice down on my grocery list. Thanks Chef #858819 for sharing this toothsome, but healthy dessert. Joje