Black bean brownies

I can't wrap my head around the grossness of how these sound. And frankly, they tasted fine, but knowing they had an entire can of BLACK BEANS in them made me want to gag, but they weren't bad.. at all! Jude went nuts for them and everyone who tried them asked for the recipe! Soooo... here it is! Your poor, unsuspecting toddler will be none the wiser, eating this yummy treat, packed full of protein!

1 15 oz can black beans, rinsed very well
1/3 c honey
1 tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c oats
1/4 c cococa
2 tbsp olive oil
1 egg

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease an 8x8 square pan.

Combine all ingredients aside from the oats in a food processor. Blend until smooth. Stir in oats. Bake about 30 minutes.

I read all sorts of recipes for black bean brownies and combined a few to come up with this one. Another suggested leaving out the sugar and using an overripe banana in it's place! I still have some in my freezer (they freeze well) so I haven't tried that variation yet, but if you do, let me know! I hope to try it soon, as it gets cooler... this weather is killing me!

Hey - if you are feeling REALLY daring - throw in a handful of frozen spinach in there... tasteless and it'll blend right in. Oooh, health food on the sly!

Enjoy!
K

Edited on August 25:

So I just got an email from a fellow blogger, Janet from Mama Jan's Kitchen that I'd like to post! She tried the brownies without sugar and substituted an overripe banana, like I suggested, and they turned out REALLY well! Thanks, Janet, for making these and sending me the feedback!!!

I made your black bean brownies yesterday - and yes, it sort of makes me stomach turn. LOL I tried the overripe banana instead of sugar and wanted to let you know it worked just fine! I don't at all feel like I need to try making them with sugar to see if it's better. It added sweetness with a hint of banana but the taste definitely goes with the other tastes in the brownie. Caleb, my picky little eater, gobbled up the square I gave him! Wow! Next time I will throw some spinach in there too :)
Thanks!!
Janet

Whisper Down the Lane Butter Cookies

So I was reading Libby's blog when I came across a recipe for these easy butter cookies. They looked so yummy and simple that I had to try! I was reading her comments and noted that she thought she might add some almond extract in addition to the original recipe from Full Bellies, Happy Kids and thought how fun it would be to take a simple cookie recipe and change one little thing about it and pass it on to the next baker to see what she does to the recipe, only making one or two little changes! That's where the idea for "Whisper Down the Lane Cookies" came about. So if you're a baker and you blog, make this recipe, post it on your blog with what YOU changed, and link back to the person who you got the recipe from... if you want to link back a few times, like I did with Libby's Cooking Blog, and Full Bellies, Happy Kids - go ahead!

Here's the super simple recipe! The bolded portions are what I added.

1 stick (1/2 c) butter, softened
1 c of flour
5 tbsp of sugar, plus a bit more to sprinkle on top
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
Sugar to sprinke on top (I added some cinnamon to this to make cinnamon sugar on the top)
1/2 tsp cinnamon


Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together. Roll into about 1 inch balls and flatten with the back of a fork. Sprinkle with sugar and bake for about 10 minutes. Now pass the recipe along to all your baking buds and let's see how many different variations of these cookies we can come up with! Enjoy!