Chocolate Mint Black Bean Cookies and Mexican Chocolate Spiced Black Bean Cookies with Cherries

Now for the cookies you’ve been waiting patiently for…

What’s your definition of a healthy dessert? Of a healthy cookie? Two years ago, I thought my (oh so gorgeous) apple banana cake was healthy because it had no oil or butter. Except, as a sweetener, it had sugar and honey in addition to the bananas. It used white flour.

Preferring whole unprocessed foods, I have currently shunned refined flours and sugars. It is not that I don’t enjoy my sweets. I do. In moderation. I just want to have some nutrients packaged with it, too. A healthier option. I simply adore raw desserts, but often they are nut-based or sport a heavy dose of agave or coconut oil/butter.

You can imagine how giddy I was when I first saw this recipe for a chocolate cookie made with black beans without any grains or nuts. No refined sugars, either. The giddiness was mostly because these cookies were made with BLACK BEANS! Sarah had a chocolate chili cherry recipe but I decided to hedge my bets and split the dough for two versions: Mint Chocolate and a Mexican Chocolate Spiced version with Dried Cherries, modeled after my Spiced Brownies.

Trust me, no one will know these cookies are filled with beans. It is really unfair to quiz your guests about the secret ingredient because they taste like delicious cookies, beans or no beans. These are not fudgy cookies, but more dense than the airy banana-based cookies. A moist, fluffy cookie filled with chocolate. The chocolate mint version marries the quintessential holiday favourite flavours. You can’t go wrong with peppermint and chocolate.

For round two, the Mayan-Spiced cookies have a whiff of savoury spices including cinnamon, cardamom and smoked paprika with a bit of a zip from the chili flakes. I might try increasing the spices next round because they weren’t too dominant. The dried cherries offered a nice contrast to the dark chocolate.

What will round 3 entail? You tell me! I will have to whip up another batch if I want eat them over the holidays. 😉 Or maybe I will venture to finally try other bean-based desserts.

Other bean-based vegan desserts:

Black Bean Brownies from Patty Cake
Low Fat Black Bean Brownies from Happy Herbivore
Chocolate Chickpea Blondies from Delicious Vitality
Marathon Cookies from 101 Cookbooks
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bean Balls from Purple Bird Blog
Butter Bean Cookies from Happy Herbivore
Black Bean Fudge from Diet, Dessert and Dogs
Chocolate Bean Butter from Diet, Dessert and Dogs
Faux Date Squares from Diet, Dessert and Dogs
Chocolate-Peanut Butter Dessert Hummus from Never (home) Maker
Black Bean Cookie Dough Hummus from What Runs Lori

This is being submitted to this month’s My Legume Love Affair, to this week’s Healthy Dessert Potluck Party, to Ricki’s Wellness Weekend and to this month’s Cookie Blog Hop.

Black Bean Chocolate Chili Cherry Cookies
Adapted from My New Roots

1.5-2 cups cooked black beans, very soft (or one 19 oz can, drained and rinsed)
2 Tbsp coconut oil (no need to melt)
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/4 tsp coarse sea salt, plus more for sprinkling
1/3 cup maple syrup (or honey, agave)
2 Tbsp chia seeds, ground (or ground flax seeds) – I didn’t grind mine but I think they would be better if ground
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/3 cup (or 50g) chopped dark chocolate (80% or higher)

Chocolate Mint Version
2 tsp peppermint extract

Mexican Spiced Version
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp Aleppo chili flakes
1/4 cup dried cherries, coarsely chopped (or dried cranberries)

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat.

2. Mix chia seeds, maple syrup, and vanilla in a small bowl or mug and set aside.

3. Place drained and well-rinsed beans, coconut oil, cocoa, salt and respective spices except the dried cherries (depending on your version) in a food processor and blend until well combined.

4. Add the liquid ingredients and pulse to incorporate. The batter will be quite liquid-y, but still hold together.  Remove blade from the food processor and add chopped chocolate and dried cherries (if using). Fold to incorporate.

5. Spoon cookie batter onto lined baking sheet (I made small cookies, around 1 tbsp in size). Using the back of the spoon, flatten top of cookies slightly, as they will not spread when baking.  Sprinkle with coarse sea salt (important!). Bake for 15-25 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Cool before eating. Store in the fridge.

Makes 24 cookies.