Aunt Beth’s Chocolate Chip Cookies

–From Beth L.

The perfect chocolate chip cookie! I’ve been making these since I was 8-years old, and I’ve never found another chocolate chip cookie recipe that could rival it! Of course I had to try them with beans, and I got good results using half oil and half beans in place of the butter. However, even with the butter flavoring, I still missed the butter flavor. This is one recipe I plan to use my precious butter for…although I could probably live with half butter, half beans.  Beth says to make sure you eat them immediately or freeze them right away! –Mellyn

  • 1 cup butter OR 1/2 cup oil AND 2 T navy bean flour, 1/2 cup water, and 2 tsp Wilton’s butter flavoring
  • 2 large eggs OR 4 tablespoons egg powder and 6 tablespoons water
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 3 cups flour
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
  1. Combine butter (or use bean substitute*), eggs and sugars, and beat until creamy.
  2. Add remaining ingredients except chocolate and stir until smooth.
  3. Mix in chocolate.
  4. Bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

*If using beans and oil instead of butter, whisk navy bean flour and water in a glass bowl or measuring cup and microwave for 30 seconds. Whisk and repeat 3 more times. The resulting mixture is the equivalent of 1/2 cup of navy beans, blended with liquid. You can also use navy beans, blended with liquid. I prefer the flour because I can mix up the exact amount I want! You can read more about using beans in your baking, if you click on the tab labelled “Tips & Tidbits.” Don’t forget to add your butter flavoring if you’re making this with beans!

Fudge

This week’s ingredient is chocolate chips. I’m a true believer in storing basic food storage, however there’s definitely room in my pantry for small things that make a HUGE difference. In my opinion, chocolate chips fall into this category. They’re extremely versatile — you can throw them into a trail mix or melt them and use them for dipping. They add a touch of color and flavor to muffins and pancakes, and even my picky eaters are more apt to try something that’s sprinkled with a few chocolate chips.

This recipe comes to us from Julie L. It is truly the best fudge I’ve ever eaten, and believe me, I’ve eaten my share of fudge! In line with my recent curiosity, I had to try it with beans. The texture and taste were good. My only complaint was that I missed the buttery flavor. Stepping out of my comfort zone I ordered a bottle of Wilton’s butter flavoring just to see. It’s routinely used by cake decorators to give a buttery flavor to the shortening frosting that holds its shape better than butter frosting. The result was excellent! Even Julie proclaimed the fudge good.

 

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Cream of “Chicken” Soup

After realizing my family can’t rotate 40 cans of cream of chicken soup fast enough to keep them from expiring, I was determined to find a way to make a replacement from scratch. At about the same time I discovered bean flour and the miraculous way it can substitute for butter and oils. This recipe is the marriage of those two ideas! The canned stuff is creamier in its condensed form, but as I’ve used this substitution in our recipes, we haven’t noticed the difference. In fact, Spicy Girl poured today’s batch (I was trying to get you a good photo!) all over her pasta at dinner and pronounced it delicious! Which gives me an idea for a casserole…

Speaking of the picture…cream of chicken soup isn’t exactly a glamorous specimen of culinary delight. Open at your own risk!

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Brazilian Black Beans (Feijoada) and Rice

–From Jeanie R.

These rich black beans have just a few ingredients, but the result is flavorful and delicious! Jeanie said she normally uses 4-5 slices of bacon to flavor her beans, but felt that real bacon bits or even jerky would be an acceptable shelf-stable substitute. I also found that Yoder’s, an Amish company based in Ohio, sells canned pork chunks containing just pork, salt and water. Their website boasts a 10-year shelf life! Definitely something to look into!  –Mellyn

ABC Sauce

I love alfredo sauce. But what you can do with a jar of creamy garlic sauce is limited, so I store table cream instead. This yummy Alfredo Bean Cream Sauce satisfies my craving, but I can also turn the ingredients into something totally different — like dessert! That’s versatility! — Mellyn

Shown here served over pasta twirls, ABC Sauce is always a hit!

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Great Pumpkin Cookies

Delicious and reasonably healthy — these are chocolate chip cookies Charlie Brown (and every other kid) will love. As the Mom I love them, too. They freeze well, and (dare I admit?!) we ate them for breakfast last week. Picky boy was all about that!  – Mellyn

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Chicken Pot Pie

A Betty Crocker version of this recipe was the first “real” food I learned to cook, and it’s still a family favorite. (Heck, I even forked out the cash for freeze-dried peas! No mooshy green peas in my pot pie!) Anyway, I keep about 25 pounds of butter in my freezer and planned to use part of it for chicken pot pie filling. But now that I’ve made the bean “discovery,” I can save my butter for places I won’t be trying beans — like spread on my toast at breakfast! –Mellyn

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Bonkers for BEANS!


Little Girl helping me roll out       Bean?! Biscuits

 Most of this week’s recipes don’t look like bean food, and they sure don’t taste like it! You’ll be shocked and amazed at what you can do with dry beans, but I wouldn’t recommend putting them in chocolate frosting…

In order for you to fully appreciate my bean mania, I have to explain a few things about my food storage philosophy… Continue reading

Bean?! Biscuits

They’ll never know! Since the shortening has been replaced with beans, these biscuits have all of the comfort and none of the guilt! Why would I do such a thing?! Two reasons. First, although shortening is shelf stable, it only lasts about 2 years from the date of manufacture (according to the Crisco website). Dry beans last 30+ years! Second, shortening is horrible health-wise. Using beans eliminates nearly 50 calories and 5 grams of fat per biscuit, while dumping the hydrogenated fat and boosting calcium, potassium, iron and fiber.

For more info about my bean “experiments,” be sure to read Bonkers for Beans!

– Mellyn 

 

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