Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Hidden Benefits

It's days like these that I'm glad I have a fairly low readership for this blog - in particular that neither my fiance nor my parents read it! It's not that I've done anything they'd be ashamed of, but what I made (and Andrew ate and loved, by the way) is just a little bit more "out there" than your typical milk-and-cookies type fare. Let's just say that ignorance is bliss sometimes in the kitchen!

These are a brainchild of mine, stemming from a desire to make a good, tasty, nutritious breakfast alternative for my mom and her pals at work who are working all sorts of random hours, not to mention for Andrew who's being knocked about at Tims yet again. Light and "the fluffiest muffins ever" (according to the fiance), they're nutty and spicy and full of appley goodness, with a secret ingredient. Want to know what it is?

The humble black-eyed pea. Yup, another pureed legume sneaks into the world of baking! Don't despair, though: like most other beany sweets (think black bean brownies, pinto fudge and navy bean pie!) these muffins don't taste anything like their main ingredient. Rather, they get the nutty and buttery flavour without the "earthy" taste that's so popularly attributed to them. I'm sure this recipe will work with any other light-coloured bean you care to as well... perhaps butter beans for a truly rich taste!

Black - Eyed Babycakes
Makes 12
1 cup cooked black-eyed peas, pureed
2 1/2 tbsp fat-free nayonnaise (regular mayo if you'd like)
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup soy milk
1 cup chunky, unsweetened applesauce
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tbsp cinnamon
  1. Preheat oven to 400 F, grease 12 muffin cups.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine peas, nayonnaise, soy milk and applesauce.
  3. In a separate bowl, combine flours, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
  4. Stir dry mixture into puree mixture just until flour is moistened.
  5. Bake for 15 minutes, then cool 5 minutes in tins before turning out onto a rack.

Amount Per Serving
Calories: 146.1
Total Fat: 5.7 g
Cholesterol: 0.0 mg
Sodium: 63.9 mg
Total Carbs: 21.6 g
Dietary Fiber: 1.7 g
Protein: 2.7 g

These are fairly low-sugar and have a good glycemic index, and I'm sending them off to the Eat Healthy - Fight Diabetes event at The Art of Cooking blog. Also due to the secret "sneaky" addition, I'm submitting it to this rendition of My Legume Love Affair, which is being hosted this time by . Enjoy your sneaky sweet treats!

5 comments :

  1. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  2. Err, reposting my comment 'cause the first one didn't sound right. :)

    I'm amused! You're the second Ontario food blogger to make sweet things with beans this week. I love it.

    The other poster is here: Bean Cookies

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  3. We make it a practice to just not tell people what we put in things. We have friends who make it a practice to tell us not to tell them what we put in things, 'cause they enjoy our food & don't want to know that they're eating something good for them!

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  4. This is so very interesting! And I like your approach to baking: "out there" is often fun. Thanks for participating.

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  5. Wow.. What an innovative idea.. ! I'll try this sometime.. Looks awesome..

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Thanks for the feedback!