I Dare You To Eat It

Sounds crazy, but it works!

Dear Ann gets all the credit for this idea. She wrote a comment on my recipe for carrot cake made from dehydrated carrots and wheat flour and told how she substituted an equal amount of mashed white beans for the oil and then used powdered eggs, and still achieved GREAT results.

The idea of using beans instead of oil or butter in baked goods seemed intriguing so I gave it a try. The recipe, Best Blueberry Buckle, was found on recipezaar.com and is an adaptation from Cook’s Illustrated. It’s supposedly almost identical to Einstein Bagel’s blueberry crumb cake and has 4 whole cups of blueberries suspended in the batter. (Are we good?)

So. First I cooked a pile of white beans until they were completely soft. 

Then I mashed them in my food-chopper-thing and measured out the amount to equal the butter that was originally called for in the recipe. This is what one and a quarter sticks of butter looks like, in beans.

Cream as usual and go.

I used real butter for the streusel topping and my daughter said this was the BEST blueberry muffin cake, EVER! She ate it for breakfast, took a piece to school in her lunch, enjoyed it as an after school snack, and chose it for a treat during dancing lessons. (She may not get enough baked goods.) (You know what that’s about.)

I didn’t tell anyone about the beans. It’s our little secret.

And there’s more where that came from!

I’m going to measure the leftover bean-goo and freeze it in half cup lumps so that it’s easy to add to other recipes. This trick saves money and helps our arteries stay happy. Thank you so much, Ann! As you can see, I tried it and your suggestion was a total hit!