Bean Butter

So, I was sharing with my friend, Miriam, the fact that I am writing a blog with zero followers when we got into a discussion about beans.  Go figure!  Miriam told me about a friend of hers who moved to the United States from Mexico and was lamenting over her recent weight gain.  Suspecting a fatty American diet to be the culprit, she decided to go back to the rice and beans diet of her homeland and, reportedly, has lost the extra pounds.

This story led us to talking about how to replace the fat in some of the yummy baked goods we love to eat but really shouldn't.  "Did you know that you can replace butter with pureed white beans?" Miriam asked me. Well, no, I did not.  Truthfully, I couldn't imagine putting beans in my favorite oatmeal chocolate chip cookie without altering the flavor.  Miriam insisted that it could be done and I did like the idea of replacing the fat in my baking.  So...I googled 'how to replace butter with beans' to discover that it is indeed a thing which can be done.  (Not that I doubted you, Miriam.  I just needed confirmation.) 

There is no trick to making bean butter.  The information I found on eHow said that any white bean will work.  I had some small white navy beans on hand and used those.  Here is how I did it:

1)  Soak then cook 1 cup white beans according to directions on the bag.
2)  When the beans are tender, rinse them off in a colander and drain thoroughly.
3)  Place the beans and 2 to 3 Tablespoons of water in a food processor and pulse until they are fully pureed and of a thick consistency.  (Idon't have a food processor, so I used my blender, blending 1/2 cup of beans at a time..

I filled a one cup measuring cup with the bean butter then, running a knife around the inside edges of the cup, tipped it out onto a plate.  I covered the plate with wax paper and put it in the freezer overnight.  In the morning I put the mounds of "butter" in a plastic storage bag and returned it to the freezer.  The one cup of dried beans made two cups of bean butter. In the next few days I'll try it in my cookie recipe and report on the results.  'Til then...

Here are the nutrition facts for white bean puree that I got off TheSneakyChef.com.

Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 cup (43g) (Recipe makes 1 cup) The following items or measurements are not included below: great northern beans
Calories 391
Calories from Fat 13		(3%)
Amount Per Serving		%DV
	Total Fat 1.5g	2%
	Saturated Fat 0.5g	2%
	Monounsaturated Fat 0.1g
	Polyunsaturated Fat 0.6g
	Trans Fat 0.0g
Cholesterol 0mg		0%
Sodium 7mg		0%
Potassium 1297mg		37%
Total Carbohydrate 70.0g		23%
	Dietary Fiber 23.2g	92%
	Sugars 0.0g
Protein 27.6g		55%
Vitamin A 3mcg		0%
Vitamin B6 0.4mg		19%
Vitamin B12 0.0mcg		0%
Vitamin C 4mg		7%
Vitamin E 0mcg		0%
Calcium 226mg		22%
Iron 7mg		39%