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Black bean cookies? You bet. These cookies made with black beans are a healthy dessert that tastes chocolate-y and satisfying.
Here at A Couple Cooks, we love healthy, nutritious, whole foods. Alex and I also love the excuse for a little splurge. So we’ve got two cookie recipes for you today! One is a straight up splurge, our Ginger Molasses Cookies. And one is a little non-traditional: these Chocolate Black Bean Cookies! Despite the name, which might sound unconvincing to some, these cookies are chocolate-y and delicious. Keep reading for how to make them!
How to make black bean cookies
This chocolate black bean cookies recipe is adapted from the good people at Green Kitchen Stories. It’s full of nutrients, and can be customized to gluten-free and dairy-free diets. And here’s the best part: it actually tastes good too! This cookie is chocolate-y and dense — a bit more cake-like than the traditional cookie texture, but it works in this case with the fudgy-ness of the chocolate.
We’ve tested these chocolate black bean cookies with multiple recipe testers and taste testers. And the verdict across the board was — two thumbs up! The only caveat is that there was some suspicion of using the term “black bean” along with “cookie”. So, you may want to re-brand these guys depending on who you’re making them for, to really sell them!
The process for making these cookies is simple: just use a food processor to blend together black beans, olive oil, peanut butter, cocoa powder and sugar into a chocolatey dough. You’ll add just a bit of flour in to hold the cookies together. Then, bake them for about 10 minutes until cooked through. The recipe below calls for saving out black beans to add to the top: this is totally optional, so you can do this only if desired.
A final note — we’ve been working hard for the past several months to give our site a new look. Check out our new redesign! We’ve worked to customize it to work on your computer, tablet, and mobile phone (code word *responsive* for you techie people).
Looking for healthy dessert recipes?
Outside of these chocolate black bean cookies, here are are a few of our favorite other healthy desserts:
- Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Tahini Vegan No Bake Cookies
- Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
- Blueberry Crisp
- Baked Bananas with Toasted Coconut
- Five-Spice Baked Pears
- Berry Brownie Yogurt Parfait
- Maple Vegan Blondies
- Fudgy Vegan Brownies
- Chewy Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies
- Chocolate Sweet Cherry Vegan Tarts
- Easy Bananas Foster (use vegan variation)
- Perfect Homemade Peanut Butter Cups
- Healthy Peanut Butter Buckeye Balls
- Simple Apple Crisp in a Jar
This black bean cookies recipe is…
Vegetarian, gluten free, vegan, plant based, dairy free and naturally sweet.
Chocolate Black Bean Cookies
Black bean cookies? You bet. These cookies made with black beans are a healthy dessert that tastes chocolate-y and satisfying.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 16 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 15-ounce can cooked black beans (or 1 ½ cups cooked)
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons peanut butter
- 2 tablespoons milk or almond milk
- ½ cup coconut sugar
- 5 tablespoons cocoa powder
- 3 tablespoons all purpose flour or rice flour (for gluten free)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F.
- Rinse the beans and drain them; save out 48 beans for decoration (3 per cookie – or omit this step if desired and just use 1 cup of black beans for the filling). In the bowl of a food processor, add the remainder of the black beans, olive oil, peanut butter, milk, and sugar. Blend until smooth.
- Add the cocoa powder, flour, cinnamon, baking powder and ¾ teaspoon kosher salt to the bean mixture and blend until smooth and the batter resembles a thick mousse.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and spoon 16 evenly distributed dollops of batter. Bake for around 10 minutes (the cookies should still be a little soft when you remove them from the oven). Place the saved black beans on top, if using. Set aside a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Adapted from Green Kitchen Stories We stored the cookies in the refrigerator due to the black beans on top. If you plan to store the cookies, you may want to omit the black bean topping as the topping did become a bit tough after a few days.
Well.. maybe I made a mistake here but I found these to be quite salty/bitter (maybe my baking powder). Unfortunately there was not enough sweetness and they still seemed to be obviously bean cookies. A good try though.
I was wondering about adding chocolate chips to this recipe? Would it work?
Hi! i didn’t have black beans, so I used kidney beans. Follow the recipe, but the dough was very dry.
Would it be better with black beans?
Do you have any idea how many carbs per cookie ? My grandson was just diagnosed type 1 diabetic and has to dose insulin per carbs he eats ?
Hi! I added nutrition info to the recipe. Our recipe analyzer shows about 13 grams of carbs per cookie if you make 16 cookies. It would be slightly higher if you used standard sugar.
Hey thanks for the recipe! Made some that came out pretty great.
Have you ever tried leaving out the olive oil and peanut butter? I’m just wondering how the role of oil and fat might differ when using beans instead of wheat flour.
So glad this worked out! We would not suggest removing olive oil and peanut butter: a good fat is definitely a must for the texture of cookies!
I understand that you can sub avocado for up to half the fat/butter of a recipe.
I wonder how that would taste in this recipe by reducing the olive oil and peanut butter. hmm might have to play with this recipe even more than I was thinking. <3
Ooooh, this sounds delicious! I’ve made a black bean brownie before and it was a hit so I’m keen to try these cookies! One question: would I be able to sub the honey for date paste? I’m assuming yes because it’ll have the same-ish texture, but will it change the flavour too much?
xo, Victoria
Good question! I actually haven’t worked with date paste before so I’m not sure! But you’re welcome to try it out — let us know how it goes!
Would it be ok to substitute the flour for almond meal or coconut flour? My daughter is been diagnose with PCOS and cutting all carbs has help a lot.
I think you could probably try coconut flour here! We have lots of GF dessert recipes on our site too — we just posted this cake that I think she would love! https://www.acouplecooks.com/amazing-grain-free-chocolate-cake/
Very good. Substituted spelt flour for w/w. Substituted buttermilk for milk and added 1/4 teaspoon of baking soda. Nice and light. Cookies were soft and kind of chewy, great. Dried left overs in a 200 degree oven for preservation. Now are crisp and tender.
Great idea on these substitutes — I’m so glad to hear that they were a hit! Thanks for letting us know.
WOW! Just made these with a couple substitutions (GF flour, vanilla instead of cinnamon, and 3tbsp maple syrup + 3 tablespoon cane sugare instead of honey) mostly because of allergies….and some additions like 1/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips…and shredded coconut to top….my very picky kids devoured them….had no clue they were made with beans! And I will never tell them either…lol
These look fantastic. I have my black beans cooking on the stove as we speak! I also love how this recipe doesn’t have a huge long list of speciality ingredients like most healthy dessert recipes. Can’t wait to try :)
i made these tonight!!! They were DELICIOUS!!!
Where is the second black bean cookie recipe that is less healthy with flour and sugar? Thanks!
Hi Bethany! The second cookie recipe is actually not a black bean recipe – it’s a ginger cookie! The recipe is here, and I’ve added a link on the post too :) https://www.acouplecooks.com/2012/12/soft-ginger-molasses-cookies/
Just tried the first batch and they’re not quite what I expected but still yummy! A lot of times when I try to make healthy recipes I only continue to crave the sweets I’m trying to replace — but in this case the cocoa, honey + cinnamon are the dominant flavors. I’ll be making them again! Thanks for the recipe.
Stunning taste!! I made these for Easter and I think everyone especially the kids will love them!! I never would have thought they would taste so good with the beans! I sure was wrong!
I made these last weekend, and they were absolutely incredible. I never would’ve thought there were blacks beans in there if I hadn’t known. Divine chocolate “treat”, even though they are totally guilt free! I’m thinking about trying them with maple syrup. Also they were so moist, I might try to make them as brownies next time… So many possibilities haha! Anyway, thank you so much for the wonderful recipe. :)
How long does this store?
A couple of days in the fridge.
can you freeze them?
I am following the Weight Watchers 360 plan. Do you know how many points these are or the calorie content? How many are considered a serving? Thank you for posting this recipe. I am always looking for healthier alternatives and those that include soy since I am dairy free.
Tried these today with much success! Great flavour, but I had to bake for longer than 10 minutes to get them to set. Thanks for sharing! Definitely will make these again!
Wonderful! Thanks for letting us know, and so glad you enjoyed them! (Some of our taste testers were wary of the beans, but I think they taste delicious!)
Your blog is a very bad thing. It causes me to drool all over my keyboard and then I have to pay for a repair.
Very bad. Very good.
Wish I had some of these cookies. Love the idea of using black beans, very clever..
Great job with these healthy cookies!
Love the new blog design, it looks really great! As do these cookies, perfect for a slightly less-indulgent holiday treat!
Thanks, Kathryn! So glad to know you enjoy the new design! Let us know if you try out the cookies; we’re interested to know other opinions on the “healthy” cookie :)
The site looks amazing, and so do these cookies! I had to read it twice to believe they really had so many black beans in them – I never would have guessed it from the picture. Will definitely have to give these a try!
Thanks, Jess! Yes, a whole can of black beans! We received a lot of positve feedback on the taste too — though some friends were still adamant that they are not “true” cookies with the black beans :) Let us know if you try them out!
1. love the new blog design!
2. so excited to see this recipe – and the gluten free recipe. just found out i have celiac disease and so am on a new mission for gluten free baked goods so thank you :)
Thanks, Anna Maria! Wow, when did you find out about celiac disease? We’re glad to offer up some gluten free ideas — though we are not ourselves, we love to think of ideas for friends that are! We’ll keep them coming :)
I love the new design! And the very first cake my hubby made for my birthday (when we were dating) was a black bean cake. I haven’t tried cookies yet, but these sure look delicious.
Thank you! Interesting — I had only heard of black bean brownies and cookies, but never cake. We’ll have to ponder that too!
The new design is gorgeous. I just redid mine last spring but am already so over it and want to redesign it again. Such a time commitment! I’m intrigued by these cookies. Haven’t seen black bean cookies before, just brownies.
Thank you! Yes, it was a bit of a time drag — hopefully we can live with this one for a bit :)
That decoration is crazy cute!
Lovely new site design. I love the clean look. I also like the idea of these cookies. I’ve had brownies with black beans, but would never have thought of making cookies with them.
I dig it. I made black bean brownies a while ago and loved them! I’m sure these taste lovely as well :)
I like the new “responsive” theme – and I like the sound of these cookies too ;)
Looks great! Can’t wait to try another variation of beany baking. I made a Mexican-spiced chocolate black bean cookie last year and it was a hit with everyone. Definitely don’t shy away from using beans in cookies. :) I have also used chickpeas in a chocolate chip blondie with great results. No flours needed. :)
Mexican spiced cookies sound delicious! As do chickpeas in a blondie – interesting! We will have to check out your recipes :)