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Bean Snack Bars

This is a very healthy snack or breakfast bar that tastes great! They can even make a dessert. No one will notice the beans.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack
Cuisine American
Servings 9 bars
Calories 180 kcal

Equipment

  • Blender or food processor

Ingredients
  

  • 1 1/2 Cups cooked Navy or white kidney beans WELL DRAINED one 15 ounce can should work if you are not making your beans from scratch
  • 1 Cup Rolled Oats
  • 2 TBS Coconut Oil
  • 1 TBS Vanilla
  • 1/3 Cup Maple Syrup
  • 1/3 Cup Brown Sugar or sub maple sugar or coconut sugar
  • 1 1/2-2 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1/3 Cup Toasted Pecans or Walnuts Very optional. I usually omit

Peanut Butter Fosting (optional)

  • 1 TBS Coconut Oil
  • 1 TBS Peanut Butter
  • 1 Cup Powdered Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
  • dash milk adjust for consistency

Instructions
 

  • Heat oven to 350F
  • Line an 8X8 inch pan with parchment
  • If using canned beans drain and rinse them. Skipping this step will result in stodgy (overly dense) bars.
  • I like to add the oats to the food processor first and whirl into a course flour.
  • Add all the bar ingredients except the nuts to the processor or blender and blend until smooth
  • If using the nuts, sprinkle on top of the batter.
  • Pour into the parchment lined pan and bake for about 30 minutes. Bake until the edges are cracked and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
  • While you will be tempted to eat these right out of the oven, they are much better cooled. They retain their shape and moisture best that way. If you are serving as a dessert though feel free to top the warm bars with ice cream or whipped cream and enjoy.
  • Store cut bars in the refridgerator.

For the Frosting

  • Mix the frosing ingredients adding the liquid slowly to desired consistancy.
  • Spead over bars while still slightly warm.

Notes

The calories are calculated with the frosting.  Without the frosting each bar is about 104 calories and has 3.5 grams of protein, 30 grams of carbs and 2.3 grams of fat.  If you cut only 6 bars there will be 156 calories per bar (no frosting) and 5.2 grams of protein, 44.7 grams of carbs and 3.4 grams of fat.  
Keyword Easy, Vegan, Protein, Blender