Chocolate Chip Vegan White Bean Cookies

Baking desserts is something I have always enjoyed!  When I started cleaning up my diet, I thought I had to give this up.  However, I've noticed that with the "clean eating" comes more intense cravings for sweets... particularly chocolate.  So instead of breaking down and eating a bar of chocolate, why not have fun baking and enjoy the yummy healthy version of desserts too?!  It's the best of both worlds for me and makes me kinda giddy :)

I have been trying out quite a few Happy Herbivore recipes and finally decided to get one of her cookbooks.  The best part about her recipes is not only are they vegan, they are also oil-free!  This is especially great for baking because I don't always know how a recipe will turn out when I substitute other things for the oil.  With Happy Herbivore recipes, I can make it pretty much by the book and not have that unknown variable.  The only change I made to this recipe was using Stevia instead of raw sugar (I had to increase the applesauce just a tad to account for the difference in volume between Stevia and sugar...I reflected that below).

Wow, they turned out soooooo delicious!  I can pretty much guarantee you will be seeing more recipes from my new Happy Herbivore book on here :)

P.S. I also got a food processor which has opened up a whole new world of possibilities for my cooking and baking. I thought it would be more "complicated" but it's actually a very simple appliance to use.

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp cinnamon
a dash of ground cardamon
½ cup canned white beans*, drained but keep the liquid
½ tsp Stevia in the Raw
½ cup unsweetened applesauce
½ tsp vanilla extract
½ cup vegan chocolate chips
a dash of salt

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. Grease 2 cookie sheets or line with wax paper and set aside.
3. Transfer 3/4 cup of the oats to a food processor and pulse, about 15x, until crumbly but not powder.
4. Transfer to a mixing bowl and combine with flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon and cardamon. Whisk to incorporate and set aside.
5. Transfer beans to processor then add applesauce, Stevia, vanilla extract and 1 tbsp of the bean liquid. Whiz until smooth.
6. Pour wet mixture into dry mixture and stir about 10 times.
7. Add chips, remaining 1/4 cup oats and the rest of the bean liquid, stirring until combined. If the mixture is too wet, add more oats. If it's too dry, add a little water.
8. Drop tablespoons of batter onto the cookie sheets, leaving an inch of room between each.
9. Bake 12-15 minutes, until edges are just turning light brown and middles are firm. They will firm a bit more as they cool. Check the bottoms to make sure they are golden brown.

*Any white beans (butter beans, navy, cannellini, etc) can be used in this recipe.  I used organic Great Northern beans.