I’m realizing that a lot of my recipes revolve around experimenting with beans and/or the liquid within a can of beans, haha. What can I say – I’m a lover of legumes.
I saw a post about flourless chickpea brownies on the Ambitious Kitchen blog recently and knew that I wanted to attempt some version of that. When Devon refused to nap yesterday, it gave me a perfect excuse to let him crawl around my feet in the kitchen while I whipped up these bad boys.
There were no chickpeas in my pantry, but I did have some butter beans – so I figured, what the heck?! These should work. And they did, beautifully.
Speaking of which: am I the only one that didn’t know that butter beans are a version of lima beans? I feel like my only experience with lima beans was growing them in 3rd grade in a plastic cup by the windowsill, and of course I remember them as green. While I was googling them to compare their nutrition info to chickpeas, I found out they are just a large, flat, whitish type of lima bean. Who knew?!
Anyhoo, I really liked these. Terry said they weren’t his favorite, but still ate some right outta the pan, so I’m going to venture to say he meant “not my favorite when compared to super sugary calorie laden blondies.” I seriously thought they came out great.
Admittedly, they’re not like a super sweet blondie like you’ll get for dessert out at a restaurant (being real with you here) – but they’re still rich and chewy. They’ve got a nice peanut butter flavor to them, but not too overpowering. I feel like they’re a perfect sweet treat to indulge in guilt-free (4 grams of fiber and 6 grams of protein in one? Woohoo!).
And they are SO easy to make. Just 8 simple ingredients that you probably already have in your pantry, mixed up in the food processor and baked for 20-25 min. That’s it!
A note on the cooking time – if you prefer more gooey blondies, go on the 20 min end of cooking time. If you prefer firmer, go a little longer for around 25 minutes.
Give ’em a try and let me know how you like them!
*2017 Update – I’ve made these for a ton of people and they’re always a hit. In fact, I’ve cooked them the last few semesters with my students for guests at the college where I teach. They’ve become so popular that they’ve been added to the regular recipe repertoire for our hospitality department! I think that says something about this delish treat. 🙂
Butter Bean Blondies
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 1 15-ounce can of butter beans, drained
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter
- 1/3 cup maple syrup OR honey (note honey is not vegan)
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/3 + 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (double check label if diet restrictions; Enjoy Life chocolate chips are dairy free/vegan)
Instructions
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8 baking dish or a pie plate.
- In a food processor, puree butter beans until they form a smooth paste.
- Add peanut butter, maple syrup (or honey), vanilla, salt, baking powder, and baking soda to the bean mixture in the processor. Turn on processor for about 5-10 seconds until everything is well combined. Fold in 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips.
- Place batter in baking dish and top with remaining chocolate chips.
- Bake for approximately 20-25 minutes, or until a knife/toothpick comes out clean. {If you prefer more gooey blondies, go on the lower end; for firmer blondies go on the higher end.}
Notes
Nutrition
Share with me: Have you ever made butter bean blondies or chickpea blondies? Are you a fan of bean desserts like me?!
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Sharing but had to let you know first I think this is brilliant. I was raised on the black bean brownies and never would have thought of this!!!!
Thank you Carla!! I hope you enjoy them 🙂
These are fabulous!! Made this recipe twice. I love black bean brownies and was looking for some way to use up a can of butter beans. Made a slight modification by adding 2 tablespoons of water to achieve a creamy puree. Second time, I reduced maple syrup to three tablespoons and added Stevia, 3 packets or the equivalent of two tablespoons of sugar, 1 tablespoon of milled flaxseed and coconut oil. Very delicious! Toddler approved!
Thanks so much for taking the time to leave a review! 🙂 I’m so glad you enjoyed them and it sounds like you found some great modifications to suit your tastes, which is awesome.
I’m going to make these asap. They look delicious! I’ve done the black bean brownies before, but never blondies 🙂
Awesome – Let me know how you like ’em Sarah!
Maybe it’s a Southern thing but my grandmother calls lima beans butter beans all the time. I had no idea they were comparable to chickpeas though!
These blondies look so good. The restaurant ones you talked about are a weakness of mine!! Maybe this would keep me in check and still get in something sweet.
My favorite dessert of all time at restaurants is the Applebees maple butter blondie. It is this super sweet blondie topped with ice cream and then drizzled with warm butter mixed with maple syrup. It is pretty much the unhealthiest thing ever, hahaha, but I like to get it once a year because it is so good.
I need to try baking with chickpeas… Mmm! Beans will be incorporated a bit this year into some of my recipes…. But not tooooo much because I totally over eat them and no one wants to see me….. GASSY lol!
Hahaha! Very true Gigi. Sometimes people who are sensitive too them can build up their tolerance to beans so that they become less gassy eating them over time. 🙂
LOVE baking desserts with beans!! So yummy 🙂
I hope you give them a try Liz!
I cannot wait to try this recipe!!! YUM!
I hope you like them Rachel!! 🙂
Oh my gosh these look amazing! What a great recipe and I just love how healthy they are! Thanks for sharing! I’m definitely about to pin them now 🙂 Love it!
You’re so welcome Cailee! I hope you like ’em – after you make them be sure to shoot me a message or tweet and let me know if you did. 🙂
how essential is the peanut butter ? can i reduce the amount / sub with eggs or something else ?
It’s pretty integral to the recipe – I haven’t tried subbing it out with anything else. I would think another nut/seed butter (cashew butter, sunflower seed butter, etc) would be a better sub than something else. 🙂
Hi! I made these this morning and for some reason mine would not set. Even cooking for 10-15 mins longer than said. They were just a bunch of mush! Help what did I do wrong? I followed the directions exactly.
Hi Deanna! Thanks for commenting. The texture of these are more on the “fudgy” side than the “cake-like” side, so they’ll be soft in the center but should still set after cooking and cooling to be able to cut into squares. A few troubleshooting thoughts – I know you said you followed exactly but just trying to think through anything that could have happened!
1. Was the can of butter beans the correct size, and did you drain them completely before pureeing the beans?
2. Did you use natural PB (just peanuts and salt)? Sometimes the oils added to regular peanut butter can throw things off.
3. Have you confirmed your oven doesn’t run low? (I use an oven thermometer to check this).
I definitely want to figure out what went on so I can help give you and others any helpful tips on how to get the right results. 🙂
Delicious! I made these using 13.5 oz carton of cannellini beans (the only way I can get them organic and salt free). I also swapped out the sweetener for homemade date paste (just pitted dates blended with water) to make them naturally no sugar added! I put the chocolate chips on top so that I wouldn’t have to try to stir them into the batter in my food processor or use an extra bowl. I cannot stop eating these. They are so sweet!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Nice idea using date paste to make them with no added sugar. 🙂