Dutch Oven Bean and Cocoa Pie

While I was working on my upcoming book, which is all about cooking with food storage ingredients, I came across this idea of using beans as the substance for a custard pie. The thought struck me so oddly. “A bean pie? What on earth are they thinking?”

But then, I thought about the recipe that I’d heard of using mashed dark beans in brownies to lessen the oil content. My wife had made them a long time ago, and they were delicious. The “beaniness” didn’t come through, and it had a very smooth feeling on my palate.

So, why not in a pie?

I mean, really, it’s the same idea for a pumpkin pie.  You make a custard with eggs and sugar and use pumpkin puree for the texture. You just use different spices, right? So, I decided to give it a try.

But, as I was making it, I was careful not to tell my family what I was doing. If it flopped, I wanted to preserve plausible deniability!


10” Dutch oven

8-10 coals below
12-14 coals above

For the Crust, see: http://www.marksblackpot.com/2014/12/how-to-make-dutch-oven-pie-crust.html

The Filling:

2 heaping cup mashed, cooked beans

2½ cup sugar
2 Tbsp molasses
3/4 cup butter
3 eggs
2 Tbsp cocoa powder
nutmeg

mint leaves for garnish


I tackled this pie in three steps:  First, the beans, second, the crust, and finally, the rest of the filling.

There are a few ways you could approach the beans. One is to just bust open a couple of cans of refried beans (neutral ones, without any additional flavorings, like garlic, etc...). Another approach would be to open up a couple of cans of beans. If you do this, I would recommend using a couple of different kinds, just to make for a more complete protein.

The third approach is what I did, because, of course, I like more work. Duh. I mixed a half bag of dried black beans and a half bag of dried kidney beans into a bowl with a lot of water and let them soak overnight. Then, using the same 10” Dutch oven, and about 15 coals underneath, I simmered the beans until they were very soft (that took about a couple of hours).

In any case, once you’ve got some soft beans, you have to mash them. I tried this interesting device that looks like a saucepan with a smashing wedge on the inside attached to a crank. It didn’t work. Maybe the holes on the bottom were too small, but it just didn’t do it. So, I pulled all the beans back out, and used a potato masher. If you do this, use one with a flat surface and holes instead of one with wavy heavy wire. It will mash better. You could use a slotted spoon, too.

Or, of course, you could use a blender. But, who wants to do that? That’s too easy!

Then, I made the pie crust in the 10” Dutch oven according to the instructions on that other page, listed above. I didn’t parbake it this time, but next time I probably will.

So, at this point, I had the pie crust ready, the beans smooshed and ready, and some coals were lit and heating up. It was time to make pie!

I started by smooshing the sugar, the molasses, and the butter together, creaming them up.  If you want to, you can just use brown sugar, but I like adding my own molasses, because I can make it darker and richer if I want to. I creamed them all together until it started to get a bit fluffy, as tiny air bubbles started to incorporate into the mixture.

I added the eggs and blended that in as well as the other flavorings. Finally, I folded in the beans. Once they were folded in, I stirred it all pretty aggressively to make sure that it was all incorporated.

I poured the mix into the waiting pie crust in the 10” Dutch oven, and set it on the coals. I baked it, covered, for about 45 minutes or so. I’ve found that I don’t trust the toothpick method when testing the doneness of pies. It works OK for cakes, but there have been times when the toothpick has come up clean and it’s still runny in the middle. I look for jiggle and touch for resistance instead of toothpicking. Make sure, also, that you turn the Dutch oven and rotate the lid every 15 minutes or so of baking, so you don’t have hot spots burning parts of your pie. Also, with a long cook time like that, you’ll want to have a side fire going so you can replenish your coals as needed.

When it was all done, I took it off the coals, and let it cool with the lid off. I like to serve it right out of the Dutch, but if you’re going to lift it, make sure that it has cooled, so the crust is fully set.

I was really pleasantly surprised with the flavor of the pie. My wife said she was amazed, and my kids liked it, too. Who knew beans could be dessert?



Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

Christmas Dinner, Part 2: Nusskuchen in a Dutch Oven

Nusskuchen (pronounced like: NOOS-COO-khen) is a German nut cake.  In fact, it’s a direct translation. “Nuss” means “nut”, and “kuchen” means “cake”. In our family, my mother made it every Christmas time. It’s not for everyone, because it’s a very dry and heavy cake, not light and fluffy like most cakes we Americans are used to.  The glaze gives it a bit more moisture.  Still I love the nutty and cocoa laden taste.  When mom made it, she usually used walnuts, because we had them falling from the trees in our backyard every fall. Since my wife’s tongue gets sores from walnuts, I used hazelnuts.  Pecans or english walnuts would also work.

NussKuchen

8” Dutch oven

6-7 coals below
10-12 coals above

1/2 cups + 1 tbsp butter
1/2 cups + 1 tbsp sugar
2 Eggs

3/4 cups flour
1/4 cup corn starch
3 Tbsp cocoa

1/2 cup + ground or chopped hazelnuts or walnuts
1 cup dark chocolate chips (optional)


Before I start in on the instructions, let me say a few words about the ingredients.  First of all, my mom’s original recipe used the all-purpose flour and the corn starch.  I’m told that it’s actually a way of conveniently substituting for cake flour, so I think you could try this with 1 full cup of cake flour.  Second, the dark Chocolate Chips was my addition.  I like the dark chocolate because it seems to blend well with the flavors of the cocoa and the nuts.

Notice also that there is no leavening in the ingredients.  No yeast, no baking soda or baking powder.  That’s one of the things that makes it so dense.  Still, to make it a bit lighter, it’s important to start the ingredients at room temperature and cream the butter and the sugar a lot.  You want to get as much air into the mixture as possible.

So, I started with that process, using a slotted metal spoon back.  It took a very long time, and it was a real workout, but eventually it got to the point where it looked like a fluffy frosting.  Then, while continuing to beat the mix, I added the eggs in, one at a time.

Then, I took a break and mixed all of the powdered ingredients in another bowl.  I sifted the flour so as to get even a bit more aeration. Once that was done, I lit the coals.  In this case, I just went out and made sure that there were new fresh coals in the chimney, as I was cooking the bacon-turkey in the previous blog entry.  Then I prepared the Dutch oven.  I oiled and floured the interior. I would have put down a disc of parchment, but I couldn’t find it.  Oh, well.

With the Dutch oven ready, and the coals getting hot, I blended the wet and dry ingredients.  It wasn’t easy, but I beat them together with as much vigor as I could muster, again, to get as much air as possible into the batter. Finally, added in the nuts and the chocolate chips, mixing some more. I poured it into the Dutch oven and took that out onto the coals.

It did take a long time to bake, and it was kind of difficult to tell, since it’s a pretty dry mix.  Go easy on any replenishment, especially of the bottom coals, because it’s very easy for the bottom to burn. I Checked it at about 45 minutes, and it was done.  While was cooking I made the simple glaze.

1/2 cup powdered sugar
hot water or milk to texture

I simply measured out the powdered sugar into a bowl and added in bits of the hot liquid while stirring with a small whisk.  After a few additions of the liquid, it started to look like a drizzle, and I just dusted in a little more sugar to thicken it back up.

When the nusskuchen is done, take it off the coals and let it cool with lid off.  Upend the Dutch oven and use your hand to steady the cake out.  Slice it and serve it with the glaze.  It’s got tones of sweet and bitterness that combine nicely.  I really love it!

Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.