Peanut Butter Brownies
If you are a chocolate-peanut butter lover, this recipe is for you! Rich and satisfying, these brownies are full of heart-healthy fats. And the addition of black beans helps provide 5 grams of protein...
Hidden Bean Bakeshop, Brattleboro
Going sweet on beans
When Kelsey Baumgarten, owner of Hidden Bean Bakeshop, was 18, she had a revelation. “I had a friend’s chocolate cake at her party, and she had recently gone gluten-free. Her mom said, ‘There’s a secret ingredient in there that you’ll never guess.’” The mom was right; Kelsey couldn’t guess black beans. Nor could she guess the road that revelation would put her on.
She became enthralled with the idea of beans in baked goods, but she had difficulty finding recipes online. Not to be deterred, she spent countless hours modifying family recipes to incorporate beans, ultimately writing a bean-based cookbook as her honors’ thesis while studying to be a dietitian at UMass Amherst. She knew eating beans improves the microbiome in a person’s gut, controls blood sugar, and possibly reduces the risk of diabetes and heart disease. Writing the cookbook, Kelsey wanted to prove that you could add such a beneficial food to something sweet, something people would want to eat.
LET THEM EAT BEANS
Instead of grinding dry beans to create flour, Kelsey adds cooked, mashed beans to her cakes, cookies, and breads. As you might imagine, their addition makes what she’s baking dense. They might also make them taste, well, like beans.
Some recipes lend themselves to bean substitution better than others. Pumpkin bread is more receptive because of the intense flavors of cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice. Banana bread, on the other hand, relies primarily on bananas for flavor. Developing a bean-infused banana bread required more trial and error, but she succeeded.
After Kelsey graduated, she worked as a dietitian in Boston for a while, moved to Vermont, and tried her hand at farming, but she found that she wanted to continue baking. She moved to the Brattleboro area and worked part time as a dietitian so she could devote more hours to perfecting her recipes for delicious sweets such as peanut butter brownies, maple walnut pie, sourdough multigrain bread, and tahini honey cookies and selling them at farmers’ markets, particularly the market in Brattleboro.
The communities Kelsey has helped nurture and a life devoted to something she is passionate about are undoubtedly worth more than a hill of beans.
Photo courtesy of Hidden Bean Bakeshop.
CHANGING TO MEET HER CUSTOMERS
“Are your baked goods gluten-free?” her customers asked. Most weren’t, but Kelsey saw the benefit of moving all her recipes in that direction. She began experimenting, and in a few months, all of Hidden Bean Bakeshop’s delicious treats became gluten-free.
“Are your recipes vegan?” they asked. Not all of them, but over time, more and more became so. Just a few of Kelsey’s recipes use eggs. “Are they organic?” For the most part, Kelsey can say yes, although she admits that a few items she uses, such as salt, are not. Kelsey pegs her organic content to be around 95 percent.
BUILDING COMMUNITIES
Inevitably, these customers, who have become ardent supporters of Hidden Bean Bakeshop, form a line at her booth at Brattleboro Area Farmers’ Market before the market opens. Occasionally, someone comes to the head of the line looking for bread or cookies containing gluten. She directs the customer to the other baker at the market who can satisfy their needs. The other baker returns the favor when he receives the opposite question.
But those who flock to buy her delicious goodies help support Hidden Bean Bakeshop and Kelsey’s mission to produce high-quality products from healthy ingredients. She, in turn, helps the local maple syrup producer by purchasing his maple products instead of getting it cheaper from a larger producer.
Kelsey barters with a local mushroom grower—a loaf of bread for ingredients to put in her quiche—and perhaps with a neighbor who has chickens, 4 dozen eggs for a cake when her 11 hens lay fewer eggs in winter. The list continues to evolve as Hidden Bean Bakeshop continues to grow in a slow and measured way. Kelsey may never get rich from doing this, but the communities she has helped nurture and a life devoted to something she is passionate about are undoubtedly worth more than a hill of beans.
You can find Hidden Bean Bakeshop at Brattleboro Area Farmers’ Market every Saturday from May to October and at Brattleboro Winter Farmers’ Market from November through March.
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