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Having something healthy (and tasty!) on hand is so important for me. If I don’t, I end up forcing Tim to go out and buy my favorite brownie from the grocery store’s bakery counter. At 9 o’clock at night. Okay, that’s mostly a pregnancy thing. But you can relate, right?
Lately, it’s been all about sweet things. I want them. I need them. I’m not into denying my body what it wants and needs, so I try to find the healthiest ways to honor those cravings. This sweet, healthy dip is perfect for that.
No one would ever guess (unless you tell them, but don’t do that) the base of this dip is white beans, making it a great source of protein, calcium, and iron. The dominant flavor is apple, and it is so good that I can eat it by the spoonful. I am actually doing that right now as I write this post. I’m going to go ahead and blame that one on pregnancy.
The baked cinnamon chips are wonderful, but if you don’t feel like baking chips, the dip is also good with fruit. I had some with sliced apples and it was fantastic. Meghan loved dipping her grapes into it. I’m thinking this would also be great as a topping on pancakes or drizzled on muffins. My head is spinning with possibilities.
Sweet white bean apple dip
- Total Time: 5 minutes
- Yield: 2+ cups 1x
Description
A sweet, healthy dip that’s a good source of protein, calcium, and iron. With apple, cinnamon, and maple flavors, it’s a perfect autumn treat!
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups cooked white beans, or 1 (15 ounce) can, drained and rinsed
- 3/4 cup apple juice (unsweetened)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract (optional)
- 1–2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
Instructions
- In a food processor or blender, process the beans until they are very smooth. Add the apple juice, cinnamon, vanilla, and 1 tablespoon maple syrup and blend. Taste and add additional maple syrup, to desired sweetness.
- I like this best served chilled.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 0 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 180
- Sugar: 17g
- Sodium: 321mg
- Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 36.5g
- Protein: 7.5g
Baked cinnamon chips
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 6 chips
Description
Chips get a healthy twist with this baked version, spiked with maple syrup and cinnamon.
Ingredients
- corn tortillas
- maple syrup
- cinnamon
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a baking sheet with cooking oil. Cut as many (6 inch) corn tortillas as you’d like to make into sixths. You will have triangles. Lay them flat on the baking sheet so they aren’t touching or overlapping.
In a small bowl, combine maple syrup with a touch of cinnamon (amount depends on how many tortillas you cut). Each tortilla will need approximately 1 tablespoon of maple syrup with about 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon.
Brush the triangles with the syrup mixture and bake in the preheated oven for 12-15 minutes, until they are crispy.
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Snacks
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 6 chips
- Calories: 153
- Sugar: 13g
- Sodium: 12mg
- Fat: 1g
- Carbohydrates: 35g
- Protein: 2g
I’m so glad the idea for this dip came to me because Meghan’s been hit or miss with beans lately, and she loves this dip. When her grapes were gone she had no problem using her finger to finish the rest of the dip. What can I say? She is her mother’s daughter.
Great recipe. I love using beans in nearly everything. Cheers!
I’m so making this today, i’m cooking the dried beans in my slow cooker now, once done, i will use half apple juice and half organic apple butter that I made, soooo excited, my girls will love this !! Thank you !!
You are welcome. I’ve made this several times now, and every time my 3 year old eats it with a spoon, calling it pudding. 🙂 No dipping for her!
Fresh, fabulous and so seasonal! Thanks for sharing this with us.
My sister-in-law, Ashley, recommended your webpage to me after my daughter was born. I try to feed her organic homemade food as much as possible. She has been eating homemade food since she started on fruits and veggies at 6 months. She was a great eater, but now she is started to find her independence. I like to say that she is “advanced” and entering into the terrible two’s early. Anyway, she has become the pickiest eater ever. I am having a hard time finding ANYTHING for her to eat. She likes pasta or rice one day, and not the next. She will not touch peanut butter or eggs, and she will eat cheese from time to time. She will pretty much eat any type of fruit and veggies if they are mixed into something. I have been reading a lot of your recipes and this is the first one that I am going to try. I love the idea that it is healthy and high in protein, but she will think it is a sweet treat!
You have really good great ideas!
just reread this….sorry for the typos lol
It is so interesting to me how different babies/toddlers have totally different preferences. Meghan could probably live on peanut butter and cheese alone if I let her! Pasta and rice, however, she no longer likes. She ate them happily until about 2 or 2 1/2. I hope your little one likes this recipe! It really is a nice, sweet treat, so if she likes sweet things it should be a hit. 🙂
Great recipe! I also made the dip this week with applesauce instead of apple juice, because I didn’t have any on hand, and it got me to thinking about making the dip with pumpkin puree instead of applesauce and using pumpkin pie spice instead of the cinnamon?! I just might try it too!
Great idea! I’m sure this would be fabulous as a pumpkin dip! I need to make another batch of white beans. 🙂
Oh my goodness!!! I have a can of white beans at home and I was going to make a savory dish with them, but this sounds so much better 🙂
You can’t go wrong with sweet, right?! 🙂
Sounds delicious Maryea! And those tortilla chips – oh my yum!! I know I would love those! 🙂 That dip would be delicious with so many things – apple slices, oatmeal…..
The dip looks great. I tried feeding a sweet dip to my boys the other week. It was a little messier than expected. ha! They loved it though so I guess that’s what matters. 🙂
Dips can definitely get messy with little ones. I think messy food is fun, though! 🙂
WIthout a doubt! Pretty much every picture on my blog is with messy food. LOL. 🙂
PS- I forgot to mention that you are the cutest pregnant person ever! 🙂
That is so sweet of you to say–thank you!!
What a clever way of using beans! As soon as I get home from work today, I’m making this. Do you think one can us apple sauce instead of apple juice or will it become too thick then?
I think that apple sauce would work, although I’m not sure if the apple flavor would be as pronounced as it is with the juice. Let me know if it works out!
I used one apple and 1 dl of apple juice and it turned out great! To get the right sweetness I also ended up using 2 tblsp maple syrup and I also gave the sauce a touch of ground cardamom. 🙂
What a nice addition! Sounds fantastic.
the addition of white bean is GENIUS! I love the way your mind works lovey!
Oh that dip looks FAB!! I love that it’s thinner and smoother than hummus even though it’s beans. And that it’s more of the sweet rather than savory variety 🙂
The chips, too, nice!
I think you are even smarter as a pregnant lady. haha. WHite beans are such a sweet dip substitute, good call!
Oooh this looks great! I’m always looking for ways to incorporate beans into my diet as I don’t like the texture of them whole.
I’ve currently got a bowl of spiced pumpkin cream cheese in my fridge for apple dipping etc, but this will be next on my list once that’s all gone! 😀
Love the cinnamon chips too – I bake up tortillas with smoked paprika to dip in guacamole, but I haven’t tried a sweet version before.
Oh my–pumpkin spiced cream cheese sounds fabulous! You have to try the cinnamon chips–they are really tasty.
YUM! Lovely dip, this is something I think I could get me kids to eat too! Perfect! 🙂
I’ve made one very similar to this before and loved it! … I like yours isn’t as thick as mine, it would make it last longer! I’m all about that!!!
I am all about apples these days (we just picked 19 pounds of them this weekend!), so I will have to give this a try. Sounds like a great way to get our kids eating more beans.
Now Meghan is calling this pudding! She has no clue she eating beans. 🙂
I have never had a sweet, bean dip before either, but, it sounds delicious. I have to admit I trick my husband every week with a pesto sauce made with beans (no oil) and he loves it. He thinks he hates beans. But, he has them every Friday night on his homemade pizza. HeHeHe. I am so evil. I just think the health benefits of beans should be included in everyone’s diet so I have to be a little creative to get them into him.
Wow pesto sauce with beans instead of oil?? I need to try this! Yes, I agree that everyone should eat beans, so if you have to get tricky, so be it. 🙂
I have never had sweet bean dip before! It sounds interesting and delicious 🙂
if pregnancy were the reason for being a night time Snackerson, I’d be worried for both myself AND Jason! 😉
I love bean dip, and Mmm this sounds AMAZING!! I am definitely making this, most likely today! 😀