I have made this recipe two times in two different ways and both of them turned out delicious!
They are very simple to do- just make sure you set enough time (about 5-6 hours) in order to do them. These are no instant beans from a can!
Here is the link to the original recipe:
Method 1:
The first time I made these I changed a few ingredients quite a bit. I let the beans stand for about 3 hours and after draining, let them simmer for about an hour. I was able to get a full two cups of reserve liquid from it.
I was being calorie conscious so I didn't add any bacon (though you could always add turkey bacon to help bring it down a little bit) and I substituted 2 tbs of prepared mustard for 2 tsp of ground mustard and 2 tsp of apple cider vinegar. I also used 2 tbs of honey instead of molasses and 2 tbs of sugar instead of brown sugar.
(Was I being creative or just lacking ingredients?? haha)
These were all combined and baked for 45 min, though being myself, I accidentally forgot to cover them. It wasn't a huge tragedy but the beans came out a little dry on the top. Overall they were very sweet and still pretty tasty!
Method 2:
The second time I made these we had dinner guests so I went all out with the recipe! (Tony was thrilled. He got to eat REAL bacon)
I stuck closer to the recipe this time. I used 2 tsps of onion powder instead of a chopped onion (I don't really like onion texture) 2 tsps of ground mustard, 2 tbs of brown sugar, and 3/4 lb of bacon. 1 full lb of the bacon that I got just seemed a little like a heart attack and we would have had so much bacon in there... I also used Aunt Jemima's Honey Maple Syrup. (Almost molasses!)
(a pot of simmering beans!)
My problem this day was that I let my beans simmer for too long while we were out running errands (about an hour and a half) luckily there was enough liquid in there for them to not burn, but I did not have any left in reserve. Instead I added about 1/2 c. almond milk to the beans in the pan and hoped for the best (and I remembered to cover them!)
They came out delicious. The bacon really does make a difference to the beans by counter acting the sweet molasses with a little bit of saltiness.
This makes a delicious side dish! 1/2 c. of beans has 16 g of protein. If you take it easy on the bacon and the other ingredients it is a semi-healthier way to help reach your protein requirement for the day.
(I forgot to take a picture of them before they got eaten so here's the picture from the website. Delicious!)
