Good old molasses can be cooked into cornbread, used to give barbeque sauce more taste (not just sweet, as sugar does), and it is essential in good baked beans. Bre'r Rabbit is a really old standard brand. The generic term for molasses that is all sugarcane-based is 'blackstrap'.

Tomato-based beans receipts should be confined to chili beans. And yes, many people, even in Texas, put a lot of beans in their chili. Often it is really chili-flavored beans.