26.02.2009 Chickpea “Blondies”

You’d think that after eating up to 2 large servings a day of 3 testing batches in a row, I’d be tired of these. But nope: I blame it on the knowledge they are a mostly-good-for-you type of dessert.

These are not meant to perfectly mimic or replace the most sinful blondies ever made, but to offer a healthy and tasty alternative instead. Yup.

Chickpea “Blondies”


Non-stick cooking spray
15 ounces (1 can, 425 g) cooked garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup (96 g) raw sugar
1/2 cup (160 g) strawberry or other all-fruit spread
1/4 cup (64 g) crunchy natural peanut butter or tahini
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (42 g) flax meal (sub with other meal or flour if you’re not looking to make these gluten-free)
2 tablespoons (20 g) brown rice flour (sub with other meal or flour if you’re not looking to make these gluten-free)
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4). Lightly coat an 8-inch (20-cm) square baking pan with spray.
In a food processor, combine all ingredients and blend until perfectly smooth, scraping sides often.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 26 minutes.
Place the pan on a wire rack and let cool completely before placing in the fridge and slicing.
Enjoy cold from the fridge. These blondies freeze well, too.

Yield: 8 servings

  • Lauren B says:

    Celine, I did lower the sugar by 1/4 cup. That could definitely have affected the results! Will stick to your recipe as written next time. :D

  • AmyArgh says:

    I AM SO EXCITED TO MAKE THESE! Oh MAN!

  • Courtney says:

    Hi Celine

    I just made these! When I took them out of the oven, they were still pretty soft, but I figured they would firm up after they cooled (you were very precise with your 26 minutes!). Well, they have been cooling for about 45 minutes, and they are still not very firm…like I couldn’t cut a blondie out of the batch and serve it up and eat it like you would a regular one–you would need a spoon/fork for sure (and I am not sure it would hold together coming out of the pan). They taste GREAT, though! I followed the recipe as written–do you think it would have been better to just leave them in the oven til they firmed up?

    Thanks for the recipe!
    Courtney

  • Gina says:

    Celine, I couldn’t resist, I made some today. I mean, after all, they’re pretty much healthy, right?

    I used seedless blackberry jam, sucanat, and rice/gemma protein powder instead of flour, and they turned out awesome! They’re really soft, but definitely solid, and I didn’t put them in the fridge yet.

    I will be freezing them because if not I will undoubtedly eat the rest of them this weekend. I’ll post about them on my blog sometime this week too :)

    I think this is the first thing from you that I’ve made? I’m not sure, but I wanted to let you know it was a success!

  • Yari says:

    Using chickpeas in a dessert? That’s amazing, I will definitely give them a try.

Write a Comment

XHTML: You can use these tags: <a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>