Chickpea Blondies
This Chickpea Blondies recipe is a gluten-free dessert that’s full of creamy white chocolate and protein-packed chickpeas!
You may notice a deficit in the amount of baked goods here at Live Eat Learn. This is certainly not because I don’t appreciate a good carbs + sugar combo, because let me tell you, I do. And it’s also not for health reasons…because all things in moderation, including baked goods.
No, this probably narrows down to my impatience. Impatience in waiting an hour for my cake experiment to bake, only to open the oven to pitiful failure. Impatience in starting the whole thing over, figuring out exactly where I went wrong, trying again, failing.
While cooking is a flavor game that’s more lenient to mistakes, baking is a science, of which I’m not yet a master.
But I figured since I somehow nailed the whole Black Bean Brownie thing, Chickpea Blondies seemed like the natural next step in legume experimentation. And it’s safe to say we found another winner! Gooey and chocolatey and deceivingly full of protein-packed chickpeas (while being totally gluten-free)! Let’s do this.
Chickpea Blondies Ingredients
These garbanzo blondies are gluten-free, but that doesn’t mean the ingredients are heard to find! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Chickpeas: We’re packing a full can of chickpeas into these flourless blondies! If you have the time, starting from dried chickpeas (and soaking/boiling them yourself) will make the chickpea flavor more neutral (and even less detectable).
- Almond Butter: Almond butter (or your favorite nut butter) makes these blondies gooey and moist. You can make them nut-free by replacing the almond butter with 1 additional egg.
- Eggs: Egg are important for helping these blondies to rise. Vegan alternatives (like flax eggs) won’t do well here.
- Sugar: We’re going with both white and brown sugar for a nice caramel taste.
- White Chocolate: My favorite part of this recipe are the white chocolate morsels sprinkled throughout the blondies!
- Baking Necessities: Finally you’ll need a few basics, like salt, baking powder, oil, and vanilla extract.
How to make chickpea blondies
To make these Chickpea Blondies, you’ll start off by pulsing your drained and rinsed chickpeas in a food processor until finely ground.
Add your almond butter, oil, and vanilla extract, then continue to pulse until smooth. Finally, add the eggs!
Then you’ll mix together your dry ingredients – the sugars, salt, and baking powder. I like to do this separately from the wet ingredients to ensure the baking powder is thoroughly mixed (without accidentally over mixing the eggs).
Line an 8 or 9 inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then our in your batter! Bake until the top begins to brown and the sides are firm (a toothpick may still come out sticky – that’s fine!)
Love this Chickpea Blondie recipe? Try our other chickpea desserts, like this Chickpea Cookie Dough Hummus, or these Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Chickpeas!
Chickpea Blondies
INGREDIENTS
- 1 15-oz can chickpeas* drained and rinsed, 425 g
- ¼ cup almond butter** 60 g
- 3 Tbsp vegetable oil 45 mL
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract 5 mL
- 2 large eggs
- ⅓ cup white sugar 65 g
- ⅓ cup brown sugar 65 g
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ½ cup white chocolate chips or chunks
INSTRUCTIONS
- Wets: In a food processor, puree chickpeas into a fine powder consistency. Pulse in the almond butter, oil, and vanilla util smooth. Add eggs and pulse a few times to combine
- Dries: In a separate bowl, mix together the sugars, salt, and baking powder.
- Mix: Mix the wets and the dries, then stir in white chocolate. Preheat oven to 375°F (175°C).
- Bake: Pour into a parchment-lined pan (8 x 8 in -ish), and bake for 30 to 45 minutes, or until sides are firm and beginning to brown (a toothpick may still come out sticky). Allow to cool before cutting.
NOTES
- *Canned chickpeas are easiest, but an alternative that I like (especially for this recipe) are dried chickpeas (soaked and cooked at home). They have a more neutral flavor than the canned chickpeas.
- **For nut-free Chickpea Blondies, omit the almond butter and add 1 additional egg.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
NUTRITION
Excited to try this!
I have tried black bean brownies and am liking the gluten free idea’s!
Praise Yahshua for good idea’s!
Jewsforjesus.org!
Let me know how it goes, Alicia! 🙂
Trying it right now! It’s in the oven 😉
The preparation on the spoon was good so my expectations are high hehe!
Do not try to make these into vegan brownies. I used flax “eggs” and butterscotch chips. It all held together, but it’s also an oily, soupy mess. Sweet and tasty, and delicious in a bowl with ice cream, but not really a blondie with chips.
Thanks for the tip Dee! Indeed, the egg is pretty important in binding everything together in this recipe.
Does anyone know how coconut sugar would fare as a substitute instead of white/brown sugar combo for this recipe?
Alicia…I’m also praising the Lord for yummy desserts using chickpeas/beans!
Hi Kim! While I haven’t had the chance to try it, the ratio should be about 1:1 (so 2/3 cup coconut sugar to replace both sugars). Perhaps have a little taste of the batter and add more sugar as needed if it’s not sweet enough with that.
I used Coconut Manna instead of the almond butter, and it’s delicious! The coconut taste isn’t noticeable – I think it blends really well with the white chocolate flavor. And texturally, it came out perfect!!
YUM! Coconut with white chocolate is one of my favorite combos! Thanks for letting us know how it worked out!
The chickpea blondies are really good. I didn’t have white chocolate morsels, so I used chopped dates and walnuts instead. Sensational! At last a decent gluten free sweet for my coeliac clients.
As for the black bean brownies, process the beans until smooth—-the “rough paste” indicated in the directions has me uncomfortably aware of biting into fragments of bean, which conflicts with the generally decent flavor.
Thanks so much for the feedback, Douglas! And happy you could find a recipe to recommend to your clients! 😀