Bready or Not Original: Chickpea Almond Butter Blondies

No one will be able to tell that chickpeas form the base of these healthified blondies, but the truth is right there in the name.

A food processor is necessary for this recipe as the chickpeas (aka garbanzo beans) must be utterly pulverized. Weirdly enough, a lot of health cookbooks and blogs have discovered chickpeas end up eerily like bland cookie dough once they are mashed up.

I know, it sounds crazy, but I’ve tried out a few recipes like this and it’s the truth. And these blondies WORK. They taste good. The sweetness is just right, not hardcore, but it doesn’t taste at all like ‘health food.’

I found the base recipe in an issue of Cooking Light and significantly modified it into something new. The original had tahini (which I do not like, so I subbed almond butter) and dark brown sugar (which I usually don’t have).

The pecans add a wonderful texture to these blondies. If you don’t like pecans, I would suggest still using some kind of nut or seed for a mild crunch.

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Bready or Not Original: Chickpea Almond Butter Blondies

These lightened-up blondies use chickpeas as a base, but trust me, you can't tell they are there. These are just sweet enough with an additional crunch from pecans.

Course: Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Keyword: bars, chickpeas

Author: Beth Cato

Ingredients

• 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar packed
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 15 oz unsalted chickpeas aka garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 3 Tablespoons almond butter
• 2 Tablespoons milk or half & half
• 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/3 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

• Preheat oven at 350-degrees. Line an 8x8 or 9x9 pan with aluminum foil and apply nonstick spray or butter.
• Using a small saucepan, brown the butter, stirring often. Transfer to a bowl to cool for 15 minutes. Whisk in brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla.
• Place chickpeas, almond butter, and milk in a food processor, and mix until smooth, scraping down the sides often. Stir the chickpea mixture into the butter mixture.
• Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in another bowl and whisk together. Stir dry mix into the chickpeas. Fold in the pecans.
• Pour batter into ready pan. Bake for 25 to 27 minutes, until it passes the toothpick test in the middle.
• Cool in pan for hour or two. Use foil to lift blondies onto cutting board to slice into pieces. Store in a sealed container, with waxed paper between layers, at room temperature or in the fridge for up to 3 days. Bars also can be frozen for later enjoyment.
• OM NOM NOM!