If you're like me, the kind of girl that can't decide between a cookie or a brownie but also wants to still be kinda healthy, you need these Chocolate Peanut Butter Chickpea Cookie Bars in your life! They're vegan, gluten free and packed with healthy protein from peanut butter and chickpeas! These thick, fudgy, peanut buttery bars are incredibly rich and delicious. You will not be able to tell that this decadent dessert is actually a good for you!
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Ingredients
Chickpeas are such a versatile ingredient. I always have several cans on hand in my pantry. I love making hummus all kinds of salads and now DESSERTS with them. I know it looks crazy but trust me, try this and you will be amazed. It's pretty unbelievable that these have no butter, eggs or flour in them. If you have peanut allergies in your house, you can swap in almond butter that will give them more of a traditional chocolate chip cookie flavor. Me - I'm crazy for chocolate peanut butter anything so these are my go to. Such an easy pantry pull dessert that is basically sorcery.
This recipe also calls for coconut sugar. Coconut sugar is made from the nectar of coconut palm tree blossoms. It has a mellow, caramely flavor that's delicious in cookies. I also love it on some oatmeal. Nutritionally, it's the exact same as regular sugar but it's less processed and retains some of the trace minerals and antioxidants. I find it works best in this recipe.
Tools Needed
This recipe definitely requires a food processor to get the dough to a smooth consistency. I have a KitchenAid 7 cup Easy Store model and I love it. It's super quiet and slim enough to stash away in the cabinet in my small kitchen. I use it for many of the recipes on my site so if you don't have one yet, I highly recommend this one.
My favorite combination of mix ins for this recipe is half chocolate chips, half butterscotch chips. You can use all chocolate chips or experiment with other kinds of mix ins. This just happens to be my favorite combo. Just make sure that you stir in your mix ins AFTER you blend in the food processor. I also like to reserve about ¼ cup for sprinkling on top.
This recipe is perfect for an 8x8 sized baking dish. Make sure you oil your dish well as the dough is quite sticky and this will help them release from the pan easily. I know it's hard but make sure you give these bars plenty of time to set and cool when they come out of the oven. They are thick and fudgy and will be quite messy if you try to get at them while they're still warm. It's worth the wait!
Chocolate Peanut Butter Chickpea Cookie Bars
Ingredients
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°
- Add everything but the mix-ins to the food processor and blend till smooth.
- Remove the blade and stir in mix-ins (reserve ¼ cup for topping).
- Spread batter into an oiled 8x8 baking dish and top with extra mix-ins.
- Bake for 45-60 minutes. They will be brown on top and look like cookies when they are done.
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