These super soft, buttery salted chocolate chip blondies are made with a few surprise ingredients. So simple, so irresistibly good and also protein-packed, vegan and gluten free!
I’ve always thought, if there’s one comfort food that shouldn’t be messed with, it’s the chocolate chip cookie. Sure, stuff it with caramel and sprinkle it with sea salt. Mix in peanut butter, pretzels, M&Ms and sandwich a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two. Those are safe choices.
And I was a safe kinda girl… until now!
I don’t bake very often, but when I do, I want my treats to be GOOD. I don’t like wasting time, ingredients, and especially not chocolate. So, I was naturally skeptical of adding chickpeas to a chocolate chip cookie bar. But! It was a day that called for a little adventure.
I cracked open a can, added some peanut butter, maple syrup, and vanilla extract, and got to mixin’ with my food processor. What resulted was a super-soft, rich dough that tasted JUST like chocolate chip cookies! It easily pressed into my 8×8 pan and baked into beautiful golden bars that pulled quite the disappearing act after I pulled them warm from the oven.
My skeptical sweet tooth was pleasantly surprised!
All you need is a handful of pantry staples and about 10 minutes of prep to whip up these buttery soft, gluten-free blondies! They taste just as good as any chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever baked, but with a punch of protein from the peanut butter and chickpeas. A sprinkle of sea salt on top really brings out the sweetness, but leave it out if you prefer.
These delicious and decadent bars are also vegan-friendly! However, if you prefer a little thicker bar, add an egg to the batter. Mix in some nuts or dried fruits, if you’d like, too.
They’re basically foolproof!
Flourless Chocolate Chip Chickpea Blondies with Sea Salt
Ingredients
- Nonstick cooking spray
- 1 15 oz. can chickpeas/garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 cup natural peanut butter, almond butter, or your favorite nut butter
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup, honey or agave nectar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/3 cup + 2 Tbsp. semisweet chocolate chips
- Sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Coat an 8 × 8-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a food processor, add all ingredients except chocolate chips. Process until batter is smooth. Fold in 1/3 cup chocolate chips and spread batter evenly in prepared pan with a buttered spatula. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons chocolate chips over top.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean and edges are very light brown.
- Let cool completely on a wire rack. Sprinkle with sea salt and cut into 16 squares.
- Enjoy!
This looks so great, that I would’ve eaten them raw! Great recipe, thanks!
Eugen @ The Munch Ado Blog
Oh wow!!! These look incredible and I really like hhow you made htem healtheir with the addition of chickpeas. I love how they work in cookies, so I cannot wait to give these bars a go ;–)
I hope you have a lovely weekend! xxxx
These look like a perfect texture. I’m totally intrigued! I must try them!!
I’ve been really curious about using chickpeas in baking … you may have convinced me that I need to try it! These look great! Especially with that sprinkle of sea salt…
Fabulous! I made a chickpea cookie dough one time, but for some reason I don’t think it turned out right, there was no peanut butter involved that time though, so I’m thinking that might’ve been where it aaall went wrong! :P Have a lovely weekend Miss! x
I need at least 6 of these!
Incredible! I want to try these for sure. I love that they are flour less, no sugar added and just darn good for you.
I love blondies, so much. I make them often, and I have shared my recipe on my blog at least once. I love the flourless idea with the garbanzos, so I’ll give it a try asap!!! More protein, less carbs, right!
Wow for a safe woman, I think you did a wild and crazy move with the chick peas. Who woulda thunk? Boy the look moist and I want to say fudgey—I guess fudgey doesn’t automatically mean chocolate—looking. This is one of those recipes that is fun to make, force people to guess the mystery ingredients and then shock everyone. Okay it’s a bit lame, but I take my fun where I can.
Chickpea blondies?! Omg, these look so good!
Oh my goodness Georgia, these look amazing. Who would have though chick peas could be used in something like this, brilliant!
This has been something that’s been on my “I’m skeptical but I’ve gotta try it!” list for foreverrrr! So glad to hear the chickpeas turned out so well for you-they certainly look like friggin DELICIOUS blondies!
I’m so intrigued by this chickpea addition! But anything with chocolate chips in bar form has my attention, so I will have to try this soon. :)
Beyond brilliant!! I could down the whole pan. They look so good and the chickpeas make the healthier!
This is genius! I definitely have to try these! Pinned!
Yum! I love these! Garbanzo beans are the best for gluten-free desserts!
Look at you living on the wild side!! I am so impressed and kind of in awe at these.
Wahoo! Welcome to the wonderful world of baking with beans! I’ve never made blondies with chickpeas but judging by how delicious they are as brownies, I’ve got to give this recipe a try! Hope you have a great weekend!
Love how you tucked in some chickpeas into these blondies – such a great idea! I’ve seen black bean brownies, so this is similar. Very clever Georgia!
Just made these and I added Reese’s Pieces to the batter :). Amazing recipe! I always love your recipes so I knew this one would be another winner.
I’m so glad you enjoyed these, Liz! Thanks for the kind comment.
What a great idea! I don’t like reinventing classics either but this looks amazing!!
Looks so delicious and tempting.. thanks for the wonderful recipe! :)
I have seen brownies with chickpeas, but have never seen blondies. I like the recipe, must try it someday :)
These look AMAZING!!! I love love LOVE desserts that have chocolate AND salt!! Soooo good! thanks for sharing this lovely recipe! I just pinned it to my “Recipes to make” board! Def have to try it! YUM!
Wow, Georgia. I am STUNNED that these are made with chick peas!
These look amazing, I know that peanut butter and chickpeas go well together. so this recipe makes perfect sense. I bet they are amazing!
You totally hooked me with these. Chickpeas, really?? Can’t wait to try them!
These look incredible! I made a ‘chocolate chip cookie dough’ dip with chickpeas a few years ago and it was really great, so i can’t wait to try these, I bet they’re super good!!! And the photos…GORGEOUS!
Oh mah goodness… Yum! I’ve seen brownie recipes that called for black beans and they always made go “Hmmm.” Now I’m convinced. These bars look amazing!
Okay, so I’ve been skeptical about chickpeas in cookies and I think you just convinced me to try it out! These look amazing, and I love the sea salt on top (my newest favourite thing ever). Love this idea!
I don’t like the black bean brownie thing but I’m all over chickpeas in peanut butter goodies! I’ve made similar cookies and loved them so I bet I’d love these even more. :)
And good for you for trying out something new! :D
I’ve never baked with chickpeas but these are totally inspiring me to. Great recipe!
looks absolutely delicious!
I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe.
I just finished baking these & they are amazing. I did have to bake them more like 45-50 mins. Instead of 20-25 but worth the wait.
These look amazing. We are baking them right now, but they came out mushy. We are trying 40 minutes. We can’t wait.
The verdict is in, 40 minutes was the time needed and they are delicious.
Tried these today. Really easy and OMG so tasty! Could not taste the chickpeas, tasted almost buttery ;) didn’t have enough PB left so subbed the rest with some apple sauce..worked a treat!
Made these today and they turned out great!! I like the ideA of substituting applesauce . I was thinking about adding some pumpkin next time or some dates.
Thank you these were so good!! I’ve been wanting to tey a cookie with chick peas for a while now and these are perfect. I did add 1 egg and it was perfectly done in 30 min. My 2 kids gobbled them down! Definitely my go to reciepe for a healthy cookie!
Sooo I tried this recipe last night and it turned out amazing!! My 3yr old son is super picky, but he loved it and wanted more. I even brought them to work and co-workers devoured them. I can’t believe chick peas could taste so good. Thank you so much!
Today I made them using sunflower seeds instead of PB and chickpea dough I had made from dried chickpeas (I made hummus with the rest of them). I did use one egg and baked for 30 minutes. They were delicious and among the best gluten free baked goods I have made (and there have been many). These are definitely a repeat. They are a better texture once they’ve cooled. When warm, they are a bit like warm cookie dough (not that there is anything wrong with that ;-) ).
I made a second batch with adzucki beans instead – commonly used in Japanese desserts – and they are perfect. Easy substitution. Also, since I’m not a stickler for gluten, I added a bit of flour to make them less crumbly.
There’s a note to peel the chickpeas. Did you really peel them, and if so, how? Thanks! I might try subbing with coconut butter so they can go to my son’s school. Or cashew butter would be yummy, even if it can’t go to school.
Garbanzo beans are peeled already, so grab a can of those. It will save you the trouble!
These are AMAZING!! They taste like cookies and I could’ve eaten the whole thing in one sitting!! Such a good alternate to cookies because they are much healthier and taste incredible! Adding this recipe to my list for sure. It is amazing!!!!!