Peanut butter and chocolate are a match made in heaven. This recipe for Vegan Blondies, adapted from the one on Minimalist Baker, is one of my favourites because it is insanely easy to make, and my son does a happy dance whenever he sees them. But cuteness aside, these flourless brownies are kind of magical and are a win with adults and kids alike – even my super picky 8 year old nephew came back for seconds, despite their unusual base.
I like to use my food processor to make these, though you can probably use a good quality blender also.
If you are going to cook your own chickpeas, you’ll want to prepare 1/2 cup of dried beans (1.5 cups cooked, which is equal to a 15 oz can). You don’t have to limit yourself to chickpeas either. I’ve made these with navy beans and black beans with success and am sure you could play around with it even more. Whether cooking your own or using canned, rinse and drain them well before adding them to the mixer.
Next add the nut butter (I like to do half peanut butter, half almond butter), maple syrup, vanilla, baking soda and baking powder. Pulse until smooth, and spoon it onto a lined baking sheet.
Mix your chocolate chips (you can also use cacao nibs for a slightly healthier version) into the batter and smooth it out into a rectangle. Aim for it to be a bit less than 1 cm thick. Sprinkle another spoon of chocolate/nibs along the top. You can also add a sprinkle of sea salt if it’s your taste.
Bake for anywhere from 15-20 minutes until the top browns nicely. Your nose will know when they are ready.
Leave it to cool 5-10 minutes before cutting into squares. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or let cool fully and then wrap and store in the fridge to enjoy later.
- 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas (equivalent to 1 15 oz can, drained and rinsed)
- ½ cup nut butter (e.g. peanut butter, almond butter)
- ⅓ cup maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp baking powder
- ⅓ cup vegan chocolate chips (or cacao nibs) + 2 tbsp for topping
- sea salt (optional, to taste)
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C.
- Lightly grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add the chickpeas, nut butter, maple syrup, vanilla extract, baking soda and baking powder to the food processor or blender and pulse until uniformly smooth.
- Spoon the batter to the baking sheet.
- Add the chocolate chips (or cacao nibs) and mix together.
- Spread the batter into a rectangle roughly 1 cm thick.
- Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips and sea salt if desired.
- Bake for 15 minutes or until the top has nicely browned.
- Let cool 5-10 minutes and then cut into squares.
- If saving for later, let cool fully before storing, covered, in the fridge.
Welcome!
Whoa, these look amazing!! So trying this recipe ASAP!!
I made cookies similar to this recipe once! Hubby liked them which kinda surprised me. I wonder if these taste similar…
I love the addition of chick peas! These look really tasty!
OK, I am going to have to try these beauties! I am not a vegan but have been trying to slowly eliminate meat & dairy wow it’s tough. Not the meat so much but dairy (cheese) is tough
It IS tough! I only just found something I like I as much as cottage cheese, and still haven’t found a vegan cheese I can say I really love. I have a great recipe on here for cheeseless mac and cheese you should try.
This looks so good! I love blondies!
What a sweet dessert…and I love that its a healthy alternative!
I have never heard of chick peas in a blondie recipe, but I would love to try this.
I attempted chickpea blondies a few weeks ago and it was a major fail! I’m going to be brave again and try this version! Your photos are really helpful!
Hope you have better luck this time Chrissa! I find it helps to not go by the bake time since every oven is different. Instead just keep baking until you see that the blondies have browned nicely on top.
I love sneaking beans into baked goods. These blondies look fabulous!