Peanut Butter Chickpea Blondies

These peanut butter chickpea blondies are a healthy and high protein treat when your sugar cravings strike. They’re vegan, gluten free and only take about 10 minutes of prep!

Chickpea cookie dough, chickpea cookies, now chickpea blondies! This has been a very highly requested recipe, but I can’t wait for you to try them.

If you’re new to putting chickpeas in desserts, it might seem totally strange and all sorts of wrong, but I promise, it’s gooooood. They make these blondies super rich and and fudgy without the need for any oil or too much added sugar.

These blondies are naturally vegan, gluten free, refined sugar free and only take about 10 minutes of prep. All you need is a food processor or high speed blender and a few simple pantry staple ingredients.

If you love this recipe, try my classic vegan chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter brownies or lemon bars next!

Key Ingredients

Chickpeas. While chickpeas make up the base of this recipe, you can really use any small white bean like navy beans, cannellini etc. Just be sure to rinse them really well so there is no strong bean flavor.

Peanut Butter. I love using peanut butter in these chickpea blondies because it completely masks the flavor of the beans, but any nut or seed butter will work! Homemade almond butter is also delicious.

Almond Flour. If you need to make these tree nut free, just sub for oat flour!

Tapioca Starch. I prefer the texture of the chickpea blondies when I use tapioca starch, but arrowroot or cornstarch will also work.

Maple Syrup. This adds nice sweetness and even a bit of maple flavor! If you are not vegan you can sub for honey

Granulated Sugar. I like using regular white sugar so the color isn’t too dark, but brown sugar or coconut sugar will also work.

I do not recommend subbing the granulated sugar for more maple syrup because the liquid to flour ratio will be off.

How to make chickpea blondies

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas really well and add to a food processor. Add all remaining ingredients aside from the chocolate chips and process until smooth.

Pulse in the chocolate chips just to combine, or stir in with a spoon.

Transfer to the lined baking pan and spread until smooth on top. It can be sticky, so it helps to spray a rubber spatula with oil before spreading.

Sprinkle on a few more chocolate chips on top if desired.

Bake for 28-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. if you like a more gooey center, bake for less time.

Let cool completely before slicing or they will crumble easily. I suggest leaving in the pan for about 20 minutes, then lifting them out onto a cooling rack to finish cooling. Enjoy and try my peanut butter protein balls next!

How to store and freeze

I like to store these blondies in the fridge where they will keep for about 5 days, or 2-3 days at room temperature. Let them cool completely, then store in a container! Because of the chickpeas, they just don’t store as well or as long as traditional cookie bars or blondies.

You can also freeze them for up to 2 months and let defrost at room temperature when you’re ready to eat.

Can I make these without peanut butter?

You can easily sub the peanut butter for any other nut or seed butter you like. My personal favorites are almond, cashew or sunflower.

If you use sunflower seed butter and tahini and sub the almond flour for oat flour, these will be completely nut free!

Why are my blondies dry?

I promise, if you follow the recipe, these chickpea blondies will not be dry! The maple syrup, nut butter and chickpeas add a lot of moisture.

Plus, we aren’t using “regular” flour, just almond flour, which will prevent a dry texture. Just be sure you don’t over bake these if you like a more gooey center.

Other healthy desserts

• Almond Flour Chocolate Cupcakes
• Paleo Brownies
• Healthy Chocolate Chunk Cookies
• Protein Brownies
• Gluten Free Zucchini Bread

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