These shockingly rich and gooey chocolate chip chickpea blondies are one of the most popular recipes I’ve ever posted!
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Even readers who don’t normally like healthy desserts LOVE these blondies!
Have you tried them yet???
In the years since first coming up with the recipe, I’ve served it probably over a hundred times to both strangers and friends, always with rave reviews.
No one can ever believe the ingredients or resist the charms of the moist and fudgy secretly healthy blondies.
Also try these Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
No dairy
No butter
No eggs!
White Bean Blondies
The recipe works with either chickpeas (garbanzo beans) or white beans like cannellini (white kidney beans) or great northern beans.
I like both versions equally, but many readers say they prefer using white beans because the resulting batter is smoother.
*Sugar note: You can use regular sugar, coconut sugar or date sugar, brown sugar, evaporated cane juice, or xylitol or granulated erythritol for sugar free blondies.
I once made a batch using stevia, which I thought were delicious. But my friends informed me they tasted like bars of soap. So make that substitution at your own risk!
For refined-sugar-free blondies, try these Sweet Potato Blondies
Above, watch the chickpea blondie recipe video
How to make chickpea blondies
Start by gathering all of the required ingredients.
If using canned beans instead of cooked, be sure to rinse and drain them very well.
(The drained liquid can actually be used to make Vegan Marshmallow Fluff!)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Blend everything together except the chocolate chips until it resembles cookie dough.
I use and recommend a food processor for smoothest blending and best texture, but some readers say they’ve used a blender (making sure to stop the machine and stir the contents occasionally) with good results.
Stir the chocolate chips into the batter, and smooth into a greased or parchment-lined 8-inch pan. Add a few chocolate chips to the top if desired.
Bake 30 minutes on the oven’s center rack, then remove while they’re still a bit gooey, because they will firm up as they cool.
Chickpea Blondies
Ingredients
- 1 can chickpeas or white beans, or 1 1/2 cups cooked
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp each: salt and baking soda
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar of choice (Substitutions are listed above)
- 1/3 cup flour (white, oat, spelt, sorghum, or 1/2 cup almond flour)
- 1/4 cup applesauce, mashed banana, or yogurt
- 3 tbsp oil or 1/4 cup nut butter
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips, or more if desired
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Drain and rinse beans very well. Blend all ingredients (except chips) until very smooth in a good food processor (see not above about using a blender). Mix in chips, and scoop into a greased or parchment-lined 8×8 pan. Optional: you can stick some chocolate chips on top of the batter as well. Bake for 30 minutes. They'll look a little undercooked when you take them out, but they firm up as they cool.View Nutrition Facts
Video
Notes
More Healthy Chickpea Desserts
Flourless Banana Blender Muffins
Made these tonight! I had to add a little hemp milk to get the batter smooth, but they taste awesome! I used stevia, and I like the soap taste. 😀
I can’t believe that chickpeas turn into floury goodness!
Haha I’m glad I’m not the only one! 🙂
I made these the other night and they turned out great, though I overcooked them a bit. I didn’t tell my husband what was in them, and he loved them! 😉 Next time I’m using chocolate peanut butter!
Kind of made these, haha. I only had 1/2 cup of white beans (leftovers) so I reduced everything so the proportions were still correct. Didn’t use nut butter or apple sauce because I didn’t have any, but I added some veg oil. And then I cooked them in the microwave for about 3-4 minutes on 50% power. It (because I didn’t want to share) came out really well in the microwave. It was fluffy… which I don’t think was the goal, but regardless it was a tasty sugary treat.
I never thought to cook them in the microwave!
They need some work when you try to cook them that way, haha… But better than heating up an oven in 80 degree weather!
You’ve got it!
(About both your blondies (mmmm) and your blond theories) Being blond myself, I will attest.
I’ve been there and done that. But I stopped the first year of high-school. The boy that I had a crush on had a crush on my A+ brunette best friend. And that’s probably the reason why I liked him, because he was deep. He liked her for who she was. Long-story short, she did not like him in return (I still can’t get over it, it would have been perfect), I embraced my nerdy, perfectionist, creative ways, we became friends, I outgrew my crush & we all live happily.
Although my blond hair is not as blond, I’ll always be thankful for him. For inspiring me to embrace being myself. Because there’s no better feeling in the world than when you are completely honest with someone about who you are, and they like you anyways <3
But then again, whether you label someone "dumb" or "smart" all depends on what you want out of life. 🙂
Thanks again, your recipes are awesome 🙂
Mmmmm I made these again with coconut butter and reduced the sugar by a couple tablespoons. SO delicious! They came out a bit drier than they did when I used peanut butter but they also held up better. I really really really like them.
PS, your blog has really helped me in recovering from my eating disorder 🙂 I don’t count calories anymore (or at least I try not to…some numbers are just programmed into my brain), I don’t feel as guilty about food, and I think overall I’m making better and healthier choices. So thank you, Katie 🙂
Wow, thank YOU, Elise, for such a meaningful comment. It really made me smile. And I want to try these with coconut butter so much… and now I’ve run out of peanut butter (horrors!), so I might just have to do that soon ;).
OMG I finally got around to making your blondies and they are AMAZING! I am totally in love. Thank you for this wonderful recipe!
Love in the form of a baked good! I can’t believe this is good for you!
Oh, and neither can anyone who I served it to!
I’m making these again Monday and bringing them to a Memorial Day party. Wish me luck!
Hi Katie! I just made the blondies and I feel like they have a weird taste to them. I think that it is because of the dairy free chocolate chips that I used. Could you maybe do a post about vegan chocolate chip options and what your favorites are? Pretty please!
For me, I usually use unsweetened ghirardelli discs. But when I’m baking and others will be eating what I make too, I use Whole Foods brand or Enjoy Life mini chips… of course, if you don’t like the vegan chocolate chips your local store sells, you can always buy a vegan chocolate BAR and cut it up into pieces!
Also, I recently got a pingback and was reading the girl’s post… turns out, she says ghirardelli semi-sweet choc chips are vegan: http://veronicascornucopia.com/2011/05/23/vegan-dark-chocolate-cake-pops/
I just made these! I made them a little different but I just had one straight out of the oven and it was really nice!
I used mostly apples instead of peanut butter (didn’t have apple sauce so just sliced an apple and softened it in the microwave before blending into the mix), with just one spoon of peanut butter. I used rice flour instead of flax and added lots of cocoa rather than chocolate chips – I know it’s weird but I don’t like chocolate chips! it’s just not the same as making the whole thing chocolatey! so I guess they were more like light-brownies than blondies…
they only needed 30 minutes in my ridiculously hot oven, in fact they were starting to look burnt on top by then! luckily they don’t taste burnt. they are VERY fudgey on the inside! anyway enough talk, I’m gonna go get another one!
No chocolate chips? LOL well, as long as you like chocolate ;)… your brownie version sounds really yummy!
Oh. my. gosh. Just made these.. they are HEAVEN!! I used oat bran instead of ground flax. and used applesauce instead of natural pb. Next time I think I might include the pb! 🙂
Oh my goodness! So I just made these today and they were deliciousssssss. These were my sister’s exact words: “These are better than regular cookies!”
Congrats on another great recipe!
🙂 🙂 :)!
Just made my second batch and they came out even better than the first!
Here’s a lil pic of my effort!
file:///C:/Users/Bella/Pictures/2011-06-01/168.JPG
Hey Bella! Unfortunately, your link doesn’t work for me… maybe because I’m not authorized to view the photo or something? But I’m so so excited you made them!
Oh rats! I’m such a computer idiot! Without photo evidence I still promise they were yummy!! 🙂
🙂 🙂
I made these and the snickerdoodle blondies and they were both SOOOO delicious! I subbed stevia for part of the brown sugar, and it was fantastic. I literally ate about 1/3 of the pan yesterday – though to be fair, not in one sitting 🙂 Thanks for another great recipe!
Do you think these would work with white beans instead of chickpeas?
Just kidding…I just saw your note on the recipe!
My blondies are in the oven as we speak (type)!!
So I made these last night and they are PERFECT. I have already eaten about half the pan. SOOOO moist and delicious. Thanks Katie!
-KT
Thank YOU for trying them! It really makes me happy when people try my recipes!! 🙂