Healthy Peanut Butter Blondies

If you were trapped on an island with only one type of bean to eat, what kind would you choose? That's an insanely ridiculous hypothetical question. But I'd choose chickpeas. Between hummus, garlic knots and pizza crust, chickpea burgers, basic bean salads, and even banana bread -- the uses are endless.

Then a friend of a friend posted a link on Facebook to this recipe by Ambitious Kitchen for vegan + flour-less + full of protein (chickpeas!) blondies, and I thought it sounded way too good to be true. I've been trying hard to resist the urge to bake too often and eat lots of sugar. To the extent that I no longer have sugar or other sweetener in the kitchen. It wasn't really a plan of mine, and I will go out and get some maple syrup soon, but I've been OK without it!

That's a huge step. Still, I crave sweets daily. The quantity of what I desire has changed, and I can get along fine without eating too much except for on special occasions. But I'm at a point now where I'll be fine with some sugar in the house but would still prefer to lighten the loads of it in my diet. So, these blondies are perfect for that. I realized quickly I had almost everything on hand to make them.

I followed the recipe almost exactly, but I subbed in a banana for the maple syrup and added more chocolate. Everything else I left the same. Consequently, all the ingredients I used came from Aldi (our store has chickpeas now!), so it's also a budget-friendly treat.

CHICKPEA + BANANA + PB BLONDIES
adapted from Ambitious Kitchen

What you'll need . . .

• 1 can chickpeas, drained + rinsed
• 1 medium ripe banana
• 1/2 cup smooth peanut butter
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• pinch sea salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Method . . .

1. I preheated my oven to 350 degrees F. 
2. Then I tossed it all but the chocolate chips into my food processor and blended until well combined, folded in the chocolate chips, and then spread into a well oiled bread pan (you can also use a square brownie dish), and let bake for 25 minutes.
3. I let cool for around a half hour before slicing.

So, try this recipe. It's delicious and pretty healthy, too! I also think it'd be fun to add 1/3-1/2 cup cocoa powder to make "brownies" -- and I'll likely do that soon because this batch didn't last long.

Have you tried a super healthy dessert like this one before?

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