baking soda

Desserts, Recipes, Treats, Vegan, Vegetarian

Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies

Remember that delicious bowl of healthy cookie dough dip that I posted yesterday? What if I told you that you could turn that fun vegan dip into actual ooey gooey chocolate chip cookies with the addition of some fairy dust (a.k.a. baking powder and baking soda)? Well, I’m about to make your wildest dreams come true. Get your ovens ready little bunnies. It’s cookie time.

Speaking of cookie time, whenever I hear that phrase I instantly think of the movie “Troop Beverly Hills!” OMG such a good movie. Definitely watching it this weekend with a Chocolate Chip Chickpea cookie… or two! Have you ever seen “Troop Beverly Hills?” Such a classic!

As usual, these cookies are healthy, but give regular fatty refined sugar cookies a run for their money! Here is yet another flour-less vegan recipe that doesn’t contain any oil, refined sugar, or butter for all of you healthy bunnies that want a little something to indulge in.

It’s cookie time, it’s cookie time, it’s cookie timeeeee!


Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies
Makes 24 cookies

1 15oz can of chickpeas
1 + 1/4 cup pitted medjool dates
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup chocolate chips (of your choice, you could use carob chips for a vegan option)
3 Tbs almond butter
2 Tbsp rolled oats
1 Tbsp + 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp baking soda

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove pits from the dates and place in a bowl or jar with 1/2 cup of water. Cover the bowl or jar and let it sit in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours (or overnight). Strain and rinse the chickpeas. After dates have soaked, combine the chickpeas, dates (including their soaking liquid), almond butter, oats, vanilla, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a food processor, excluding the chocolate chips. Blend until smooth, scraping down the sides with a spatula as needed. Remove dough from the for processor and gently mix in the chocolate chips. Lightly coat a baking sheet with nonstick cooking spray, or line with parchment paper. Scoop the dough into 1 inch balls and place on the cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes until cookies are firm in the center. Remove from oven and let cool.

Note: If you were hesitant about the Chickpea Cookie Dough Dip, this is a great recipe to test it out. The dough does have a different type of flavor than your average cookie dough, but the baked cookies taste like “regular” chocolate chip cookies, without a doubt. Make a batch of cookies and sample some dough to see if it’s dip worthy for your taste! If not, turn it into cookies. Simple!

Recipe adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie. 

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Desserts, Recipes, Treats

Vegetables… In My Brownies?!

Uh oh, it’s April 1. We all know what that means… April Fool’s Day!
What if I told you that this indeed is no joke. These brownies really are made of veggies!

YES, HEALTHY BROWNIES DO EXIST!

Trick all of your friends, coworkers, and family members with the tastiest, healthiest April Fool’s prank yet! They will have no idea that these rich chocolate brownies are made of vegetables! Not to mention; vegan, gluten free, and contain no refined sugar, butter, oil, or salt! Take that Paula Dean.

Just make sure that no one is allergic to the secret superstar ingredients first… because that would not be fun!

I love Chef AJ’s original Black Bean Brownie recipe, but I didn’t have barley flour or date syrup on hand, so I did some trial and error with flours, making my own date paste/syrup, and added spinach! I made 2 different batches to ensure they were perfect before posting, and I found that almond meal/flour tasted the best and gave the greatest consistency. I wanted to give whole-wheat flour and try, but it came out like rubber! As I was experimenting, I found that blending the ingredients in a particular order made the process much more efficient.

Remember, even though these are made from whole healthy ingredients, that they are still treats and should be enjoyed in moderation. But go ahead, lick the batter straight from the bowl, there are no eggs!

Black Bean & Spinach Brownies
Recipe adapted from Chef AJ
Makes 9 servings

15oz, can no salt added black beans (drained and rinsed)
2 cups fresh spinach
12 medjool dates (pitted)
1 cup water
½ cup cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup almond flour
Optional 2 Tbsp dark chocolate chips or vegan carob chips – as a topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a high-powered blender or food processor (I used my Vitamix!) combine the dates and water, blending until thick smooth paste is formed. Add the fresh spinach to the paste and mix until smooth. Next, add the beans and vanilla extract and blend. Finally, add the cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and almond flour. Blend until batter is mixed evenly. Scrape the sides of the blender or food processor as needed, as the batter will become very thick. Once batter is smooth, pour into an 8 x 8 cooking pan, lightly coated with olive oil spray. Bake for 30-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Optional: when brownies have finished baking, sprinkle chocolate chips over the top and let them melt in the oven for 1 additional minute. Remove brownies from the oven and spread melted chocolate chips evenly with a spatula.

Note: I checked the brownies after 35 minutes and they were still raw in the middle, so I kept cooking them in 10 minute increments, checking with a toothpick each time. The brownies took around 50 minutes to completely cook.

Side Note: I have not tried using deglet noor dates (the smaller, lighter dates) but if you use them in place of medjool, I suggest doubling the quantity to 22 since they are half the size.

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