Chickpea Blondies Recipe

These Chickpea Blondies with peanut butter are healthy, fudgy, vegan blondies with chocolate chips. It’s a delicious healthy vegan protein dessert or snack ready in 30 minutes!

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Vegan Blondies are similar to vegan brownies. Well, except for the color, hence their name. Brownies are named for their chocolate color, the same is true for blondies.

They are blonde because of the lack of chocolate in their dough, replaced with vanilla.

Ingredients and Substitutions

This is the key to making blondies with canned chickpeas. All the other ingredients you need are pretty simple pantry staples:

• Canned Chickpeas – Canned chickpeas, also known as Garbanzo beans must be drained and towel-dried, to remove any excess water that could make the blondies too soft and fragile. If you love chickpeas, try my other chickpea recipes.
• Maple Syrup – or any unrefined liquid sweetener of your choice, such as coconut nectar or rice malt syrup.
• Peanut Butter – you need to use fresh, runny natural peanut butter with no additives (no oil, no sugar).
• Dark Chocolate Chips – or pieces of 70% dark chocolate. Most dark chocolates with more than 70% cocoa are vegan-friendly.

How To Make Chickpea Blondies

Chickpea blondies are fudgy healthy blondies bars made in 10 minutes in your food processor using canned chickpeas. The trick to making a fudgy blondie with chickpea is to drain and towel-dry the chickpea first!

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). For a thin blondie, line an 8-inch x 8-inch brownie pan with parchment paper. For a thicker blondie, use a 6-inch x 6-inch pan. Set aside.
2. Open the can of chickpeas, rinse, and drain them thoroughly. Then, use a clean towel to dry/rub the chickpeas, removing all the water or moisture. This is very important, as too much moisture will make the blondies fragile and dense.
3. Place the chickpeas in the bowl of a food processor and add the peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt (photo 1). Blend on high speed for 1 minute or until the mixture is smooth and no big lumps are left (photo 2).
4. Add the almond flour and process again at high speed for 15-30 seconds, or until evenly blended (photo 3).
5. Remove the food processor blade and stir in the chocolate chips. Set aside 3 tablespoons of the chocolate chips for sprinkling on top of the blondies before baking. This will prevent the blondies from becoming too brownie-like, as too many chocolate chips in the batter will melt and make the blondies too dense.
6. Spread the blondie batter evenly into the prepared baking pan and sprinkle the reserved chocolate chips on top (photo 4).
7. Bake the blondies for 20 to 30 minutes at 350°F (180°C) until the blondies are golden brown and crusty on top. The cooking time will vary depending on the size and depth of your baking pan. If your pan is wider, the blondies will cook faster. If your pan is smaller, the blondies will be thicker and may take longer than 30 minutes to set.
8. To check if the blondies are done, insert a toothpick into the center. If the toothpick comes out clean with a few crumbs attached, the blondies are ready.

8. Let the blondies cool in the pan for 10 minutes to firm up. Do not skip this step, or the blondies will break.
9. Once the blondies have cooled slightly, use a knife to gently loosen the sides and then lift the parchment paper to easily remove the blondies from the pan and transfer them to a cooling rack. Be careful, as the blondies will still be soft and fragile. If they are too soft or moist, let them cool for an additional 10 minutes before transferring them to the cooling rack. This will help to prevent the blondies from breaking.
10. Let the blondies cool completely for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving. They may be fragile if sliced too soon.
11. After 1 hour, you can optionally refrigerate the blondies for an additional hour. This will give them a fudgier texture and make them easier to slice.

Step-By-Step Video

Tip For Other Flour Types

This recipe is flourless, meaning there is no all-purpose flour used. Instead, the recipe uses almond flour, which is fine, blanched ground almonds.

Another option is oat flour that you can make at home by pulsing rolled oats in your blender for 30 seconds.

Allergy Swaps

While I love the combination of chickpeas and peanut butter in this recipe, there is a nut-free option! First, you can replace peanut butter with sunflower seed butter (be careful, as it might turn the batter slightly green).

Next, swap the almond flour with oat flour. Finally, if you can eat almonds and you are only looking for a peanut-free option, replace peanut butter with any other nut butter, such as almond butter or cashew butter, and keep the almond flour.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Healthy Vegan Dessert Recipes

If you love these healthy vegan blondie bars, you will probably love my vegan brownie recipes!

Vegan Brownies

Quinoa Brownies

Vegan Blondies

Black Bean Brownies

Chickpea Blondie Recipe

A healthy chickpea peanut butter blondie recipe with chocolate chips, flourless, gluten-free, and vegan.

4.78 from 270 votes

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Prep Time: 10 minutes mins

Cook Time: 25 minutes mins

Total Time: 35 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Snack

Cuisine: American

Servings: 12 bars

Calories: 125 kcal

Author: Carine Claudepierre

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Ingredients

US Customary – Metric

• ▢ 1 ½ cup Canned Chickpeas - or 1 can of canned chickpea of 400g (14 oz), drained, towel-dried
• ▢ ⅓ cup Peanut Butter (Unsalted) - or sunflower seed butter if nut-free
• ▢ ½ cup Maple Syrup - or any liquid sweetener like agave syrup or date syrup
• ▢ ½ tablespoon Vanilla Extract
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Baking Powder
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon Baking Soda
• ▢ ½ teaspoon Sea Salt
• ▢ ⅓ cup Almond Flour - or oat flour
• ▢ ⅓ cup Dairy-Free Dark Chocolate Chips

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Line a 8-inch x 8-inch brownie pan with parchment paper. You can also use a 6-inch x 6 inch pan for a thicker blondies. Set aside.
• Open the can of chickpeas, rinse, drain and dry/rub the chickpeas in a clean towel to remove all the water or moisture. This is very important, or the blondies will be fragile and too moist.
• Place the chickpea in the bowl of a food processor and add peanut butter, maple syrup, vanilla, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
• Blend on high speed for 1 minute or until smooth, and no big lumps are left.
• Add in almond flour and process again at high speed for 15-30 seconds to blend evenly.
• Remove the food processor blade and stir in chocolate chips. I recommend keeping 3 tablespoons on the side and sprinkling them later on top of the blondies. This prevents adding too many chocolate chips in the batter that will melt and turn your blondies into brownies.
• Spread the blondie batter evenly onto the prepared baking pan and sprinkle the chocolate chips you set aside on top.
• Bake 20 – 30 minutes or until golden and crusty on top. If your pan is wider, it will cook way faster. On the other hand, if your pan is smaller, the blondies are thicker, and it may take more than 30 minutes to set. Always insert a pick in the center of the blondie to check baking. If it comes out clean with little crumbs, it is ready.
• Cool 10 minutes in the pan to firm up the blondies. Don't skip this, or they will break. Then gently loosen the sides with a knife and lift the pieces of parchment paper to easily release the blondies from the pan and transfer it onto a cooling rack. Careful, the blondies will still be soft and fragile. If you feel it is too soft or moist, wait for 10 more minutes before transferring it onto the cooling rack. This prevents the blondies from breaking.
• Cool for at least 1 hour before slicing into 1 bar, or they can be fragile. After 1 hour, you can pop the blondies in the fridge for 1 hour. It will add an extra fudgy texture and make it easier to slice.

Storage

• Store up to 5 days in the fridge in an airtight container.

Notes

Nut-free option: Replace the peanut butter with sunflower seed butter and almond flour with oat flour.

Almond flour swap: Use the same amount of oat flour or all-purpose flour. Note that the blondies are fudgier with almond flour.

Maple syrup swap: Use the same amount of agave syrup, rice syrup, or date syrup.

Equipment

8-Inch Square Pan

Parchment Paper

Measuring Cups and Spoons

Mixing Bowl

Food Processor

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Nutrition

Serving: 1bar | Calories: 125kcal | Carbohydrates: 14g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 7g | Saturated Fat: 2g | Cholesterol: 1mg | Sodium: 168mg | Potassium: 108mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 11g | Calcium: 44mg | Iron: 1mg