Healthy Peanut Butter Blondies (Chickpea Blondies)
Posted Feb 23, 2018, Updated Oct 05, 2021
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These healthy peanut butter blondies are gluten-free, dairy-free, refined-sugar free and vegan friendly! Made with chickpeas but you’d never know it! A delicious healthy dessert recipe.
These healthy peanut butter blondies are one of my all-time favorite dessert recipes that I’ve been baking for 15 years!
I have this habit that I can’t don’t want to kick, of sitting down and having a legit dessert every night after dinner. However, I would like to live past 45, so I love making treats that taste indulgent but are actually good for you, like these chickpea blondies. One of my favorite ways to achieve this goal is by using beans in place of flour in baked goods.
Chickpea Blondies?
These healthy peanut butter blondies use chickpeas instead of flour and peanut butter in place of butter or oil. I know what you’re thinking, do they really taste good? Yes, I promise you that they do!
I really love the combination of honey and coconut sugar as the sweetener, and the addition of 1 tablespoon of almond milk really made the texture perfect. This recipe ended my search for a delicious, healthy, peanut butter cookie that’s high in protein and fiber.
These healthy peanut butter blondies are also vegan-friendly (no eggs)! So you can eat the batter too. I love adding a touch of sea salt to the top of these before baking them, you can’t go wrong with sweet and salty!
How to Make Chickpea Blondies
This vegan blondies recipe is easy to make. Just put all the ingredients (except the chocolate chips) into the container of your Vitamix (or other high-powered blender or food processor) and blend.
It takes 5 minutes to put together and 30 minutes to bake. Which means that you can have a delicious dessert ready to go in no time.
Room temperature. One thing to note is that these blondies blend the easiest when all the ingredients are at room temperature.
If you’re using a solid peanut butter, I recommend melting it a touch before putting it in your blender. Rinse the chickpeas with warm water, and let the almond milk warm up a bit at room temperature too.
Store/freeze
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Reheat in the microwave or oven or enjoy them cold (they are delicious cold too).
Reipe FAQs
Yes, double it and bake it in a 9×13″ pan.
No, you can omit the chocolate chips or use a different add -in like dried fruit, nuts, etc.
Healthy Peanut Butter Blondies: Substitutions
I recommend making this recipe exactly as written. However, if you must, here are a few possible substitutions!
- Chickpeas. Great Northern Beans (white beans, Cannellini beans) also work well in this recipe! However, chickpeas (garbanzo beans} are my favorites!
- Peanut butter. Any nut or seed butter works well in place of peanut butter.
- Honey. Use pure maple syrup for a vegan variety.
- Coconut sugar. Any granulated sugar works well in this recipe. I prefer coconut sugar because it is unrefined.
- Almond milk. Any non-dairy or regular dairy-full milk can be used in this recipe. I have also used non-dairy creamer.
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Healthy Peanut Butter Blondies (Chickpea Blondies)
Ingredients
- 15 oz can of chickpeas (garbanzo beans) rinsed and drained (or 1 ¼ cups cooked chickpeas)
- ½ cup creamy peanut butter
- ¼ cup honey (maple syrup for vegan)
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- 1 TBS almond milk
- 2 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- ½ tsp baking powder
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- extra sea salt & chocolate chips for the top
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8″ or 9″ glass baking pan and set aside.
- Put all ingredients except for chocolate chips into your blender (Vitamix) or food processor. I highly recommend a great blender like the Vitamix so you get a perfectly smooth consistency.
- Blend until creamy and smooth.
- Once smooth, add chocolate chips and mix by hand.
- Pour mixture into your prepared pan and spread out evenly.
- Sprinkle a few more chocolate chips and sea salt on top.
- Bake in your preheated oven for 20-30 mintues until the edges just pull away from the pan, the top is set and slightly golden brown.
- Let cool for at least 15 minutes, then enjoy!
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. You can eat them cold or warm in the microwave for 15 seconds to regain the fresh-from-the-oven deliciousness!
Video
Notes
Ingredient Substitutions
- Chickpeas. Great Northern Beans (white beans, Cannellini beans) also work well in this recipe! However, chickpeas (garbanzo beans} are my favorites!
- Peanut butter. Any nut or seed butter works well in place of peanut butter.
- Honey. Use pure maple syrup for a vegan variety.
- Coconut sugar. Any granulated sugar works well in this recipe. I prefer coconut sugar because it is unrefined.
- Almond milk. Any non-dairy or regular dairy-full milk can be used in this recipe. I have also used non-dairy creamer.
Store/freeze
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 2 months. Reheat in the microwave or oven or enjoy them cold (they are delicious cold too).Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I replaced the almond milk and coconut sugar with a piece of banana I had on the counter 🙂 (my peanut butter had sugar). I love nutritive desserts (which can also be breakfast treats).
Sounds delicious Joy!
Hello Laura,
Just made this recipe. It is delicious! Can’t taste the chickpeas. The texture is nice too.
Will definitely be making it again.
Since some comments said they didn’t rise. I left out the both baking soda and powder. Don’t miss those flavors anyway.
Thank you!
I’m so happy you love them!
These were delicious! I have made healthy alternative chickpea based sweets before but I always find they still taste mostly like chickpeas – so for safety, I guess I made them slightly less healthy but I added about 1-½ tablespoons cold chopped butter into the batter and an extra dash of vanilla to hide that taste. I would make them like this again – they were delicious! My husband that is always skeptical about my sweets (bc I make them healthy) even said they were tasty as he went back for seconds! They didn’t rise at all really but they were still great and took the full 30 minutes.
I’m so glad you, and your husband, love this recipe Caroline!
These were delicious! I used regular peanut butter which has sugar and salt in it already, so I cut those down by using 1 tbsp brown sugar and about 1/4 tsp. salt. I also used oat milk, as I did not have almond milk and honey. I used my food processor and everything came out nice and smooth. I baked for 25 minutes and they mine did not rise, but I don’t mind because they were delicious. I will definitely be making these again.
I’m so happy you love these, Deanna!
My kids loved them, I LOVE finding healthy snacks my kids love, thank you!!! I love them too.
I’ve made these a couple times now, but I had to make them nut-free for daycare and other dietary restrictions for me. 1st attempt: subbed sunflower butter, maple syrup, cane sugar, and oat milk all 1:1 for the corresponding recipe ingredients. These took the full 30 min to bake in a 9×9 silicone pan and remained very moist after cooling. Delicious for at home. A bit sweet for my taste buds. Wouldn’t hold up through a daycare bake sale, so 2nd attempt: subbed sunflower butter & maple syrup again, omitted the sugar and milk, added an egg and 1/2 cup oat flour. These only took 22 min in the same silicone pan. Were still very moist after cooling and being in a container for a while, but were closer to the typical blondie texture, more durable. Still delicious!
delicious!!! Can I double the recipe and use the same pan and bake for same amount of time? Also do you have any other recipes that don’t have any refined sugar?
If you double the recipe I suggest using a 9×13″ pan. If you decide to make a double batch in an 8×8 or 9×9″ pan you will need to increase the baking time. I have many healthy dessert recipes! Check them out here: Healthier Desserts. My favorites are black bean brownies and flourless brownies!
I love this recipe! Can I add vegan protein powder as well? Thank you