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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This looks great! I’m wondering if you have suggestions for blending batter in the vitamix. I shy away from doing thick stuff in the vitamix bc I’m never sure I’m doing it right. Do you to right up to High and use the tamper to push it all down repeatedly? Or is there a better way? These look too good not to try. :))
Forgot to click “notify me of comments” 🙂
Hey Erica! I just made these in my Vitamix this weekend! Your machine will definitely make a noise that sounds wrong…but it’s OK! LOL! Don’t be afraid to use the tamper to push the batter down. I also turn the machine off and scrape the sides sometimes if I need to. Another tip…try blending the liquid ingredients first (in any recipe in the vitamix) because it makes it easier to blend when the other ingredients are added!
DO we have to bake these? Do you think I would be able to turn this recipe into “no bake” bliss balls instead?
You could absolutely turn them into a no-bake cookie dough type of dip!
I am a fitness enthusiast, but also a baking snob – real butter and sugar only, please. (One hobby balances out the other – LOL.) Anyway, I was skeptical, having had bad black bean brownie experiences in the past, but these are legitimately scrumptious! Not just “not too bad for having beans in them”, but like really good, like you’d wanna serve them to your friends at a party and just enjoy the compliments. 🙂 Thanks for a great recipe! Well done!
LOL Sephonnie I absolutely and completely understand where you’er coming from! I’m so glad these passed the baking snob test!! 😉
Does anyone know the amount of calories per serving?
I baked mine in an 8×8 pan and cut the blondies into 16 squares. My calorie count per square came to 146.
I just made these last night and they are SO GOOD! It’s my first time baking with chickpeas and I’m pretty new to vegan baking, and they still came out great! They were a crowd pleaser and I’ll definitely be making them again!
YAY!! I’m so glad you enjoyed them Laura!! I love them so much! Sometimes I go crazy and toss some PB chips in them too! 🙂
I’m loving this recipe but found it very hard to blend in the vitamix. I’m wondering if your peanut butter is more liquidy than mine because the batter was super thick. I even added an extra tsp of vanilla to try and thin it down a bit. I think I will try using my food processor next time. I left out the coconut sugar thinking it would be too sweet for my liking but I should have stuck with your recipe. Can’t wait to try it again!
Hey Melissa! I’m so sorry you had trouble with the recipe! Omitting the coconut sugar definitely would have an impact on the blendability {I created a word lol} of these bars! If you are using a thicker peanut butter I’d recommend adding an extra TBS of almond milk to make it easier to blend if it’s giving you trouble! Using a food processor is also an option!
I made these, included the coconut sugar and had a runny pb and it was still hard to blend in my vitamin. I was hesitant to add more liquid because I thought the batter would end up soft and mushy like above. They are in the oven now..we’ll see how they turn out! I did put them on parchment paper.
Hey Kristen! How did it turn out for you? It’s important to make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature to ensure the easiest blending! Which Vitamix do you have? 🙂
I don’t have coconut sugar, can I use stevia?
Hey Eva! I don’t usually recommend sweeteners as substitutes. However, you may try using something like stevia in the raw, or a variety that is a 1:1 substitute for granulated sugar. You can also substitute the coconut sugar with honey or maple syrup if you’d like to…they just turn out a tad gooeier and may need to be baked a touch longer!
Mine are mushy in the middle how can I cook them to be drier?
We have to eat themwith a spoon
Hey Michele! I’m so sorry yours were underdone in the middle! How long did you bake them? If you baked for 30 minutes…I’d increase baking time and check at 35! Then watch them carefully after that until they seem to be set for you. Different ovens can bake things differently!
I made these this afternoon. They are amazing, but mine too, were very soft and mushy. The edges had pulled away and the top was brown, so I thought they were finished baking. I was afraid if I baked them any longer the edges and bottom would be over baked, dry, and hard. I used a 8 x 8 metal pan instead of glass. Could that be the issue? That was the only change I made.
I will be making these again!
Thank you for the great recipe.
Jessi
Hey Jessi! I’m so sorry that they turned out soft and mushy! It is always a bummer when a recipe doesn’t turn out the way you want it to! A few suggestions…you can use a 9×9″ baking pan which would make them thinner but would definitely help them cook more evenly! Did you use a convection oven to bake your blondies? The trickiest part of baking is that all ovens work a little differently! If yours tends to bake hot or cook the top before the center is done, I’d try either using the convection setting or baking on a lower rack in your oven. The metal pan could’ve played a part but I think a more likely culprit is the oven! 😉 Did you make any substitutions in the recipe?
I didn’t make any other substitutions. I also thought too, that maybe my baking soda was old and didn’t give it enough rise. I’ll keep you posted.
Thanks for your feedback.
Jessi
Hey Jessi! Definitely let me know if you try it again! I wish I could be in the kitchen with you to see what happened!