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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OMG!!! I know I am a year late to the party…but these are delicious. I skipped the coconut sugar and just used the maple syrup and added pieces from a chopped up Almond Toffee Symphony bar instead of the chocolate chips. Really delicious!
It’s never too late to join THIS party! 🙂
I just tried these with a couple tweaks of my own, and they turned out good. 🙂 The one thing that has been holding me back from trying bean brownies is lack of a food processor. Well, I do have a wonderful Kitchen Aid mixer…and I just beat the beans into smooth submission haha For PB I used Smucker’s Natural. Instead of the honey and coconut sugar I used a scant half cup of mashed ripe banana + 4 TBSP Date Sugar. I used Oat Milk instead of Almond and I used Ghiradelli 60% choc chips. My son is 10 and is not a fan of darker chocolate, thought these were great and needed the chocolate…and I did not tell him the base was beans(although he likes beans) Trying to eat plant-based,whole foods and avoid animal products is challenging, especially when it comes to “treats”…this one will make my coveted recipe journal for baking 🙂
Meredith! I’m so glad you were able to use this recipe to create something you enjoyed! 🙂
Thank you thank you! This one I’m definitely going to make. I have allergic reactions to so many foods Inc gluten, oats, dairy eggs even gluten free things like millet and have to be low sugar so baking has become difficult. Which of love to do. I’d seen chocolate brownies with legumes but didn’t even think of replacing in other things. And never had blondies. Our treats in the UK differ slightly like most places. Nice to have found your blog. X question, could I use almond butter instead?
These were DELICIOUS! Even my husband LOVED them… and he’s pretty skeptical about eating anything made with alternative ingredients outside our norm. Once we tested the batter, we knew they’d bake out and test incredible. Ours were a little mushy in the middle too, but my husband and I like our brownies, etc. a little soft in the middle so we didn’t mind.
Thanks for the recipe!
Nicole I LOVE that even your hubby enjoyed them! It’s always great when we find healthier recipes even picky eaters enjoy!
Hi i cook my own chickpeas so not sure what the amount of peas would be from a drained can. Does anyone know I’d like to try these. Thanks
It’s about 1.5 cups!
Hi Laura, honey is not used by vegans.Its exploited by humans from bee’s.Bee’s need it for survival…could use corn syrup instead if u want to call them vegan…They look good and i will definitely use corn syrup when i make them…think it will make no difference..
Hey Pam! I highly recommend using Maple Syrup as a vegan option and avoiding corn syrup! You could also use agave or brown rice syrup!
Would maple syrup work instead of honey to be vegan?
Yes! I use maple syrup all the time!
I can’t wait to try this, but will have to for now as my oven just died! 😕 But, I have a question. You mentioned using the chickpeas in place of flour. I just looked at another recipe for baked zucchini bites with flour, which I don’t want. Have you tried using chickpeas to replace flour in something that’s NOT sweet?
These are delicious! My three year old has been devouring them 🙂 and my husband was pleasantly surprised to find out that the secret ingredient was chickpeas. The blondies freeze extremely well and I love that I can pull one out of the freezer anytime 🙂 Thanks for sharing this recipe!
Oh and also I made mini muffins and they held together great and were nice a fudgy☺
Absolutely delicious!!! I can’t believe it’s made with chickpeas!! My new favorite bite to have with my mid morning cup of coffee! Devine!
Yay Dani!! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Making them in mini muffin form is brilliant! A quick and easy little snack!!