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 am planning to make them in the mid afternoon …. can they sit out a few hours before serving or would you refrigerate them ?
Yes! they absolutely can sit out to cool on the counter until you serve them!
Just made these and they are wonderful. Made exactly as written, other than using regular white sugar in place of coconut sugar, which I didn’t have.
Baked them for about 20 mins and they looked done and tasted delicious. As others have said, they were a bit soft in the middle so next time will allow another five mins or so. May be personal taste, but I still find them incredible while a bit soft and they did hold into bars, though slightly soft bars!
Where do you get vegan chocolate chips and chunks?
I live in the south and I get them from my regular super market Publix. I’ve also seen them Walmart, Whole Food, a Target
I love these and have been making them regularly for the last few months. Have you tried doubling the batch for a 9×13 pan before? I’m thinking it might work but need a longer bake time.
Hey Denielle! I’m so glad you love them! I honestly have never tried to double the recipe. My only concern would be that they might stay pretty gooey in the center. You’d definitely want to increase the baking time (I think)! You could always double the recipe and bake it in two 8×8″ pans! 😉
Hi laura, these blondes tasted amazing, however my bullet didn’t do very well at blending everything. I doubled the recipe but it still didn’t want to blend. I ended up throwing some whole chick peas away because my bullet would not blend them. Maybe I should have used my cuisinart processor, not sure.
Jeanne
Hey Jeanne! I don’t mean to sound like a snob, but a bullet is NOT a powerful enough blender to make treats like this. A food processor would definitely be a better choice, if a Vitamix isn’t in the budget! 😉
My bullet actually worked perfectly for this. I didn’t feel like pulling out my large food processor so decided to use the bullet!
I’m SO glad to know that Gwen!!! Thank you for letting me know!
Made these tonight and they were delicious!! My family finished the whole pan. I would say that they all loved them!
Made these tonight and they were delicious! My family finished off the whole pan. I would say that they all enjoyed it!
Can’t wait to try these today!!! I’ve made my own hummus before and found the texture is better when you take the skin off the chickpeas. Do you feel that would impact this recipe in a positive way or not worth it because it’s baked?
As long as you have a high-powered blender, it shouldn’t matter! I have never removed the skins and I love them! 😉
Thanks so much for this recipe. It’s my new go to as I usually have all of the ingredients in the pantry. But the best thing is that these treats are so delicious and easy to make!!!
Just made these and they were amazing!!! I used organic agave five instead of maple syrup to make it lower carb and it worked fantastically. I wish I made 2 batches because everyone loves them!
Thanks for a great recipe!