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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YUM! i made these and used walnuts because I was out of choc chips and also added:
1 heaping Tbsp cinnamon
1 tsp powdered ginger
3 tsp homemade chai mix
THIS RECIPE IS A KEEPER. I wrapped them in individual servings in wax paper and stored in a ziploc bag in the freezer. I think they taste best chilled.
I made these yesterday! Amazing! I added one egg( for a little extra protein) and doubled the recipe for a 9×11 pan! Super yummy and my one kid who likes chocolate loved them!
Wow. These are delicious & you can’t taste the chickpeas at all. I didn’t tell my boyfriend that there were chickpeas in the recipe (because he’d freak out), and he had no clue. Thank you!
So glad you loved them Kelly! I totally relate to not telling my family what’s really in something before they try it and proclaim that they like it! 😉
Mine turned out wobbly in the middle and simply wouldn’t cook through :/ Is there something wrong with how I mixed the batter?
Me too!!! Can anyone advise how to get them to cook through?
Hello! I’d recommend just baking them until they are cooked through! I have never had this issue before so I’m unsure what is happening. Did you make any substitutions or alter the method of the recipe at all?
I doubled the recipe, all ingredients were at room temp, and my Vitamix bogged down. Finally I added 2 aquafaba eggs, and they are baking now. The batter was delicious. The Blondies turned out to be delicious. I ended up baking them about 45 minutes. Took them to a class to share, and people really enjoyed them.
Any thoughts on the bogging down of the Vitamix? Thanks.
Just made these and I’m in love! I made a few minor changes based on Pinterest reviews and the final product was the perfect blondie/brownie like consistency I was looking for…not too creamy inside but not too cakey 😁 I used chunky almond butter, 3TBS maple syrup and 1.5 TBS Stevia, I omitted the almond milk and added 1 egg. I also added 1/4 mini choc chips and 1/4 cup slivered almonds and baked 35 mins! I will make these regularly!!!! Thank you!!!!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them Lindsey!
Hi, these look awesome! Can you substitute skim milk for the almond milk? And something else instead of coconut sugar? Mine don’t need to be vegan but I don’t have those ingredients at home – thanks!
Hey Denise! Yes! You can use skim milk in place of almond milk! And any granulated sugar works well!
These were awesome. Frankly the batter was so good I’m not sure if the next batch will go in the oven or not! I made them using beans I had cooked in the instant pot and found that they needed a couple tsp of the aqua fava water to get the right consistency. This made the rise really well too. By the way, for dairy free chips, Costco’s Kirkland brand chocolate chips are much better than Enjoy Life and about 1/4 the cost.
Thanks for the recipe.
I agree about that, but my son is allergic to tree nuts and Costco’s brand isn’t safe for him. For my lactose intolerant husband, those chips from Costco are the best!
Hello! I am planning on making this either tonight or tomorrow for my birthday dessert tomorrow evening! (I am just recently both gluten and sugar free and my store-bought cake family is stumped haha.) Is it still good if it sits out covered or the next day and what is the best way to store it for that amount of time? Thank you
Hey Ashley! I usually store them in the refrigerator overnight, not out at room temperature!
These are the real deal! I’m a college student, and finding protein packed tasty breakfast/snack foods can be a challenge. I’ve been making these every week for a few months now, they’re such a life saver! I’ve made them for my friends who enjoy processed foods and they were shocked to hear that these are healthy. There is so much tasty plant based flavor in these bars! Thanks for creating this recipe!!
Thank you so much for stopping by to let me know you enjoy them Rilea! They really are a great snack, and you’re right…so much better than processed snacks!