Gluten-free, grain-free, chocolate chip cookies made with nutrient dense chickpeas.
HEALTHY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Looks can be deceiving! Although these Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies look like your average, run-of-the-mill, chocolate chip cookies, they’re anything but. They are, quite possibly, the healthiest chocolate chip cookies on the planet – made from whole beans, nuts, seeds, and dark chocolate, and sweetened primarily with maple syrup, a natural, unrefined sugar. The magic ingredient is these cookies is chickpeas, which stands in for the flour that you’d normally find in most cookie recipes, and that miraculously turns into dough that looks, and bakes ups, exactly like cookie dough. And because there’s no wheat flour in this recipe, these scrumptious cookies are gluten-free and grain-free too. They have a clean taste and tender texture and are delicious dipped in milk or served alongside a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
VERSATILE AND POPULAR CHICKPEAS
I’m a huge fan of both canned and dried chickpeas because of their amazing versatility. I love roasting them for a nut-like snack, whirring them into all kinds of hummus, grinding them into flour for baking, and eating them as pasta (there are now several brands of pasta on the market made from chickpeas. Barillia is a good one.) And my new favorite way to enjoy them – Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies! I’m not alone in my admiration for chickpeas. Their rise in popularity over the last decade or so has been meteoric. You can read more about how and why chickpeas have become so popular in this aptly titled article from TheAtlantic.com – In the Future, Everything Will Be Made of Chickpeas.
ARE CHICKPEAS BEANS, LEGUMES, PULSES, OR PEAS?
This recipe for Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies calls for 1 standard size can (15.5 ounces) of chickpeas or garbanzo beans. What’s the difference between chickpeas and garbanzo beans? Pretty much nothing. (Read more about this here.) Most people are aware that chickpeas and garbanzo beans can be used interchangeably, but some of the other terminology used when discussing chickpeas can be a little confusing. You might wonder – are chickpeas beans, legumes, pulses, or peas? The answer is that they are all of the above! Chickpeas are a type of bean, and all beans are legumes – plants whose seeds are enclosed in a pod. Within the legume family there is a subcategory that includes pulses. Pulses are the dried edible seeds of plants, so chickpeas are also pulses. Finally, chickpeas derive from the Fabaceae plant, an annual plant of the pea family, and the dictionary defines pea as a spherical green seed that is eaten as a vegetable or as a pulse when dried. That makes chickpeas “peas” too, although they’re hardly ever referred to as peas despite their name being chick-PEA. (They’re also sometimes referred to as Egyptian peas – a specific type of chickpeas.)
MAKE A HEALTHY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE CAKE
Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies have become so popular in my family that my oldest daughter requested I make her a Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake for her recent birthday and that was a hit too. Instructions are in the notes section of the recipe below.
For other delicious and healthy recipes using chickpeas, check out: Sweet and Salty Chickpea Brownies, Classic Quiche with a Chickpea Flour Crust, Chickpea Chocolate Chip Banana Bread, and Chickpea Spinach Salad.
If you make Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies don’t forget to snap a pic and tag me over on Instagram @QueenofMyKitchen. I’d love to see your creation!
Chickpea Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 - 15.5 ounce can of chickpeas drained
- 1 cup whole almonds roasted and unsalted
- 1/4 cup whole flax seeds
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1 egg
- 2 tablespoons coconut sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips 60% cacao
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Add the chickpeas, almonds, and flax seeds to the work bowl of a food processor and process for 90 seconds or until the almonds and flaxseed are broken down and you have a thick batter.
- Add the maple syrup, egg, coconut sugar, vanilla, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and process for 30 second more. Stir in the walnuts and chocolate chips by hand.
- Using an ice cream scoop (1-ounce size), place 7 or 8 mounds of batter on each baking sheet. Flatten each mound to a thickness of 1/2 inch and a diameter of 2½ inches. (Wet your fingertips or wrap them in plastic wrap to prevent sticking.)
- Bake on the bottom racks of the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on the bottoms. Rotate the baking sheets halfway through the baking time.
Notes
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