This recipe for vegan chickpea blondies is absolute delicious perfection. Healthy, easy to make and even gluten-free! You won't be able to get enough.
I love a good dessert that is filled with a little nutrition and this baby hits the nail on the head!
This post was originally published on March 30, 2020.
This conversation is sponsored by California Beans. The opinions and text are all mine.
I love all things vegan chocolate chip cookie and vegan brownie, gluten-free of course. These easy vegan blondies feel like the perfect combo of both!
Ingredients
Making chickpea blondies both vegan and gluten-free is easier than you think! Here is what you need:
- Oat flour
- Almond flour
- Maple syrup
- Cooked chickpeas
- Almond butter
- Baking powder
- Sea salt
- Vanilla extract
- Chocolate chips
Is it better to use canned or dried chickpeas?
You can use canned or dried chickpeas in this particular chickpea blondies recipe because you are blending them completely. Both are great and will give the same end result. However there is a process for using dried beans.
Dried chickpeas have a little more of a "meaty" chewy texture which is why I love them for many plant-based meaty alternative recipes, like my vegan taco meat. But for this one, either kind works!
How to Make Vegan Chickpea Blondies
This recipe requires some blending in order to get the chickpeas nice and smooth. After that it's an easy mix and bake!
- Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
- Use a blender or food processor to combine the wet ingredients with the chickpeas.
- Stir it all together and fold in the chocolate chips.
- Put in a greased baking dish.
- Bake and enjoy!
And if you want a step by step tutorial, check out my video below! The video is sponsored by California Beans and the amazing California bean farmers.
How do I cook dried chickpeas?
There are a few extra steps you will need to do in order to use dried beans in this recipe (or any recipe for that matter!). For a full comprehensive post check out all about how to cook dried chickpeas here.
Keep in mind that 1 cup dried chickpeas makes 3 cups cooked chickpeas. Here are the instructions:
- Soak the amount of dried beans you need overnight. For this recipe you will soak ⅓ cup dried to get one cup cooked.
- Drain and rinse the chickpeas the next day and put them in a pot covering them with water.
- Bring to a boil.
- Reduce to a simmer and cook for about 30-40 minutes. You want them pretty soft, so start checking around 30 minutes and stop cooking once they are soft enough to mash in between your fingers.
If you are making other recipes where you do not want the chickpeas too soft, make sure you stop cooking prior to the 30-40 minutes. I'd start checking around 20-25 minutes.
Blondie Mix-In Ideas
The best part about blondies is their versatility! You can add so many delicious options to change up the flavors. Chocolate chip blondies are my favorite flavor, but some other great mix-ins are:
- Peanuts
- Walnuts
- Pecans
- Chopped dates
- Marshmallows (these vegan marshmallows are delish)
- Pretzels
- Nut butter (swirled inside)
- And try some vegan caramel sauce drizzled over the top!
Tips for Storing
These vegan gluten free chickpea blondies can be stored just like your traditional types of blondies.
- They do best in an airtight container so they don't dry out and should be eaten within a few days.
- You can also store them in the fridge for up to 3-4 days but after that the texture and flavor won't be as good.
- If you want to keep these for longer, you can also try freezing them. Make sure to let them cool completely, do cut into squares. This keeps the texture the best. Wrap the entire large square in plastic, then foil to help prevent freezer burn. After that, store in an air tight container in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- When you are ready to eat, allow to defrost slowly on the counter. Once they have reached room temperature, cut into squares. You can also warm them a bit in the microwave or toaster oven.
Tips for Reducing the Sugar
This is a dessert, so it definitely has it's fair share of sugar. However the sugar comes mostly from maple syrup so we'll just call them healthy blondies!
If you are looking for something less sweet, you can try a few different options (note that any change in the recipe, will change the end result):
- Reduce the amount of maple syrup, but add a little water to make up for the loss of liquid. Slowly add one teaspoon until you get the same batter like consistency.
- Use date paste instead of maple syrup. When making the date paste, add enough water to get the same consistency as maple syrup.
Tips for Baking
- For the best texture you need accuracy with the flours. Which is why I include precise weights. If you don't have a scale, then you can purchase this fairly inexpensive one.
- If you prefer to measure, then measure the flours by scooping your measuring cup into the flour versus spooning it into it. This is how I measured when getting my weights.
Common Questions
The main difference is that brownies are made with cocoa for a chocolate flavor, whereas blondies don't have chocolate in the mix.
Blondies taste similar to a chocolate chip cookie, a bit of vanilla and almost like butterscotch. However, they're more thick and gooey than cookies.
Some people may call chickpeas garbanzo beans! They are actually the exact same bean. Turns out, chickpea is the Latin word, while garbanzo bean has Spanish origins. But both are the same thing!
More Vegan Desserts
If you love this vegan blondie recipe and want to see what else plants can make, try these plant based recipes:
- 3 Ingredient Peanut Butter Nice Cream
- Vegan Stuffed Dates
- Baked Vegan and Gluten Free Churros
- Gluten Free Carrot Cake
- Vegan Peanut Brittle
Vegan Chickpea Blondies (Gluten Free)
Equipment
- Food processor or blender
Ingredients
- 1 cup oat flour
- 1 cup almond flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup maple syrup
- ½ cup cooked chickpeas , rinsed and drained
- ½ cup almond butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 F/ 190 C.
- Put flours, baking powder and salt in a large bowl and whisk to break up clumps.
- Put maple syrup, chickpeas, almond butter and vanilla into a food processor. You can use a blender too if you prefer. Blend until smooth.
- Add the blended mix into the bowl with the flour and mix until combined.
- Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Pour into a prepared square baking dish.
- Bake for 25-28 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Allow to cool completely before cutting, this allows it to set more and helps with the texture.
- Devour!
Video
Notes
- If you are cooking chickpeas from dried beans, make sure to cook them well so they are soft.
- These are made in a square pan then cut into 16 pieces to get the servings.
Recipe by Veggies Don’t Bite, visit our site for more great plant-based recipes.
Nutrition
Nutrition and metric information should be considered an estimate.
Wendy Pedersen
How would you sub dates or date syrup for the maple syrup?
Sarah
I found my new go-to dessert! So amazing!
jen Dunn
Hi! I just made these. Delicious. they are still hot from the oven!
I made one significant adjustment, as I was horrified by the quantity (and cost) of 1 cup of maple syrup. I instead used 1/2 cup maple syrup and 1/2 cup water. For me, the resulting sweetness was perfect.
I used mini vegan chocolate chips and chopped walnuts
I couldn't find a brownie pan, so I used a muffin pan. The way they bake in the muffin tin is really attractive, like little muffins with nooks and crannies on top.
I shall bring these to parties in the future!
thank you
veggiesdontbite
Glad you liked them! We love the flavor with the full amount of maple but glad you figured out what worked for you.
Sheryl Etnier
These are so very good! And easy! I substituted peanut butter for almond butter. Such a great find! Thank you!
veggiesdontbite
I'm so happy you liked them Sheryl!! The peanut butter sounds amazing!
Carla
Forgot the star rating.
veggiesdontbite
Thank you so much!
Carla
These are amazing! I tweaked your recipe by using date syrup and also using a little tahini with the almond butter. So good. Thank you so much for sharing!
veggiesdontbite
That sounds amazing Carla!! Glad to hear it worked out for you!
Rita C
Could I substitute regular flour if I don't have oat or almond flour?
veggiesdontbite
Hi Rita! I have only tried this with the ingredients listed. Because baking is a science and every ingredient works together in different ways, I am not sure how it would come out with regular flour. The flavor should still be good but the texture may not be the same. However if you don't mind that then give it a shot and let us know how it goes!
Kim
These were amazing!! So easy to through together and I feel like I’m eating something good for me when my tastebuds think they are eating something forbidden!
Thanks for the recipe.
veggiesdontbite
I'm so happy you liked them Kim!!! And glad you found them easy!
Carol C.
These are amazing! You can't even taste the chickpeas! I just couldn't wait to make them so I got up and did it as soon as I was done reading the post. My oldest can't eat almonds so I replaced the almond flour with all-purpose flour, and the almond butter with peanut butter. I used canned chickpeas as I didn't want to wait for the dried ones to cook in the instant pot. I baked them in my Pampered Chef brownie pan and cut it into 24 squares. It turned out perfectly! This recipe couldn't be simpler and it will become a staple in my house. My oldest daughter warmed hers up and topped it off with dairy free chocolate ice cream! I'm sure they will be gone by tomorrow morning lol. Thank you for such a great recipe.
veggiesdontbite
Thank you so so much Carol! I am thrilled you liked them. And that is great to know that peanut butter works just as good, that was my next move and you beat me to it! And good to know the AP flour works too! I so appreciate this great review!
JENNY
Sounds amazing! I wonder how this recipe would do at a higher elevation?!
veggiesdontbite
Hi Jenny!! Thank you! I would guess it would be ok, it seems pretty forgiving. Maybe just watch the time so it doesn't overbake?