These vegan chickpea blondies are fudgy, oh-so-chocolatey and packed full of goodness. Smother them in chocolate for an extra special treat!
Far more cooking than baking goes on in my kitchen so I’m really excited to share another sweet but healthy baked treat with you all. Blondies have often been a bit of a disappointment for me in the past as they can easily be too dry or too bland. These chickpea blondies therefore were a revelation; moist, just on the right side of sweet, and with the flavour of the chocolate shining through to hold their own against their cocoa-filled counterparts.
In fact, blondies may have an advantage by being better suited to showcasing a quality chocolate or experimenting with different toppings (more on that to come in a future post!) compared to a classic brownie.
I based the recipe for these on my fudgy vegan beetroot brownies; where the beetroot in the brownies adds a fudgy texture, so too do the chickpeas in this recipe. Once whizzed up in a food processor the chickpeas become smooth and creamy, almost resembling ice cream in appearance (I resisted eating a spoonful though!). Cooked into the blondies, however, you would never know that they are there – my numerous taste-testers all confessed would have had no idea they contained chickpeas.
Makes 8 vegan chickpea blondies
Ingredients:
For the blondies:
100g self raising flour
125g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
75g cooked chickpeas, puréed
50g dairy-free margarine
50g brown sugar
3 flax “eggs” (1tbsp ground flax meal + 3tbsp water per “egg”, whisked for five minutes) or your prefered egg replacer
For the topping:
75g dark chocolate
Method:
1.Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Cream the sugar and margarine together in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the puréed chickpea followed by the flax eggs until well combined (though don’t worry if it separates slightly once you add the flax, that’s fine).
3. Next sieve in the flour, folding it in as you go. Finally stir in the chopped chocolate.
4. Grease a deep tin or oven-proof dish (glass or ceramic are fine) and pour the mixture in, spreading evenly. Place in the oven and bake for around 45 minutes; the exact cooking time will depend on your oven.
5. Once cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool for around five minutes. After this time you can slice the blondies and move to a wire cooling rack or kitchen roll to cool fully.
6. To prepare the topping, melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (a glass bowl over a pan of shallow boiling water), stirring until it is smooth and glossy. Using a fork, drizzle the melted chocolate over the blondies and leave to set. Serve warm or cold.
Looking for more topping ideas for your chickpea blondies? Check back for some exciting ideas coming soon!
