Chickpea Blondies With Berries

A fantastic combination of flavours and a super gooey-yet-somehow-firm texture, these chickpea blondies are just perfection with a cup of tea - and full of goodness too!

Not just sweet - genuine flavour!

I have wanted to make chickpea blondies for ages, ever since falling in love with the black bean brownies that I shared a while back. And I’ve finally had the chance to experiment a bit and end up with a result that I absolutely love!

Although my recipe below is relatively different, I want to give a huge thank you to Rainbow Nourishments chickpea blondie recipe which formed the base for my own tries - I’ve gone with a different flavouring (cardamom), berries instead of chocolate chips and less sweetener, but the use of (super tasty) cashew butter is what makes both the fudgy texture and super delicious flavour of these blondies, and I learned that from Anthea’s recipe.

What I love about these blondies is that they have genuine flavour - and it’s a gorgeous one. I don’t love it when desserts/snacks are just sweet, I frankly find it quite boring. You’d think that chickpeas didn’t offer anything nice in a recipe like this, but honestly they do - especially combined with cashew, which is a super tasty nut with its own sweetness. Obviously chucking in a bunch of berries, especially sweet blackberries like I did adds to the sweet taste, but not in a super sugary way, a much more complex and interesting one. You can of course opt for chocolate chips when you make these which will pull them in that sweeter direction, if you love that (and that’s totally fine!).

Chickpea Blondies with Blackberries

Makes 1

• 1 can of chickpeas in water, drained and rinsed

• 1/2 cup of cashew butter

• 1/2 cup of oat flour (you can also try plain flour, or other alternatives though some options may make them more crumbly)

• 1/3 cup of maple syrup

• 1/2 tsp ground cardamom

• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

• Optional: a pinch of salt

• 1/3 cup of blackberries (alternatively blueberries or other chopped/small berries, or chocolate chips) - frozen berries recommended

• 2 tbsp coconut oil (or neutral flavoured oil or butter)

• Optional: 1 tsp icing sugar (powdered sugar) to decorate

Preheat your oven to 180ºC (360ºF), 160ºC if fan assisted.

In a food processor or blender, add chickpeas, cashew butter, oat flour, maple syrup, cardamom, baking soda and salt. Run for about a minute until you have a smooth, thick batter.

Gently fold in the berries with a wooden spoon or spatula until just mixed in the batter.

Brush melted coconut oil well into the bottom and sides of an ovenproof dish, and tip the batter in - spread it out evenly.

Bake in the middle of the oven for about 25 minutes. Remember every oven is different! You want a skewer to come out relatively clean when testing it.

Let the blondies rest before you cut into them, if you want you can sprinkle some icing sugar on top for decoration.

Do let me know if you tried these, did you use blackberries or a different berry? Or did you go chocolate chips? Also if you share a photo on social media - don’t forget to tag me!