Chickpeas and peanut butter? Interesting or plain wrong? If you haven’t used beans in a baked good before, get adventurous…it has great results! It mimics flour, and does a great job holding the cookie together.  I couldn’t taste chickpeas at all.  Just a yummy peanut butter cookie! My friend told me about this recipe, so I modified it to give it less sugar, and cut down on some of the steps. This recipe is gluten-free (well grain-free!), dairy-free, and I bet you will trick your kids too!

Peanut Butter Chickpea Cookies

Makes 35 cookies

Ingredients

1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed, drained & patted dry with paper towel (if the skins come off, that’s fine, you can discard them)
1/4 cup cane sugar (cane sugar is basically a less processed white sugar)
1/2 cup sucanat or coconut palm sugar (or another type of raw brown sugar)
1 1/2 cups all natural peanut butter (smooth or crunchy)
1/4 cup coconut oil (could also use butter or Earth Balance)
1 egg
1/4 tsp salt
*optional* 2 packets of stevia (I wanted the dough to taste a little sweeter, so I added this)

Directions

In a food processor or blender, blend all ingredients. Chill dough in freezer for 20-30 min. It will make it easier to handle.

Drop by spoonful (I used a cookie scoop) onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment. Flatten each cookie twice with a fork. I found the dough wanted to stick to the fork, so I dipped my fork in cornstarch after each use.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 10-12 minutes or until they just start to brown around the edges.

Cookies will be fragile when they are hot, but once they cool, they can be handled pretty easily.

Nutrition (per cookie)   Calories: 97   Fat: 7 g   Carbs: 7.5 g   Sugars: 4 g   Fiber: 1 g   Sodium: 38 mg   Protein: 3 g