Deceptively Delicious

So… I’ve been doing a lot of kitchen experiments lately. Sometimes gluten-free, sometimes dairy-free, sometimes completely unhealthy…my favorite recipes, as of late, involve the immersion blender. These deceptively delicious cookies (see what I did there???)  are no exception.

It looks like completely normal cookie dough…

These little buggers are good! But they’re sneaky. They seem like perfectly normal cookies at first bite…but… totally not.

The secret ingredient? Garbanzo beans. I know, your mind is blown.

Anyway, I’d seen variations of this recipe a couple of times but was hesitant to try it…The other night, I finally caved when I had a serious craving for melted chocolate goodness and–gasp!–no butter.

In all honesty, I didn’t have to tweak this recipe very much…other than using maple syrup instead of honey and a little more peanut butter.  Still good.

You need six ingredients….five if you don’t add salt (I used a no-salt peanut butter so I added smoked sea salt.).

I brought the first batch (minus the few that I devoured right out of the oven) in for a gluten-free co-worker.

I made another batch (minus the few that I devoured right out of the oven) for the hubby and his co-workers.

I made the last batch for fun.

The original recipe author says that these aren’t good cold…I disagree. But they are better warm.

She also says to use a food processor and not a blender…an immersion blender worked perfectly fine, but ours is pretty powerful… I am kind of lazy when it comes to doing dishes…and I love immersion blending.

So here you go. You’re welcome.

So much melted chocolate goodness….(This batch, I used a chopped-up brick of chocolate)

Deceptively Delicious Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies (G-F/D-F)

Barely adapted from Texan Erin.

What You’ll Need:

• 1 (15 oz.) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained.
• 3/4 cup natural peanut butter (I used Once Again’s Old Fashioned Crunchy with no salt…1 ingredient!)
• A splash of vanilla (or 2 tsp. if you really want to dirty another spoon)
• 1/4 cup maple syrup (I used a delicious chipotle infused maple syrup from Vermont)
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• a pinch of (smoked) sea salt-optional
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips (I used semi-sweet, but prefer bitter-sweet)

What to do:

Pre-heat oven to 350. Line cookie sheet with wax paper and set aside.

Combine first 5 ingredients in food processor or a large bowl (if using an immersion blender) and blend until smooth. If necessary, scrape the bowl to ensure you get all the tiny bits blended up.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Spoon mixture onto prepared cookie sheet (I use two small spoons, a small ice cream scoop could also work…or just use your hands if you don’t mind getting sticky.)

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until chocolate melts and cookies start to brown.

~makes about 18 cookies

Enjoy!