Flourless Blondies with Chocolate Chips

We're still early in the new year, so many are still trying to stick with the healthy eating and new year's detox after all the sweetness of Christmas.  Today's recipe is a healthy-ish sweet treat to try and keep with that theme.

I was always one of those people who scoffed at the idea of using a can of beans in baked goods.  It just seemed wrong--and kind of disgusting.  It also seemed like a direct insult to butter!

Well, when I saw a few different pictures of garbanzo bean blondies, I was intrigued.  The pictures looked like legit blondies.  I spent time googling and couldn't find any comments describing these as inedible, disgusting, or a waste of ingredients.  In fact, I was shocked to see people write that they couldn't taste the beans and that these tasted like real blondies!  Multiple people wrote about devouring the entire pan. Yikes, but it certainly intrigued me.

So, I gave these a try.  In my food processor, I added a can of drained garbanzo beans, some cashew butter, maple syrup, salt, and vanilla.  I pureed it for a about 3 minutes so that it was really smooth.  I did a taste test, thinking that I would be tasting maple flavored hummus.  Au contraire!  It tasted like a blondie batter, and it did have decent sweetness from the maple syrup.

While it may seem like baking blasphemy, I added in some dark chocolate chips that I brought back from France and then sprinkled with sea salt.

The result? A delicious blondie that satisfies the sweet craving but is still healthy with fiber and protein...and the dark chocolate chips give some anti-oxidants! ;-)

Flourless Blondies with Chocolate Chips
Yields 1 pan

Ingredients:
1 15 oz. can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup natural nut butter, your choice (I used cashew butter)
1/3 cup pure maple syrup
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/3 cup plus 2 tbsp. dark chocolate chips
Sea salt, for sprinkling

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350ºF.  Spray or grease a 9x9 baking pan and set aside.

In the bowl of the food processor, add all ingredients except the chocolate chips and sea salt.  Process until smooth. (I ran the food processor for about 3 minutes.)  Then, stir in 1/3 cup of the chocolate chips.

Transfer the batter to the prepared pan.  Sprinkle the remaining 2 tbsp. chocolate chips on top

Bake for 25-30 minutes until light golden brown or a toothpick comes out clean when inserted.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with sea salt.

Source: The Comfort of Cooking