These little morsels did the trick!

We allow ourselves to splurge a little bit on the weekend and I was really craving something sweet and cookie-like this weekend.  I came across this recipe on Pinterest a few weeks back and was SUPER skeptical.  The main ingredient ... chickpeas.  I know what you're thinking because I had the same thoughts. 
What kind of crazy person would put beans in a cookie?  I mean, chickpeas are meant for hummus not dessert, right?  Fairly disgusted, I bypassed the recipe and moved on.  A week later I ran into a friend who had tried a similar recipe - chocolate chip "cookies" with chickpeas.  She said they were amazing so I decided to give this recipe a shot.

I couldn't believe it, they were actually yummy - warm, gooey, chocolately, peanut butter goodness! I wasn't the only one who was a fan.  Josh and my Mom liked them, although neither one of them are particularly fond of peanut butter cookies.  My Dad didn't know there were chickpeas in them (he loves peanut butter) - he scarfed a couple down and thought they were "fantastic." 

So, here it is...  give it a try, don't be shy.  They were delish and as hard as I tried, I couldn't taste the chickpeas.  :)

Grain-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Recipe by: Erin D. | Texanerin Baking
Category: Cookies
Yields: fourteen 1 1/2" cookie dough balls
Prep Time: 8 min • Cook Time: 10 min • Total Time: 18 min

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups canned chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel ¹
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (165 grams) natural peanut butter ²
• 1/4 cup (80 grams) honey (commenters have used agave with success!) 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder ³
• a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn't have salt in it
• 1/2 cup (90 grams) chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C. Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they're combined.
2. Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky.
3. With wet hands, form into 1 1/2" balls. Place onto a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls. They don't do much rising. Bake for about 10 minutes.

Notes:

1. My can of chickpeas was 400 grams, 240 grams without the water, and I used all but a few tablespoons.
2. Don't even try with regular peanut butter! They'll come out oily. You MUST use natural peanut butter. :)
3. If you need grain-free baking powder, you can use 1 part cream of tartar + 1 part baking soda + 2 parts arrowroot.

Here's some fantastic advice from the Texanerin website - make up all of the cookie balls and freeze the majority of them.  When you're craving something sweet, take a few out of the freezer and bake them ~ that way you don't sit down and eat the entire cookie sheet of them at a time!

Thanks to Texanerin Baking for this recipe.  http://www.texanerin.com/2012/04/grain-free-peanut-butter-chocolate-chip.html