I was raised on Tollhouse.

Tollhouse cookies, to be exact.

Those original chocolate chip cookies laced with butter, sugar, sugar, and more sugar coursed through my veins throughout childhood. A mother and two grandmothers who baked constantly provided cookies at every turn and life’s little milestone. They were delightfully wrapped in care-packages from my grandma, usually in the oven on a rainy and cold day, or stacked in the family cookie jar to have on the way to dance practice; chocolate chip cookies were there, always.

Of course, I have the biggest sweet tooth – so cookies were always my favorite treat. In high school and early college, I started to even whip up a batch of Tollhouse chocolate chippers myself – while eating plenty of cookie dough along the way. When I decided to radically shift my diet, however, the refined sugars, flours, and artificial things in the original recipe had to go. Trial and error and a heck of a lot of cookies later, I discovered the secret weapon to perfect chocolate chip cookies: chickpeas.

Now, putting beans in your cookies may be a bit odd to you. But trust me, no hint of garbanzos is detected in these cookies at all. In fact, chickpeas make the dough so smooth, creamy, and thick that you won’t even believe the recipe lacks flour, butter, or even white sugar. Of course, adding chickpeas also has its wonderful health benefits. Chickpeas are packed with fiber which keeps our digestive system and colon happy, folate, antioxidants, manganese, and plant protein too.

Chickpeas+ creamy almond butter + sweet maple syrup + dark chocolate chip chunks = the best way to reinvent a classic.

Chickpea Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Makes about 16 cookies

1 (15 oz) can chickpeas drained & rinsed, or 1 ½ cooked chickpeas
½ cup almond butter
⅓ cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp baking soda
¼ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp sea salt
3 oz dark chocolate, roughly chopped (or ½ cup dark chocolate chips)

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 F and line cookie sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.

In a food processor or high speed blender, combine all ingredients except for dark chocolate chunks. Process ingredients for about a minute until batter becomes thick and creamy. Gently fold in chocolate chunks and set in refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes. Use this time to strategically do your dishes!

Use a tablespoon to scoop cookie batter on lined cookie sheet.

Bake 20-25 minutes, or until edges are slightly golden.

Store the cookies in an airtight container. Cookies will last for about a week – if you can keep them lying around that long! I store mine in the refrigerator, because I really like the texture of them when they are cold; perfectly soft and chewy :)