Date, Walnut and Cinnamon Spiced Blondies
| December 14, 2011 | Posted by Nada under Recipes |
Baking is an excellent way to procrastinate.
Wouldn’t you agree?
On the weekend I continued operation clean-out-my-kitchen-cupboards and found myself silly with chickpeas and chocolate chips. So I finally got around to making these chocolate chip blondies.
To say they were incredible, would be an understatement. Soft, gooey, fudge-y chocolate chip goodness. Everyone who tried them concurred, no one could believe they were vegan and upon learning the main ingredient was chickpeas and not flour, one taste tester even went so far as to call me a wizard (technically I’d be a witch, but I’ll let him off seeing as he was paying me a compliment.)
Anyways, like all good recipes – this one left me inspired. Of course, the original recipe is pretty healthy as far as blondies/brownies go, but I wanted to kick it up a notch and make a sugar-free version. And what better substitute to use for sugar than dates, I thought. And if I’m going to use dates, I may as well throw some cinnamon in there for good measure. And some toasted walnuts while I’m at it.
Date, Walnut and Cinnamon Spiced Blondies
(Soy, sugar and gluten free)
Serves a lot of people (depending on how many you scarf straight out the oven)
- 1.5 cups chickpeas (drained and rinsed if you’re using canned)
- 1/2 cup of date paste (7 medjool dates blended with 1-2 tsp of water till smooth)
- 1 level tsp of baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- a pinch of salt
- A pinch of nutmeg and cloves (optional)
- 2 tsp of vanilla essence
- 1/2 cup toasted walnut pieces
- 2 heaping tsp ground flaxseed
- 1/4 cup peanut butter (or other fat source, see below note*)
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips
- 2-3 large dates, chopped
* My first round making this I skipped out on PB and used 2 tbsp of coconut oil and a mashed banana instead. This worked fine. The end result was a moist (sorry) and light blondie which was only slightly crumblier than usual. I personally prefer using peanut butter because it gives the blondies a fudge-y richness and helps them adhere to each other when. You could probably use almond, or any other nut butter in place if you’re not a fan of PB.
- Toast the walnuts for 8-10 minutes in your oven or grill (broiler), but watch carefully as they burn easily. You want them just slightly golden brown.
- In the meantime whizz all the remaining ingredients together in a food processor, save for the chopped dates. When the mixture is smooth pour in the walnuts and chopped dates then pulse to combine.
- Spoon the mixture into a well greased/non-stick/foil-lined brownie pan and bake at 220 C for 20-25 minutes or until the top is crumbly and golden brown. I’m generally bad at giving baking times because my oven is spastic and tends to cook things quickly, so use your baker’s intuition here.
- Cut into squares and allow to cool. Serve to your friends and family and watch them marvel at your witchcraft (or wizardry, I’m not judging boys
).
Now because they’re sugar-free, the original recipe is considerably sweeter (stating the obvious, yes) so if you prefer a sweeter version add in a couple tablespoons of Agave or even brown sugar.
Personally I think the dates hold their own in this.
If you’re new to my blog, let me say that this recipe exemplifies two core “One Arab Vegan” beliefs.
- Chickpeas can do no wrong.
- When in doubt, combine dates, walnuts and cinnamon.
Bean based desserts – yay or nay?
Hell yes, if you ask me.
***
Thanks to everyone who took part in my first giveaway! The winners are:
If you lovely ladies could e-mail me your address details I will have your goodies sent out ASAP.
Wow. Now this is something one doesn’t see everyday. Kudos to you for trying it out. Looks so fudgy
Wow this looks so good! I once tried the chickpea blondie recipe and it was a mega fail! I HATE throwing food away but that was one batch even I couldn’t salvage or pawn off on others! I vowed to stick to using chickpeas only in savory dishes. However given the huge sense of trust I’ve developed from you in terms of recipe, I am willing to give chickpea blondies another shot…although I will most definitely be following your recipe!
On a separate note, hope the applications aren’t driving you too crazy
Awesome, you must let me know if you try them!
yay, these look incredible!
i just tried working out a cookies-recipe based on katies choc.chips blondies..if i score(and find some time between all these exams..), you’ll find the recipe on my blog very soon!
chickpea-greets:)
Chickpea cookies would be so easy to make but I wonder if they’d hold together well – let me know how they turn out if you try them
They look so fudgy! I bet the toasted walnut is fantastic with the dates. I may try these with some coconut shreds as well!
Toasting the walnuts makes ALL the difference in terms of flavour here – coconut shreds would be great too!
These do look amazing! I’m all for bean based desserts for that extra hit of protein.
I’m weird about nuts in my desserts – I’m weird anyway I guess – but other than the nuts this sounds delicious! I’m guessing you could easily leave those out (or replace with choc chips – even though that’s sugar
).
You could possibly sub rice crispies for the nuts – although I really don’t know how well that would work out in terms of crunch. Chocolate chips are an equally delicious option
I’ve had black bean brownies before and I couldn’t help but think they tasted a bit black-beany; but chickpeas are far better in desserts! A lot of Indian desserts are made from chickpea flour, plus chickpeas are superior to black beans in my book
This recipe looks delicious- ahhh all the best arabic dessert flavours! I really need to learn to bake!
In my book, there isn’t much chickpeas aren’t superior to!
This sounds great! I’ve only tried one chocolate hummus recipe that was a little too dry and lacking in sweetness, so I neec to try more bean-based dessert recipes!
Chocolate hummus is one I’ve yet to conquer – it’s definitely on my list though.
These look absolutely delicious!! I will definitely have to bookmark this so that I won’t forget to make them!
I *love* bean based desserts! They’re an addiction.
I LOVE blondies and never would have thought to make them with cinnamon! Dates are also some of my favorite treats. Espeeeecially Medjool!
Those look fantastic, I am bookmarking this page now
I love bean based desserts. I also love dates. Shall have to try your recipe
Especially as I just accidentally bought more chickpeas even though I had a huge jar full of them already..
There’s no such thing as too much chickpeas.
TOTAL hell yes… so going to try these – they sound incredible
Well done, well done!
I’m absolutely for the beany-based desserts! I tried Chocolate Covered Katies chocolate chip blondies for the first time a few months ago, and they were so delicious that I couldn’t believe chickpeas were the main ingredient! These look pretty awesome too and I love the fact that you included dates as well.
Heck to the yes!
You’re absolutely right – chickpeas can do NO wrong! It’s amazing how well they work in sweet recipes. Another subsitution that I absolutely love is black beans in my brownies – no one can ever guess my secret ingredient!
wow! loooks fantastic as always!
These look BANANAS. Can’t wait to try!
I made these, only using half silken firm tofu instead of all beans (have to keep the beans to a minimum because I am on a low FODMAP diet, which blows! Anyway, tofu is fine, in spite of it also being made with beans…). They are delicious! Surprisingly rich and decadent tasting, and I really love that they contain no flour. And of course cinnamon, walnuts and dates are an amazing mix! Always.
Sarah – I’m so glad you made these and that you enjoyed! It’s good to know they work well with tofu too.
These simply look irresistible with chickpeas, WoW! i have to try your recipe.
I’ve never tried a bean-based dessert but these sound delicious. I love dates! Good for you for spreading the vegan dessert love
The next time I hit up MA, I’m bringing you an entire batch full of these
[...] Some date and walnut blondies. [...]
[...] dairy-lovers alike. This creation, however, which is derived from Nada’s blondies recipe at onearabvegan, changed all [...]
[...] I’m giving you yet another recipe featuring dates, walnuts and [...]
Please make a cook book, or a magazine format even. I will buy it I promise. Still haven’t met a recipe I didn’t like. I’m not even vegan, but I’m so interested in making this the majority of my food!