Healthy blondies
When I am craving something sweet I always try to put a healthy spin on it. I love baking with white beans or chickpeas because I at least feel like I'm getting some benefit out of the dish. I love this recipe below because just like the no-bake energy bites, you can add or subtract whatever you want from it as long as the consistency stays the same.
Ingredients:
- 1 can or 1 1/2 C chickpeas or white beans drained, rinsed, and patted dry
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/8 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3/4 C brown sugar or sub in stevia (I used around 1/4 C of powdered stevia to replace the sugar and it worked out well)*
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 C oats (I used old-fashioned, could sub in ground flax, oat, or wheat bran)
- 1/4 C coconut oil (could use almond or peanut butter)
- 1/2 C chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350°. Combine all ingredients except for chocolate chips (or anything you want to keep chunky such as nuts) in a food processor. Blend until smooth and then mix in chocolate chips. Put onto greased 8 by 6 pan. Bake for 30 minutes. They will harden once they cool down.
*Healthy hint: Cacao nibs could substitute the chocolate chips. Nuts would be great in here as well! A banana may be a great substitue for some of the sugar but I have not personally tried this yet.
Adapted from Chocolate-Covered Katie