Choc-O-Chick Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Our weekends are all about football, crockpotting and baking… in that order.

It’s a fun way for our family to spend time together. It’s also a great way to get my kids attached to healthy eating.

I’ve found if I get them involved in the process; let them pick out the food at the farmers market or at the store, then let them help me cook in the kitchen, they’re more likely to get on board with the foods they need to eat. I use it as a time of teaching and they love seeing everything they’ve picked out, come together in a dish. Sure … it may take you a half hour longer to do EVERYTHING, but it’s totally worth it.

Now on to these goodies I created… If you saw my post on my  Choc-O-Chick Cookies ~Oatmeal Chocolate Chip, then you saw how I came up with an amazing chickpea based cookie.

This cookie is a spin off of that, and while its name is indeed a mouthful, Choc-O-Chick Chocolate Chunk Cookie, it’s totally fitting because you’ll have a hard time not shoving one, after another, after another, into your mouth. That. Good.

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This is a totally flourless, eggless, butter-less, oil-less cookie that is so rich and decadent it really is hard to believe that it’s not made with traditional cookie ingredients. It tastes almost brownie-like and the second day… they’re even better.

It’s a completely vegan cookie, unless you use regular chocolate chips. There is also no refined sugar, just grade b maple syrup- a natural sugar that is filled with minerals and antioxidants.

Here’s what you’ll need for my Chock-O-Chick Chocolate Chunk Cookies: 

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•One 15 oz can of garbanzo beans or 1 & 3/4 cup cooked garbanzo beans

•1/2 c. almond butter
•1/2 c. grade b maple syrup
•1 & 1/2 Tbs. vanilla (non-alcohol)
•1/4 c. cacao powder
•1/4 tsp. baking soda
•1/2 tsp. baking powder
•1/4 tsp. sea salt
•3/4 c. chocolate chips (vegan or 65% cacao suggested)

~ Bake 350 degrees for 20 minutes
~Yields 26 cookies

1. First start by combining your wet ingredients, either in a blender or a food processor. (I used my Vitamix for this. It’s fast and does the job beautifully.)

Blend your chickpeas, almond butter, maple syrup and vanilla. Make sure everything is nice and smooth, then transfer the mixture into a small mixing bowl.

2. Next you’ll want to add in your dry ingredients. One at a time add your cacao powder, baking soda, baking powder, sea salt and chocolate chips.

I usually bake with SunSpire chocolate chips. There’s no additives and they have a great vegan carob chip (so, there’s no dairy in them), that is perfect for baking. I also like their regular organic chips, but any chocolate chips will do.

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I used the SunSpire regular chocolate chips for these cookies, however, which do have dairy, but they also have 65% cacao, which means they are full of antioxidants and better for you over all. Once you have the chips mixed in and everything mixed well together, warm your oven to 350 degrees and grab a baking sheet.

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3. I always like to use a 1″cookie scoop. It makes your cookies uniform and I tend to get more out of the batch.

Dole out your cookies with a little space in between them (these will not expand much, so close together is fine).

4. Once your oven has warmed to 350 degrees, pop your cookies into the oven and bake for 20 minutes. Do not over cook. They may not appear ready, but trust me they will set up nicely.

After they’ve cooked for 20 minutes, let them cool on the countertop and then plate them.

You can leave them covered on the countertop for the day. Best stored and served from the fridge after that.

A super sweet, guilt-free treat that you have to try!

NOTES:

*Make sure you mix garbanzo beans well either in a food processor, or blender. When I make these in my Vitamix, the batter turns out really smooth as compared to the food processor.

*If you want to save time, you can throw everything in a blender/food processor all at once. Batter turns out well. Stirring dry ingredients in by hand just gives you a little more control distributing the baking soda and powder evenly.