No, it’s not a rather major typo or a poor attempt at alliteration at all costs. I actually did make cookies made with choc chips and chickpeas. They were from Jessica Seinfeld’s Deceptively Delicious, a book that I received for Christmas but haven’t cooked from lately.
I can see why chickpeas work, they’re like a soft, very mild tasting nut. But the idea of chickpeas in a cookie is somewhat jarring. And given that there are 2 whole cups of chocolate chips, 1 cup of brown sugar and 3/4 of a cup of butter in them, I can see why it would work. I’m sure there’s a rule in baking: just add 2 cups of chocolate, 1 cup of brown sugar and 3/4 cup of butter to anything and it will be fine.
So whilst these aren’t the lowest fat or healthiest cookies, they taste fantastic. You absolutely cannot taste the chickpeas in these at all so if your loved one (I include husbands in this, not just kids as I know many a wife who tries to get her husband to eat more veges), is at all resistant to vegetables, give him or her this. They won’t even guess that they’ve got dreaded vegetable bits in them!
Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookies
Makes 24-26 cookies
Jessica warns: If using a standing mixer, partially cover the bowl wiht a dish towel to keep the chickpeas from flying out. I didn’t experience this myself although I might have liked to!
- 1 cup firmly packed light or dark brown sugar
- 3/4 cup trans fat free soft tub margarine spread or butter
- 2 large egg whites (I used 1 egg)
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 15oz/450g can chickpeas drained and rinsed
- 2 cups (12 ozs) semisweet chocolate chips (I used a mixture of white, milk and dark chips)
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt (I omitted this)
1. Preheat oven to 350f/180c. Line 2 baking trays with non stick parchment
2. In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the sugar and margarine with a wooden spoon or on medium speed until smooth. Beat in the egg whites or egg and vanilla, then the chickpeas and chocolate chips. Add the flour, oats, baking soda and salt and mix on low speed until a thick dough forms.
3. Drop the dough by the tablespoonful onto the baking sheet, spacing hte cookies about 1 inch apart. Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake for 11-13 minutes, do not overbake. Leave on cookie sheet to cool and then transfer onto wire rack until completely cool. Do try one in the process of cooling as the gooey chocolate is wonderful in the cookie.
4. Store in airtight container for up to 3 days.
By Jessica Seinfeld from Deceptively Delicious
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31 Comments | Add your own
What an unusual recipe. I would have thought the purpose of the chickpeas would be to reduce the amount of fat required, but it doesn’t seem to be the case.
Sounds delicious, a rather strange way to bake cookies!
Very deceptive.
NB. I think you have a little ingredient typo with the recommended marg/butter type. lol!
Hi Y-Definitely no reduction of butter in this recipe. Some of her recipes are healthy but some are just as buttery and sugary as regular ones. I was just interested in how the chickpeas would taste:lol:
Hi Cappucino-It is a little odd yes but believe me, you don’t taste it!
Hi Helen-Indeed! LOL I laughed so hard when I saw my typo, thanks for letting me know
“i’m sure there’s a rule in baking: just add 2 cups of chocolate, 1 cup of brown sugar and 3/4 cup of butter to anything and it will be fine.”
if it’s not a rule, it should be! heck, if black beans can go undetected in brownies, i don’t see why this wouldn’t work just as well. they look great!
What an unusual cookie recipe, Lorraine! They look super yummy.
im definetely trying these!! yum!
i love chickpeas too but never thought of adding them to sweet food!
Hi grace-That should really be at the front of every cookbook. Just in case things don’t work out! I’ve never had black beans in brownies-but have had sweet black bean soup which is really nice so I can see it working. Thanks!
Hi Patricia-Thankyou so much! They were rather good (if not that healthy)
Hi Anastasia-Definitely do, they’re rewardingly good. I’d love to hear what you think of them
Very interesting! I’ll have to make these and tweak the butter out and some of the sugar… I’ll let you know how it goes! I’m very interested to see how they taste
Hi stephchows-Yeah I think you could definitely tone down the butter, there’s so much in there! I’d love to hear how it goes
I decided to look these legumes up in Wikipedia and wanted to quote that:
“Ancient people also associated chickpeas with Venus because they were said to offer medical uses such as increasing sperm and milk, provoking menstruation and urine and helping to treat kidney stones”.
I’ve been off chickpeas for a while you know.. I just don’t know why really. I have a standby chickpea spinach curry recipe in my head that my husband loves but I haven’t made it for ages. I used to make little ‘patties’ out of them for a while.
Oh…I love a good hommus too.
But when I read how much butter, sugar and chocolate chips were in these.. gosh..I was thinking ‘what’s the point of the chickpea nutrition when you’re killing your kids with sugar and fat? Seriously.. the recipe screams “American” to me. But yeah.. if you’re gonna make cookies with this much sugar and fat I guess you may aswell use chickpeas and get some added fibre and protein.. better than nothing. They do look very chunky and delicious I have to say. My American brother in law especially would love them. He is into cookies with oats, especially chunky ones.
Hi Maria-yeah they’re definitely not low fat or sugar cookie, they’re like regular cookies which just happen to have added fibre and other things via the chickpeas. But I wouldn’t say approaching healthy status at all though!
Interesting about the history of chickpeas, I knew they were good for you but didn’t realise they were associated with so many things!
I am a big fan of chunky cookies too-Mrs Fields white chocolate macadamia chunk-yummm…
Wow – that is so different but so cool. I LOVE chickpeas!
Hi Julie-It is very good and the best part is that no-one can tell!
I made them and my kids went for them! What do you think would happen with whole wheat flour and replacing half the butter with apple sauce?? However the butter & sugar MAKE THEM “American” cookies, so maybe we’ll just leave it alone. Cheers!
Hi MA-Very cool! I don’t know to be honest, I’ve never used apple sauce in cookies, only cakes but if you do try it please let me know what they’re like!
I just made these with whole wheat flour and they turned out great. I did use all the butter but reduced the sugar by 1/4 cup. My 3 year old gobbled 2 up in no time. The true test will be the 11 year old. You can’t get anything past her.
I love them!
Hi, I’m looking forward to trying this. My husband loves garbanzos and I always have a can in my pantry. Aloha NotQuite Nigella!
Thanks for the gorgeous blog.
Marilyn @jamarilyn
Hi Margaret-Ahh that is great to know that you can use wholewheat flour! Hehe I hope the 11 year old liked them!
Hi Marilyn-Wonderful! Hehe he sounds like he doesn’t need convincing
You’re welcome and thankyou!
Hi, I just made your cookies but I made some modifications to the recipe. I used Smart Balance instead of butter. Also instead of 2 cups of flour I used 2 cups of whole wheat flour. They came out really good. My family love the cookies. Thanks for the recipe.
wauw how different,,,,and yummie!
Are you supposed to blend the chickpeas smooth first? Seems like otherwise, you’d have big hunks o’ bean in the cookies, and that can’t be delicious.
I’ve been looking for a great chickpea cookie recipe…can’t wait to try them this weekend!
I love these cookies, but I can’t understand the last line:
4. Store in airtight container for up to 3 days.
3 days is such a short time for cookies–don’t they keep longer than that?
Thanks, June
I have made these several times with whole wheat flour and cutting WAY back on the sugar. I also use a little less choc. chips, but not by much. Will try subbing applesauce for a portion of the butter this time! These don’t last long around my house.
Does anyone recommend this entire cookbook?
OK, I forgot to smash the chick peas this time and I think that’s a must. I did cut back the butter and put one of the “lunch” cups of organic apple sauce and added a few tablespoons of ground flax seed. I cut sugar down to 2/3 cup!
Hi Ladies! I also changed a few things with the recipe and it was delicious! I used whole wheat flour, half the butter, dark chocolate chips, “no salt” substitute. It tasted great and made them a tad healthier.
I made these with trans-fat free margarine and the eggwhites, and while the taste was great, the texture really wasn’t- I’m sure this would be improved with real butter and eggs. While this would boost the fat content, they would still be very nutritious. And honestly, you’re probably better off to do as the French do and have a little less of the real thing!
I used your recipe to make my own! Less sugar and subbed whole wheat.
Check it out!
http://italktofood.blogspot.com/2010/09/confession-and-then-some-cookies.html
i added walnuts and ideally, i’d leave out the oats, since we don’t really care for oatmeal in our chocolate chip cookies, it’s hard to make a comparison of the recipe to our regular one.
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