Vegan Chickpea Peanut Butter Cookies

I love sweets so much, but I hate how unhealthy they are for you.  So I've been on a hunt for great dessert recipes and then alter them slightly to make them a little healthier.

I've seen a lot of recipes that call for beans in their desserts and thought it was the grossest sounding thing ever, until I finally got the courage to try black bean brownies . . . delicious.

When I decided to take a peanut butter cookie recipe and make it healthier, I got gutsy and substituted the butter for chickpeas.  If you've ever had hummus, the chickpeas have a real nutty flavor, which would go perfectly with a peanut butter cookie!

Anywho, here's the recipe.  Get brave and give it a try! 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
• 1/4 cup oat flour
• 1/4 cup almond flour
• 1/4 cup ground flax seed
• Heaping 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 cup chickpeas, cooked and mashed (I put mine in the food processor)
• If this scares you too much, substitute 1/4 cup out with Smart Balance Lite margarine which is dairy free
• 1/2 cup coconut sugar or raw cane sugar
• 1/2 cup honey  
• (If you like a real honey flavor, swap out the coconut sugar and just use a whole cup of honey)
• 1 egg Replacer 
• (I like to use Bob's Red Mill Egg Replacer.  You use one tablespoon of the powder mixed with three tablespoons of water.)
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 2 Tbsp almond milk
• 3/4 cup homemade peanut butter or natural peanut butter
• 1/2 tsp butter flavor extract - Optional 
• (If you do add margarine, you probably don't need this or just use 1/4 tsp of it

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a large bowl, mix together all the dry ingredients.  
3. In a separate bowl, mix together all the wet ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.  Mix well.
4. If the cookie dough is too sticky to work with, place it in the fridge for about half an hour.
5. Scoop out about 2 tablespoons of cookie dough at a time and roll into a ball.  To prevent from sticking to your hands, have a bowl of water set aside and get your hands damp before working with the dough.  Place the balls onto an ungreased cookie sheet a few inches apart.  Use a fork, dip it in water first, and flatten the cookies using a criss-cross motion.  
6. Bake for about 15-20 minutes.  (Warning:  I live in a higher altitude, so check your cookies at maybe 10 minutes first.  You want them to get golden and the centers to be set.)
7. Let cool and serve to your friends without telling them there's chickpeas in it (unless they have an allergy) . . . they'll never know!