Chickpea Chocolate Chip Walnut Pumpkin Peanut Butter Cookies

Getting my kid to eat anything that isn't fruit or crackers is hard work. I keep trying, though, and here is one of my recent successes. Granted, it's dessert, but at least it has lots of good stuff in it besides chocolate. Garbanzo beans (chickpeas) are an excellent source of fiber, protein, and iron. The many health benefits are described in better detail here. This recipe uses a whole can! Not only are these cookies packed with good stuff, but they're also gluten and egg free! I found the original recipe here. In the spirit of the season, I used pumpkin peanut butter because I CAN! But it's still delicious with plain pb and no nuts as described in the original recipe. 

Ingredients:

• 8oz can Chickpeas
• 5/8 cup Peanut Butter (the fewer ingredients the better)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 3 tsp baking powder
• 1 pinch salt of your PB doesn't have any
• 3/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup walnuts (optional ) 

That would be my processor smoking from exertion 

Directions:

Before rolling vs after rolling

• Preheat oven to 350
• Rinse beans and pat them dry
• Grind all ingredients except the chocolate chips and nuts in a food processor. 
• Be sure to scrape the sides and get it very smooth and creamy.
• Mix in chocolate chips
• With wet hands, roll into 2 inch balls and then smush flat.*
• bake 10-15 minutes

*Cookies will not spread or settle so how ever you put them in the oven is exactly how they'll come out.