Inspired by Jerry Seinfield's wife and her amazing recipes for hiding vegies in yummy treats to trick unsuspecting little ones! Although the idea of having kids eat vegies is great I am not so sure if I really like the idea of hiding vegies as I am all for encouraging kids to eat their vegies as is.. My daughter's favourite meal is vegie mash with corn tortilla and it is just that nothing added and nothing hidden just vegies cooked and mashed with a little salt and sometimes grated cheese.
Anyway weekend cooking with my daughter had started again and we decided that today we should make cookies. Now thinking that this would make a great little dessert or treat I wanted it to be filling but not too fattening. Protein!!!! Would be the answer. But what protein... Lentils hmmm maybe another time but not this time as wanted something quick. Just then my one yr old handed me a can of chickpeas. Whether he knew what he was doing or not I took it as a sign and that is how we came to make chickpea and chocolate chip cookies....... and guess what they were yummmy.
This is a very versatile recipe and I would probably say that you could take any favourite cookie recipe and add a can of chickpeas to( you may need to add a little bit more moisture to some recipes)!
After doing a google search this is a big thing many different recipes out there for this tasty delight!
WHAT YOU NEED:
1 can of chickpeas (Drained and washed) - If you want to squish some of them then you can but else just leave them whole.
1 cup of firmly packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup room temp butter - unsalted
2 large egg whites
2 tsp pure vanilla extract or a generous splash of imitation vanilla essence
2 cups semisweet dark or milk chocolate chips - I prefer dark as find milk adds more sugar and these are already super sweet.
2 cups plain flour
1/2 cup oats or if you have a child who will not eat anything with an oat in grind this to make oat flour
1 tsp of baking powder (make sure it is not past its best before)
1/4 tsp salt
WHAT TO DO:
1. Preheat oven to 180 celcuis and line a cookie tray.
2. Beat the sugar and butter together till light and fluffy.
3. Add the egg whites and vanilla essence and beat for a min or two.
4. In another bowl mix all the flour, salt, bkaking powder and oats or oat flour.
5. Mix the two bowls together till combined.
6. Now add the chickpeas and chocolate chips and mix till throughly combined.
7. Dollop tablespoons of the mixture spaced apart on tray and bake for aprox 12 mins. Longer if you like them crunchy but becareful not to burn.
