The C-Word: Fearless Blondies!

I read somewhere that when you crave chocolate, you are actually craving protein and minerals so this is one solution - a snack that has both dark chocolate (magnesium!) and a highly-digestible protein, mineral, fat and fiber combination that helps in balancing hormones. Look up chickpeas to see how much you need them.

Overwhelmed with a sugar jones - usually because I haven't had enough sleep, am feeling anxious about something, my hormones are out of whack or I have a little candida - these blondies help curb them (or maybe surrender to them).

I bake a bunch and freeze some. They have that wickedly satisfying sweet-salty-chewy crumbly feeling which you can suddenly feel desperate for if you don't eat grains, refined sugar or processed foods. So here's my version of the great recipe from ambitious kitchen (I LOVE her). Mine are slightly lighter and cakier, hers are fudgier (they both have their benefits).

gluten-free, paleo, vegan chickpea blondies! 

Get out the food processor. Sorry to say that big old food processor is really a necessity here. I've done it in the vitamix and it doesn't come out as well. But you can try it.

Stuff you need:

food processor (or powerful blender)
spatula (to scrape it out of the food processor)
8 x 8 baking pan
oven

Ingredients:

1 can of chickpeas
1 tablespoon of ground chia seeds
4 tablespoons of water or vanilla hemp milk
1/2 cup of vanilla hemp milk
1/2 cup of peanut or almond butter (or sunflower butter if you want it to be nut-free)
1/4 teaspoon of baking soda
1/4 teaspoon of baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (at the moment, I am into Hawaiian red salt) plus 1/4 to sprinkle on top
2 tablespoons of vanilla extract

1 bag of dark chocolate chips (get good ones, it will make a difference - this time we used callebaut - which DO have sugar but not a lot)

1 (more or less) tablespoon of coconut (or ghee or butter if you don't mind it not being vegan) to grease the pan.

Turn the oven on to 350 degrees.

In the food processor, just put everything in there, except for the chocolate chips, 1/4 teaspoon of the salt, the grease for the pan, the chia seeds and the hemp milk.

In a teacup, mix the chia seeds with the water or hemp milk to get a gloopy, viscous, eggy mixture. This replaces egg - though you can save time and just drop an egg in there to be more paleo. Add this and the rest of the hemp milk to the food processor.

Pulse, puree, whatever until the entire thing is smooth. Taste for sweetness and saltiness. I don't add sugar, but if you want, you could use whatever sweetener you feel good with - coconut sugar, stevia, lucuma, lankanto - I've heard good things about it, it's made of monk fruit and you can use it for cooking, but I've never done it myself. The chocolate chips are sweet and the nut butters are naturally sweet so just taste what works for you. If you add more flavorings, pulse a little more.

Open the lid of the food processor, dump in half to 3/4 bag of chocolate chips. Stir them around with the spatula - don't turn the machine back on or you will puree them too!

If you want to give them to someone who is not well or needs a little extra love, while you stir them up, think healing and loving thoughts. Imagine that people eating your blondies are immediately healed from whatever is ailing them. Imagine energy coming from your core straight into the batter. You can even say a little prayer and ask your Source to infuse your blondies with healing power. (Note: the person you are sending healing to can be you. We all need it sometimes).

That's how you "reiki" them.

Now grease the pan well with whichever grease you've chosen. I like some raw, sea salty, grassfed butter here but coconut oil tastes buttery too.

Pour the batter into the pan, use the spatula to spread it all out. Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top, use the spatula to squish them down a little. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon of large-grained sea salt around.

Put the pan in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes depending on your oven. I've noticed big variations on baking times depending on the oven and the liquidity of the batter. The way to tell if they are ready is that they are slightly brown on the edges and have pulled away from the sides of the pan and the center is set and not jiggley.

Paleo, gluten-free, nut-free chickpea blondies!

Like that.

If they are undercooked, don't kill yourself. All the ingredients are perfectly safe and good raw and they will simply be more fudgey when they cool. If they are overcooked or slightly burned, they will probably still taste delicious - it's all good.

Even really picky kids and my dad will eat them (don't blow it like me and get all overexcited about the ingredients before they put them in their mouths so that they don't even want to try them).

I have been told I am a food fascist...but go out and make your own!