Watching some videos recently I was quite surprised at some of the things you can do with chickpeas. One suggestion was to make brownies, using chickpeas instead of flour. This sounded very interesting and I did some further investigations and watched some videos and they all seemed very good.
For my version I am using a combination of chocolate and cocoa powder and some coconut as well to give another lovely flavour.
Most of the videos I watched used a blender to mix all the ingredients together, but that seemed to be a messy way of doing it, since having blended everything it is rather difficult to get it out and then the washing of the blender is a bit of a bind too. So I decided that to mash the chickpeas I would use the processing attachment of my handheld immersion blender. Then everything could be easily mixed together in a bowl. I used some maple syrup as part of the wet ingredients. I did consider golden syrup since I love that, but maple syrup worked very well. Although I used a 9 inch square tin I am sure an 8 inch one or a 7×11 pan would do. It would just mean a slightly difference in thickness to the brownies.
Just as an aside I want to mention that you can also use the water from the can of chickpeas to make meringue, instead of using egg whites. I haven’t tried that but I have watched a couple of videos where they do it and the meringues turned out great, nice and crisp.
My brownies turned out very well. I let the tin cool down completely before turning the bake onto a wire rack to finish cooling. Then I cut into squares for serving. They certainly taste very good indeed, moist and very chocolatey and the coconut flavour and texture is there too.
- 400g can of chickpeas, drained
- 200g dark chocolate
- 20g cocoa powder
- 100g butter, unsalted
- 2 medium eggs(large in USA), beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 40g dessicated coconut
- 60ml maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt, if desired
Method:
- Preheat the oven to 160C/140C Fan/320F
- Line a 9×9 baking tin(8×8 or 7×11 would be fine too).
- Melt the butter and chocolate in a bowl over a pan of simmering water(or in a microwave oven, in short bursts).
- Mash the chickpeas to a fine pulp( I used my immersion blender with attachment).
- Add the chickpeas to the chocolate, in a large bowl, and mix to combine, ensuring it is all fully mixed in.
- Add the eggs, vanilla extract and maple syrup and mix.
- Add the cocoa powder and baking soda, and salt if using, and mix in.
- Add the coconut and mix until all is nicely combined.
- Pour the mixture into the cake tin and shake to make it spread evenly and reach all four corners.
- Bake in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes until it is springy on top and a skewer in the centre is only slightly moist.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the tin before removing onto a wire rack to firm up as the cooling finishes.
- Cut into squares to serve.