Vegan Protein Blondies
Are you ready for a delicious, healthy, high-protein sweet snack? These vegan protein blondies will blow your mind! What’s even more astonishing is the fact that the base is made with CHICKPEAS that provide a velvety fudgy texture to this dessert.
Welcome back to Cool Beans! In this recipe series, I set out to show you cool ways to eat beans and pulses, including lentils, chickpeas, edamame, peas, and a whole variety of kidney beans! My goal is to help you incorporate more legumes into your diet without sacrificing the flavor or texture.
This may come as a surprise, but beans can be used for more than just savoury dishes, especially in plant-based kitchens! These vegan protein blondies use chickpeas as a base, which creates a creamy, fudgy texture and takes on the sweet vanilla flavor very well. What’s more, this indulgent dessert is made with whole-food, good-for-you ingredients. Much healthier than the store-bought snack!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- This recipe is super-affordable! The base is made with canned chickpeas, which are not only cheap but also accessible in most stores.
- These vegan protein blondies are mostly made with the kind of ingredients you can find in your pantry. The only fresh produce used for this dessert is raspberries, and they can be subbed for frozen or canned berries.
- Great news for gluten-free folk – this is a naturally gluten-free recipe. To create a fudgy texture, it utilizes chickpeas and rolled oats. No flour in sight!
- It only takes 10 minutes to prep, the rest is a matter of sitting back and relaxing while these vegan protein blondies bake in the oven.
- This recipe is also OH SO SIMPLE! I am convinced that virtually anyone can make these with ease!
How to Make This Recipe
First, preheat your oven to 400F and line your baking tray with parchment. The recommended pan size for this recipe is 8×8 inches, however you’re welcome to use a pan of a similar size (7×9 or 6×10, for example).
Next, add canned chickpeas, peanut butter, maple syrup, rolled oats, water, dates, baking powder, and vanilla to the blender. This is truly my favorite way to make baked goods because… it’s just so easy! And you barely won’t need to do any washing up.
Carefully fold in half the raspberries and chocolate chips. Pour the batter into the lined baking pan and top with the rest of the raspberries and chocolate chips. Place the blondies in the oven and bake for about 25 minutes. You want them to cook thoroughly through but retain that soft middle.
Let the blondies cool down, then cut into squares and enjoy!
Hack It!
- As previously mentioned, you can replace fresh raspberries with produce from your pantry or freezer. For example, you can use frozen berries, including raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. Alternatively, you could add some maraschino cherries into this recipe.
- If you have a severe gluten allergy, please use certified glutem-free oats. Although oats do not naturally contain gluten, most commercially produced rolled oats are processed in the same factory as gluten-containing grains.
- This recipe uses peanut butter, but it can be subbed with other nut butter (if you are specifically allergic to peanuts) or sunflower seed butter (to avoid all nuts).
- You can store these for 5-7 days. I wouldn’t recommend going any longer than that because of the high moisture content in these baked goods. However, if you won’t eat the whole tray in a week, you can freeze your blondies while they are fresh and enjoy them at a later date.
- Although I think of these blondies as a dessert, they can easily be classified as breakfast. They are nutritious and packed with protein – perfect for starting your day.
Other Recipes You’ll Love
- Vegan Meringue Cookies
- Vegan Magnolia Bakery Banana Pudding
- Stale Bread Cake Recipe
- Vegan Pumpkin Latte Brownies
- Vegan Pecan Pie
Ever since I became a vegan food blogger, my journey has been about making plant-based living easy and accessible. To do that, I launched a digital meal planner to help plant-based folk plan ahead (or plant ahead, haha). In time, it grew and evolved. And now the PlantYou Planner database has over 550 easy, delicious vegan recipes for every occasion! You can use one of the pre-designed meal plans, or create a custom one for you and your family. The planner allows you to toggle the number of servings for each recipe so that no food is wasted, and everyone is fed. What’s even better is that the program generates a custom shopping list based on the meal plan you select for the week. Plant-based living has never been easier!
And if you like having all of your recipes in one place, I suggest you get your hands on the PlantYou Cookbook. It has over 140 recipes, all rather affordable and beginner-friendly. In addition, each recipe is accompanied by an infographic to display every ingredient. So far, the book has received an incredible amount of support, which I am eternally grateful for! Unfortunately, that means that pretty much every online retailer has sold out. Until the next print becomes available in the early summer, please consider checking with your local store or purchasing the Kindle version!
The Recipe: Vegan Protein Blondies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups chickpeas, drained & rinsed
- ½ cup peanut butter
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- 1 tbsp water
- 3 medjool dates
- ½ tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
- ½ cup fresh raspberies
Equipment
- 1 High-speed blender or food processor
- 1 8 x 8 baking pan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400F and line an 8×8 baking pan with parchment paper.
- Add all listed ingredients apart from the chocolate chips and raspberries to a high speed blender or food processor. Combine until smooth.
- Mix in half the chocolate chips and half the raspberries. Transfer to the baking dish. Top with the remaining chocolate and raspberries. Bake for 25 minutes until cooked through.
