Healthy Surprise Nut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites

Today is Bekah’s post day but I am standing in with a post telling you about one of the many fun things we baked while she was here with Ashkon visiting with us and taking care of me before they went back to Grenada. I am on day 23 of recovering from a back injury and beyond grateful for the prayers of many and the amazing help I received from my family. My husband and I just got home from dropping them at the SF airport (we left the house at 3:30 am). Bekah and I wanted to try a few of the recipes she had pinned on her Pinterest boards to take to our second “SURPRISE” for my husband’s 60th birthday and this recipe looked intriguing. The first surprise was a family day at Disneyland and this second one was a group of friends and family gathering at AT&T park for a Sunday afternoon Giants game. This recipe includes a can of chick peas (garbanzo beans) and since we are big hummus fans and we know the benefits of eating legumes, we thought we would give it a try. These cookies are gluten free and grain free and use completely natural and organic ingredients-definitely do not use any type of nut butter that has added sugars or fats because it will alter the consistency of the cookies and they will not turn out. We adapted this recipe from a blog called Texas Erin (www.texaserin.com)We have tried a few quinoa cookie recipes as well but these are our very favorite healthy cookie so far!

Ingredients

• 1 (15oz) can of organic chickpeas/garbanzo beans, rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
• 2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons natural peanut or almond butter (only the nuts and salt variety-no added sugar or fats)
• ¼ cup honey (you can use agave or maple syrup for vegan version)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn’t have salt in it
• ½ cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350°F Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor (do not use a vitamix because the ingredients will stick and the dough is too thick) and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to scrape off the ground garbanzos/chick peas and process again until they’re combined.
2. Put in the chocolate chips and stir it if you can, or pulse it once or twice. The mixture will be very thick and sticky.
3. With wet hands, form into 1½” balls. Place balls on a cookie sheet covered with a piece of parchment paper. Press down slightly to flatten the balls. They do not rise very much. Bake until the edges crack slightly for about 10 minutes. Let cool and serve. they are delicious warm and hold up well to take to a picnic or ball game. Refrigerate the leftovers-if there are any!
   What new recipes have you tried lately that are extra healthy and delicious?