a different use for chocolate
Yes, I love chick peas. Yolie knows this, as she sent me this card, along with some US/UK snack bars (bar swap ahoy!) I’ve actually eaten all of the bars already. No photos. No evidence. Whoops.
Really, I don’t care; they were all delicious, particularly the peanut buttery, chocolatey chippie Larabar. I tend to make all my own snacky-goods these days… it was a nice change to try something packaged, plus sample some of the brands I am constantly seeing around blog-land. Makes me feel involved, you know? Not like some un-educated hobo slumming it Down Under.
Anyway, I make this recipe all the time… I love it, but people may think I’m weird for this one. Whatever.
Chewy Chocolate Baked Chickpeas:
(Vegan, gluten, nut, seed, cane sugar free)
- 1C cooked chickpeas
- 4t cacao powder (or cocoa)
- 4t maple syrup (or agave/honey/rice syrup)
- 1t coconut oil
- 3T water
- 1/4t sea salt
- Combine cacao, syrup, water and salt to make a runny paste.
- Toss through chickpeas, coating well (I actually marinate the chickpeas overnight in this ‘syrup’ but if you can’t be bothered, just skip this… I just think it intensifies the flavour).
- Spread onto a lined baking tray.
- Bake at 180 degrees C for 25 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes or so (the chocolate sauce will begin to thicken and coast the chick peas).
- Turn down oven to 150, bake for a further 10 minutes.
- Turn the oven down to 100 degrees, bake for a further 15 minutes.
- Turn oven off, leave the chickpeas inside to cool completely.
These are great on top of something gooey – think oatmeal, ice cream, tofu pudding (pictured above) banana soft serve, or as I did this morning, chia seed pudding. The chicks peas are dry and chewy…. not crispy – don’t expect anything crunchy… I always add a touch extra salt – dark chocolate and sea salt is a pretty wicked combo. For some reason, they remind me of a stale malteaser. It won’t win any beauty competitions, but this was delicious:
Vanilla Lucuma Chia Pudding:
(Vegan, gluten, nut and cane sugar free)
- 1/4C chia seeds
- 2t raw lucuma powder
- 1/2cvanilla soy milk
- 1/4t vanilla bean paste
- 1/8t sea salt
- 1t agave
- Mix everything together, and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes or so, while the chia gel up.
- Top with the chocolate chickpeas.
32 Responses to “a different use for chocolate”
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Vegan. Stay at home Mum of Misty. Yoga teacher in training. Passionate about REAL food - creating it, eating it, sharing it. I can never stick to a recipe.
Ooh, exciting! I’m a big fan of savoury roasted chickpeas but haven’t made them sweet before. Also, wooooot, chia pudding!
I’m a huge chia pudding fan… Viper reckons chia are like tomato seeds that get stuck in your teeth – all jelly like. He’s a wuss – I love the little suckers. Chia + flax really help my skin too, go the omega 3s!!
Hear hear! I’ve been heaping the flax onto my oatmeal, or chia – and you’re right, makes a huge difference to happy skin! <3 xyx
Hmm, maybe I need to start eating chia seeds every day then
Chia pudding every day wouldn’t be bad at all!
I know the feeling- my other half just looks at me like I’m nuts when I get excited about finding something from the blogosphere in real life.
These look SO bloody good! I’ve got to give them a try. I’ve made crunchy ones before but sweet chewy carby chickpeas sound divine. Pretty is overrated. Who cares if they taste good!
You’re speaking my language… as long as the mouth+ belly are happy the eyes can just go away
My partner Viper thinks I’m seriously nuts, but he is a good sport and will try anything I make… he’s good actually, he’s very honest, so when he says ‘Yum!’ I know it’s good. He is wrong about these though, I LOVE them 
Wow. This is rocking my world a little bit. Can’t wait to try this.
They are actually super yum… it’s funny when chocolate gets involved… I could seriously just sit and eat 10 pounds of these, but I would never make the claim of wanting to eat 10 pounds of plain chickpeas. ahhhh sweet chocolate, you make everything better
woaaa… these chickpeas look delicious! i remember when i last made my own chickpea creation I oven roasted them in paprika, olive oil and salt and took them to the cinema. somehow they were a bit…hmm.. soggy?, chewy?.. just not the way i would have liked them. i might have to give these a try- maybe i like the choco flavour better
Yeah, I’ve never really perfected the whole ‘crunchy, crispy’ chickpea thing… basically I reckon to get them perfect you need to deep fry them, which is not really my style.
Chewy chocolate is my style!
Lou, you are beyond clever! What a great idea for chocolate + chickpeas!
xo!
Natalia
Oh thank you so much, Natalia (this means a lot coming from you – your recipes are SO inspiring!)
Um yeah, you are NOT weird…not weird at all. LOVE this idea Lou, and maybe it will keep me out of the hershey’s chocolate kisses I can’t seem to get enough of these days…and Reese’s cups…oh and the Dove milk chocolates. Notice a pattern here?
Feed those babies, Heather, feed them chocolate! When I was pregnant and baking in the cafe, having industrial sized tubs of dark chocolate buttons around me was NOT a good thing… actually it was pretty awesome
P.S. When I read the title of this post, I thought for sure that you were now covering your armpits in chocolate. Hehe.
hehehe
OoooOOOOOooooo you know I love this idea, what with my chickpea cookie obsession and all. I actually made two super chocolately infused versions yesterday that I’m working on a post for and hope to have up in a little bit. So good!
the baking BEAST strikes again
How awesome are chickpeas!?! LOVE!
Oh my goodness! That all looks so so good! <3 Seriously, I cannot WAIT to make both those creations…they look heavenly! I must put in an order for lucuma. Such an interesting ingredient! And you are anything but a hobo slumming it Down Under – your creations beat ANYTHING that comes in a wrapper, any day of the week, any country on earth!
Love the framed picture – that makes me so happy! <3 xyx
The chickpea picture has taken pride of place on my “jar shelf” – where I keep all my jars of ingredients, it’s just too cute, makes me smile every time I see it! Chia puddings are SO yum…. I think right up your alley, perfect protein snack too!
Okay…I just ordered lucuma and chia seeds. EXCITED! (and broke)
Hehehe! 
xyx
You will LOVE lucuma… it’s such a lovely flavour, kinda like maple/vanilla? So good in smoothies and stirred into oatmeal. Apparently it’s good for balancing hormones too, which is always a good thing
“It’s unfortunate what we find pleasing to the touch and pleasing to the eye is seldom the same.” ~ Pulp Fiction
Replace “touch” with “taste” and you have the basis for all my meals and favorite foods! i’m so trying this chickpea delight!
One of my fav films too! I hope you do try these little chicky choccy joys… I’m going to post another recipe today using the same chickpeas for another dish. Just cos I have zero boredom threshold and can’t stop myself.
I find sometimes the ugliest things are the tastiest
Yum! I think it is pretty too – in a rustic sort of way – its like the more inventive version of black bean brownies!!!
I’m all about the rustic! That term covers a multitude of sins
This looks amazing! I will judge on looks..because the look draws me in! So does the idea. Job well done yet again my healthy granola friend.
Excellent, glad you like… they ARE pretty tasty little cuties