I'm back! And baking!

I know I know... it's been a long time! Really really quick update on the Maida family and then I'll get on to the real reason for this post... food! More specifically... dessert! :)

SO! James ended up NOT deploying! Yay! Well, yay for me... he was pretty disappointed (understandably so!). So we have been enjoying the summer as a family :) Sam is walking (eek!) and getting into absolutely everything. I am doing p90x and bought a jogging stroller to hopefully train for a 5K (to start! I'd like to do longer races eventually! All of that fitness-y stuff though is on my other blog... so check it out! On top of all that working out, I have been making a big effort to cook (and bake! yay baking!) much healthier for my family. Which brings me to the point of this post :)

Anybody who knows me, knows that I love food. Especially food of the sugary, buttery, melty, oh-so-very-bad for you variety. Salads are yummy and all, but a cookie?! A big, soft, chocolate chip cookie?! No contest right?! But healthier. I want to be healthier! I figured there HAD to be a way to satisfy my sweet tooth without all the white flour and refined sugar. SO I've been doing a loooot of Pinterest-ing (a word? It should be...) and Google searching for healthier version of snacks that I love. It's been fun to experiment!

It's amazing what you can make healthier with a few substitutions! A little Greek yogurt instead of fats, applesauce instead of oil, honey or bananas instead of sugar, and.... chickpeas? YES! Chickpeas instead of flour! Whaaaaat?! My first substitution, healthier version of yummy yummy treats recipe to share is for.....

Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites!!

1 1/4 cup canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp peanut butter (I used reduced fat)

1/4 cup honey

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat to 350 degrees

Add all ingredients EXCEPT chocolate chips to a food processor or blender (I used a Magic Bullet which was a liiiiiiiittle bit on the small side, but I made it work!) and blend until smooth. Make sure you get all the chickpeas! Once everything is well blended, fold in the chocolate chips.

If you have one of those nifty cookie scooper thingys (I do! And I love it! Does it have a name?) use that to scoop out little balls of the batter onto a tray prepped with parchment paper. If you DON'T have a scooper thingy, get your hands damp (the batter is really sticky) and roll out little balls that way. You can leave them as is (I did) or flatten them out a little bit before putting them in the oven.

Bake for 10 minutes....

Mama, are they done yet?!

And voila!

The smell like the real thing! I love the smell of cookies baking!

I was skeptical, I'll admit. I mean come on... chickpeas? They're good and all, but in a cookie? But oh. my. goodness was I pleasantly surprised! (And so was James who was probably even more skeptical lol) They are really good! DISCLAIMER they are better when warm. Room temp... well they're okkkkk, but not really good. I just pop one (or two...) in the microwave before eating it though and it's totally fine :)

So there ya go! No flour, no sugar, no eggs, no oil, and no butter, but still so very yummy! 

Enjoy!!

Ok and just ooooooooone gratuitous Sam pic ;)