Vegan Double Chocolate Brownies

Sweet friends, I did it. Just when I thought I made a really GOOD peanut butter brownie recipe yesterday, I went and made some MIND BLOWING double chocolate brownies today, and friends, you'd never think that a.) they're vegan & gluten free and b.) they're made with chickpeas!!

The idea stemmed from the over abundance of chickpeas due to the fact that I make royal icing for my sugar cookies with aquafaba. I was having a serious fridge situation with cans upon cans of drained chickpeas just sitting in there waiting for their moment of glory LOL.

For the past few months I had been just roasting the chickpeas in the oven and seasoning them with a blend of nutritional yeast, onion powder, garlic powder and a little salt and the fam was loving it. Unfortunately it took HOURS to get 2 trays completely dry roasted and, of course as a baker, the time spent using the oven is very precious!

Anyways, I stumbled across a recipe online that used chickpeas to make blondie bars (maybe I'll try to create a version!) and I immediately thought that if a bar of some kind could use chickpeas as the base, how amazing would it be as a brownie! So I took the blondie recipe and tweaked it to allow it to be refined sugar free and I added some peanut butter to the recipe because I know my husband LOVES chocolate peanut butter anything. Everyone watching my stories yesterday was going wild over the recipe (will add it to my highlights on Instagram soon!) and while I knew it was pretty good as is, I thought I could make it better!

This recipe gives you the option to make it refined sugar free and add in the peanut butter if you like but honestly this double chocolate goodness had me over the moon. If you know me, you know that I am actually not the biggest sweets person but THESE...whoa I may have converted to the sweet side a little!

A couple of notes before the recipe:

• the mixture is going to end up chunky unless maybe you have a super high powered food processor - this is totally ok, just make sure you've blended for at least 3-5 minutes to ensure the chickpeas have fully blended
• you can make this refined sugar free by bumping up the maple syrup to 1-1/3c (or less if you prefer less sweet- although this is the perfect sweetness in my opinion!)
• I used 2 cans of unsalted chickpeas - 540mL cans

Without further ado- here's the recipe!

Vegan Double Chocolate Brownies

Yield: 21

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

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Ingredients

• 2 cans chickpeas, drained
• 2/3 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips- 1 cup to be processed, 1 cup reserved for ganache
• 3/4 cup coconut milk or soy creamer
• 2/3 cup maple syrup - see note above to make refined sugar free
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 1/2 cup gluten free flour
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 cup peanut butter (OPTIONAL)

Instructions

For the Brownies

1. Preheat oven to 350*F and grease a 9 x 13" pan.
2. In a food processor blend all ingredients EXCEPT 1 cup of chocolate chips and the coconut milk/soy creamer.
3. Blend for about 3-5 minutes until mixture is as smooth as possible.
4. Pour batter into greased pan and spread until even. Bake for 20-25 mins.

For the Ganache

1. In a microwave safe bowl, add remaining chocolate chips and the coconut milk/soy creamer. Microwave for 30 seconds at a time until chocolate is fully melted. Using a whisk or fork, blend ingredients together until a smooth mixture is reached.
2. Pour ganache directly onto brownies as soon as they come out of the oven. Spread evenly with a spatula.
3. Allow to cool for 20-30 mins to allow ganache to set before cutting.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 21 Serving Size: 1 grams
Amount Per Serving: Unsaturated Fat: 0g