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Moist, tender, and fudgy flourless blondies with a crackly top. Gluten free and vegan, but so delicious no one will ever know. These Cinnamon Chickpea Blondies will become your new favorite treat!
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These Cinnamon Chickpea Blondies are our go-to treat! They are moist and tender in the center with just a bit of a crackly crust on top. Perfectly sweet, healthier than your average blonde brownie recipe, and made from pantry staples. They’re so easy and, oh, so delectable!
Ingredients you need
Ingredient notes and substitutions
While these flourless chickpea blondies do contain a good amount of sugar, it’s the unrefined kind, and they’re also packed with protein, fiber, folate and iron thanks to the chickpeas, peanut butter, and oats. You don’t have to feel guilty about indulging your sweet tooth.
Bonus: they are dairy free, gluten-free and oil-free, too! Basically, you need to devour these dreamy vegan blondies immediately!
Chickpeas ~ It’s no secret that my “secret” ingredient in these Cinnamon Chickpea Blondies is chickpeas! I super swear promise you will not taste them! Trust me! But they do provide that great fudgy texture!
If you want a more traditional recipe, try these vegan gluten free blondies.
Oats ~ Old fashioned rolled oats give some structure to these fudgy blondies. You can sub oat flour, all-purpose flour, or a gluten free flour blend if you prefer.
Many readers have left them out with great success.
Cashew butter ~ Nut butter gives this blondie recipe some fat to make it extra indulgent. It also helps everything stick together. Cashew butter is nice and thick and has a natural sweetness, but not an overpowering flavor, which allows the cinnamon to really shine.
Any nut butter will do in a pinch. The flavor will change slightly depending on the nut butter used, but will still be delicious.
For a nut-free option, use sunflower seed butter.
Sweetener ~ Coconut sugar and pure maple syrup bring a delicious caramel-like flavor that complements the cinnamon so well.
If you don’t have coconut sugar, brown sugar may be used instead. If you don’t have either of those, cane sugar can be used, as well.
Cinnamon ~ Ahhh, the cinnamon. I LOVE cinnamon. So spicy, sweet and fragrant.
Did you know cinnamon, full of manganese, fiber and calcium, has been shown to have anti-clotting and anti-microbial properties? It also helps to control blood sugar levels and boost brain function.
Technically, you could leave it out if you don’t love cinnamon, but that just seems wrong.
If you’re a chocolate chip lover instead, try these gluten free blondies!
More recipes featuring cinnamon
- Cinnamon Sugar Roasted Chickpeas
- Maple Pecan Cinnamon Scones
- Cinnamon Sugar Cookies
- Vegan Cinnamon Pumpkin Coffee Cake
- Spiked Hot Cocoa with Cinnamon
How to make the recipe
Please scroll down to the recipe card for exact ingredient measurements and instructions.
The entire batter is made in the bowl of a food processor and comes together in less then 5 minutes. It doesn’t get much easier than that.
After that, just spread the batter in a prepared 8 x 8 pan and bake!
Storage/Freezing
My kids and I inhale these vegan blondies usually in a day!
Counter: If you have leftovers, keep them in an airtight container on the counter for 1-2 days.
Fridge: After that, storing them in the fridge would be best.
Freezer: You can even freeze these yummy blondie bars. The easiest way is to cut them into squares and then lay them in one even layer on a baking sheet or large plate in the freezer. Once the bars are frozen, transfer them to a freezer-safe zip-top plastic bag or container.
FAQs
Not much actually. They are more similar than they are different. They are both soft dessert bars. The main difference is that brownies contain chocolate and blondies don’t.
Both brownies and blondies can have many variations and flavors.
Typically, a high fat to flour ratio will make brownies fudgy. In this case we are adding some healthy fat with the cashew butter, but it’s ditching the flour altogether and blending the low-fat chickpeas until smooth that really makes these blondies fudgy.
You’ll know the chickpea blondies are done when the top starts to crackle and the sides start to pull away from the pan. A toothpick inserted into the center will come out clean.
More vegan dessert bar recipes
- Vegan Pumpkin Bars
- Fudgy Mocha Black Bean Brownies
- Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bars
- Cranberry Oat Crumble Bars
- Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bars
- Classic Vegan Toffee Bars
- Triple Almond Oat Bars
I hope you love this recipe as much as we do! If you tried it, please use the star rating system in the recipe card and leave a comment with your feedback. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
For even more easy family recipes, be sure to check out my cookbook, The Meatless Monday Family Cookbook!
Cinnamon Chickpea Blondies
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 can (15 ounces) chickpeas drained and rinsed (or 1.5 cups cooked chickpeas)
- ½ cup cashew butter
- ¼ cup old fashioned rolled oats certified gluten free if desired
- ⅔ cup coconut sugar or organic brown sugar
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- 1 ½ tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup chopped walnuts optional
- Cinnamon Sugar mixture optional for garnish (equal parts of cinnamon and sugar mixed together)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Lightly spritz an 8×8 baking dish with oil or line with parchment paper.
- Combine all ingredients, except walnuts, in the bowl of a food processor and puree until smooth.
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish.
- Add the walnuts, if using, and stir gently, then smooth the batter out.
- Sprinkle with cinnamon sugar mixture, if using.
- Bake for 30 minutes until the sides start to pull away from the baking dish and the top is firm.
- The blondies will continue to firm up while cooling.
- Cut into equal size squares and serve.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition values are calculated using online calculators and are estimates only. Please verify using your own data.
Kats
Thank you so much for this recipe! Made them for the first time today and they are absolutely amazing!
I’m sugar free so replaced the coconut sugar with xylitol and maple syrup with coconut oil (tip from one of the other posts) . Even my 2 year old couldn’t get enough! Tomorrow we’re doing your cinnamon sugar cookies, can’t wait! Thank you for so many great recipes, just what I’ve been looking for x
Jenn S.
Oh yay!! I’m so glad you loved them, Kats! And stay tuned because I have a whole roundup of recipes coming all about using chickpeas in desserts! That post should be up next week. Hope you love the cookies too – those are my fave! 🙂
Rosemary
These look lovely but what could I use instead of oats as I cannot tolerate them, not even gluten free ones. Thanks
Jenn S.
You can probably just skip them. Or if the batter seems to loose, you could try 1/4 cup of almond flour. Let me know how they turn out!
Noelle
i’m so stoked to try this recipe! i don’t have cashew butter but i do have raw cashews– should i just throw them in the food processor alone to make butter or do you suggest adding sugar and/or oil of some sort?
also, i only have ceylon cinnamon. that shouldn’t make too much of a difference in taste, should it?
Jenn S.
Hi, Noelle. Yep, you can just throw them in the food processor. You’ll have to stop it and scrap down the sides every so often. It will get crumbly first and then pasty before it gets creamy. Just stick with it! You don’t need to add anything at all to it. If for some reason you aren’t able to get it smooth enough, you can try adding a tsp or so of oil, but let it go for a good 10-15 minutes if you need to first before resorting to that. And, yes, Ceylon Cinnamon is the best! So definitely use that if you have it! Enjoy!!
Sam
We absolutely LOVE these! Such a great snack or healthy breakfast on the go. Thank you!
Jenn S.
Thank you so much, Sam! I happy to hear you love them. Thanks for stopping by to let me know. Have a great week and Happy Thanksgiving!
Michele
I just found your website yesterday and made these and the Butternut mac and cheese today. I really liked both. For these, I actually liked the batter more than the finished product. Mine were more like cake brownies when I wanted more like fudgy brownies. I did not make any substitutions. Should I try more chickpeas next time to make them more moist?
Jenn S.
Hi, Michelle. Thanks! I’m glad you liked them both. These blondies should definitely not have been cakey and I’ve never had anyone say that they turned out that way, so I’m not really sure what might have happened. Are you at high altitude by chance? I know that makes a difference in moisture content. You could try leaving out the oats next time and see if that helps. Thanks again for stopping by!
Michele
I’m not at high altitude. I did use dried beans that I had cooked in the pressure cooker. I put chickpeas in my salad every day so I like them a little firm. Maybe they weren’t soft enough for this recipe.
Jenn S.
Ahhh, that could definitely be the issue. I hadn’t though of that actually, but yes, beans cooked from scratch tend to be much drier. I will have to trial a batch from dried beans and see how to make them moist. I’ll let you know what I find out!
Michele
Great thank you
Charlotte
What could you replace chickpeas with – if you have an allergy? White beans?
Jenn S.
Hi, Charlotte. I haven’t tried them with any substitutions. You can try white beans, but they are much softer than chickpeas. Just know that they might not hold up quite as well. Let me know how they turn out.
Sarah Patrick
Yum, yum, YUM! I made these twice last weekend and as soon as I hit ‘post’ I’m going to make another batch.
For those interested in substitutions, I didn’t have cashew butter, so I made the first batch with peanut butter, plus I subbed applesauce for half of the peanut butter and half of the maple syrup. They were moist and delicious but I could taste the peanut butter (which I love, but I would have liked more of the cinnamon to come through) and they didn’t quite look as lovely as these pics, so of course, I had to try them again. The second batch I used almond butter and made no applesauce substitutions. I couldn’t taste almonds and the cinnamon was more pronounced, which was great. I also didn’t notice any difference in the moistness or texture. So for my next batch (only minutes in my future) I’ll stick with the almond butter and do the applesauce substitution (makes me feel less guilty if the whole batch falls into my mouth).
Thanks so much for these!
Jenn S.
This is awesome!! I’ve made them with peanut butter before too, and while still delicious, not as good as with the cashew butter. I’m thinking pecan butter would also be delicious as pecans are so “buttery.” Thank you so much for your feedback, Sarah! Good to know about the applesauce…I’ll have to try that! Happy baking (and eating!!). 🙂
Yvette
Cinnamon brownies blondies with chickpeas brownie
Sarah Patrick
So I made ANOTHER batch yesterday (I bought two cases of canned organic chickpeas at Costco, so, you know) and thought I’d share this weekend’s substitution. I’m out of nut butter, so I used 1/2 cup of canned organic pumpkin and pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon. Delicious! I ate the rest for breakfast this morning, guilt free.
Jenn S.
Oh, Sarah, I’m so glad you popped in to let me know about these subs! I actually suggested to someone who is nut-free that maybe they could try sweet potato puree, but I wasn’t sure if it would be too soft. Delighted to hear that it worked perfectly! And yay for seasonal treats! 🙂
Jim
Does it will work if I use apple sauce instead of the butter? You know, fot a fat free recipe
Jenn S.
I’m not sure, Jim. Personally, I don’t shy away from healthy fats. These blondies definitely won’t be as rich and creamy with applesauce, but it might still hold together ok. I really can’t say for sure without trying it. Let me know if you give it a try! Thanks for stopping by!
Danielle
Has anyone tried freezing these? My busy life often requires make ahead, batch cooking & freezing!
Jenn S.
That’s a great question, Danielle. I have not tried freezing them, but I bet it would work just fine. Have you seen my Cinnamon Chickpea Truffles? They are similar in ingredients and flavor, but created specifically for the freezer. However, now that I’m thinking about it, I don’t see why you couldn’t freeze the blondies. If you give it a try, let me know how they turn out!
Ali
Yes, I freeze them and they’re fine, they don’t actually freeze solid for some reason (maybe the oil in the almond butter?) so you can even eat them straight out of the freezer. Which kind of defied the point of me putting them in there, I thought that if they were frozen I wouldn’t eat so many in one go!
Jenn S.
Thanks for sharing this, Ali! Glad they freeze well…even if they are still super easy to grab and eat! 🙂 I actually make a truffle version of these that are supposed to be eaten straight from the freezer – they taste like cinnamon cheesecake bites!! https://www.veggieinspired.com/cinnamon-chickpea-dairy-free-truffles/
Lauren
Any ideas for a sub for the oats? My son has celiac disease and can’t eat oats for the first year 🙁 They look delicious!
Jenn S.
You can try a little brown rice flour (or an all purpose gluten free flour blend) – you probably won’t need 1/4 cup though. Start with a tbsp or two until you get a brownie batter consistency. Let me know how it turns out. 🙂
Heather
Hi,
What substitute would you recommend for the cashew butter? My husband is allergic to all nuts.
Jenn S.
Hi, Heather. I haven’t tried it with anything else, but Sunbutter (made from sunflower seeds) or Wow Butter (made from soy) would both probably work for texture. The taste will likely be a bit different, but probably still delicious! Let me know if you try it!
Sheri
Is there a way I can print this recipe? Allergic to eggs and desperate for something “baked”
Jenn S.
Hi, Sheri. Yes! Right under the picture in the recipe section is a PRINT button. I hope you love these! Please come back and let me know how they turn out for you. 🙂 Enjoy!
Meghan
I made these tonight and they are delicious! I used PB2 to reduce the calories/fat and I added white chocolate chips (which yes, would increase the calories/fat lol)
They turned out great!
Jenn S.
Oh, great, Meghan! I’m so glad you liked them! I actually have a container of PB2 in my pantry which I used all of one time. I never think to use it. Great idea to add it here…plus the white chocolate chips – yum!
Dana F.
I made these yesterday. They are so good and I didn’t even use cashew butter (used peanut butter instead. I can’t wait to try them with cashew butter.
Jenn S.
Hi, Dana! I’m so glad you loved them! I have made them with peanut butter before too. The cinnamon comes through stronger when you use cashew butter, but really good either way! Thanks for the feedback!
Dave
I tried this recipe, and I loved them! Thanks so much! Will make them again.
Jenn S.
Thanks, Dave! So happy to hear you loved them! Have a great week!