Grain-free, Gluten-free, Dairy-free Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Bites

I've been experimenting with finding tasty desserts and treats no our little gluten-free, dairy-free adventure and - I have to admit - it's been tough!

So I'm not ashamed to admit that within 8 minutes of seeing this recipe on Pinterest, I was pulling ingredients out of my pantry. I thanked the pinner of the recipe (my neighbor) by walking down enough little bites to feed her family. Knowing that she posted the recipe about 20 minutes earlier, she is now probably thinking that I'm a psycho/dessert fiend.

Whatever.

Those of you who have been around for a few years may remember my post for Black Bean Brownies.   Don't laugh - they are pretty impressive!  Well these are equally as weird.  And you can't taste the chickpeas/garbanzo beans at all.  Promise!  Give them a try.  Even those of you who aren't gluten-deprived will be pretty impressed.    

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups canned* chickpeas, well-rinsed and patted dry with a paper towel
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (165 grams) natural peanut butter 
• 1/4 cup (80 grams) honey
• 1 teaspoon baking powder**
• a pinch of salt if your peanut butter doesn't have salt in it
• 1/2 cup (90 grams) chocolate chips

* My can was a 15.5oz can and I used all but a few tablespoons

** If you need grain-free baking powder, you can use 1 part cream of tartar + 1 part baking soda + 2 parts arrowroot.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350°F / 175°C. 

Combine all the ingredients, except for the chocolate chips, in a food processor and process until very smooth. Make sure to scrape the sides and the top to get the little chunks of chickpeas and process again until they're combined. 

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. 

With wet hands (or a mini cookie scoop), form into 1 1/2" balls. Place onto a Silpat or a piece of parchment paper. You can place them close together because they don't flatten or rise much. If you want them to look more like normal cookies, press down slightly on the balls with wet hands. 

Bake for 10 minutes. 

Yields about 14 cookie dough balls. (I formed mine with a 1" scoop and ended up with 26 balls)