This month for the Great Pinterest Challenge I wanted to make something unusual. I wanted to try something that I would never try any other time. That is the whole point of this challenge, isn’t it? To get me to quit pinning and actually make something? I have known for a month what I was going to make, but when it came time to accomplish the task, it was difficult to motivate myself. After getting pushed around and bullied, I got to it. (No, Deb. You are only a little pushy. It is Ok. I still like you.)
This month I made Grain-Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites. If that isn’t a name for a cookie, I don’t know what is. This is why it didn’t make it into my title. It was intriguing this recipe. Since becoming gluten-free I have been drawn to anything on Pinterest that was gluten-free or I could make gluten-free. This recipe has no flour of any kind. It is made from chick peas.
Yes. Chick peas. I am not going to type the recipe out for you because you can get the recipe, if you should so choose, at the link above. But I have pictures! And a recipe doesn’t get much easier than this one.
This recipe calls for the use of a food processor. I don’t have a large food processor. I just have the little mini-prep you see in the picture. This little mini-prep has served me well in the its lifetime. I made baby food for all three of my kids in that thing. I love it. I use it all the time. I figured it would work fine if I halved the recipe. So that is what I did. Everything but the chocolate chips goes into the food processor. (edited: I just noticed this morning that this picture is missing the chocolate chips. There are supposed to be chocolate chips in this recipe. I was in a hurry. I used Hershey’s chips for this recipe. Imagine an already open bag that may or may not have had chips missing in this picture.)
Here it is. Chick peas have been rinsed and patted dry. Everything but the chocolate chips has been added. I am ready to process.
This is half way through the processing. Or blending. Or whatever. My little mini-prep is having a difficult time. At this point I am beginning to wonder if I am going to kill my little appliance and whether or not I should ask for a full size food processor for Christmas. I keep pushing the chickpeas into the blades and trying again. After a few minutes of this, I decide to just pick out the chickpeas that didn’t blend.
This is the finished product before the addition of the chocolate chips. It looks a little like peanut butter cookie dough. I decide to try it. Hmmm..it doesn’t taste much like peanut butter cookie dough. It does have the lovely peanut butter taste. I need to add the chips, but I don’t think that my mini-prep can handle it. I put the mixture (I hesitate to call it dough) into a bowl and add the chips.
Here it is. The finished mixture. Notice how the chips are all glossy. I thought that was strange. At first I thought it was from the oil of the mixture, but in fact, the chips were melting a little. It was. So. Weird. I didn’t think it was warm, but maybe it was a little from being blended in the food processor.
Here they are before heading into the oven. The original recipe suggested wetting your hands before forming them into little balls. I didn’t find that necessary. In fact, it was very easy to make these little babies. It didn’t stick to my hands any more than any other rolled cookie recipe. Easy Peasy. I let them bake for 10 minutes. That seemed to be enough. I think a couple more minutes would have helped the chocolate melt a little more. Mine did not become as gooey as the pin showed. Well, here is the finished product.
This last picture was difficult for me to take. I am not big on extreme close-ups of food. I am not sure why. Just a weird issue I have. But I wanted to get a nice close picture so that you could see the gooeyness or lack-there-of. I also wanted you to be able to see the texture.
Ok. So for the results. I made everyone in the house try it.
Husband- “Oh, what do you have there? Sure, I will try it.” He takes a bite. “Oh, that is terrible! What is that? Oh, that is not good. It tastes like those horrible protein bars you made me buy.”
My girl (who I think I will enlist to take the pictures next time) – “I will try it. Hmm..I am not sure. It isn’t bad, but it isn’t good either.” She takes another bite. “I don’t think so.”
Freckle Face- “Mmmm..these are good! I like them. I am not even feeling good and I like them. Yes! I think this is a Nailed it!”
My oldest- He takes a bite. “Um. What is in this? I don’t think I like it. I can taste the peanut butter, but no. I don’t think I like it.”
Me? I am not sure. They aren’t terrible. They do kind of taste like a protein bar. I am not sure I would go so far to say that they are good. I ate a couple trying to decide. I thought about what the purpose of such a cookie might be. I can tell you that they absolutely DO NOT taste like cookie dough, so let’s just get that out there. The original blogger calls them a healthy cookie. Ok. Maybe. They are high in protein because of the chickpeas, and they are slightly lower in carbs because of the fiber. But I put in a 1/4 cup of honey and 1/2 cup of natural peanut butter. Low calorie they are not. The thing is that if I was trying to satisfy a sweet tooth, I would not make these. I want a cookie. These do not taste like a cookie. I have plenty of gluten-free cookie recipes to feed my need for a pastry or sweet or whatever. Yep, I will probably never make these again. I would probably just take a spoonful of peanut butter out of the jar instead. (yes, Melanie, I said it!)
I am going to say these are a..
Sorry, Freckle Face! And my apologies to the original blogger. These just weren’t my thing.
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