30-Minute Vegan Pumpkin Chickpea Blondies
Oct 21, 2019 (Last updated Mar 13, 2024) by Hannah Sunderani
If you’ve never baked with chickpeas before, you are in for a treat, literally! The recipe uses simple whole-food ingredients like oats, chickpeas and pumpkin puree. Chickpeas are so well masked in this recipe you’d never know you’re enjoying them as a baked good! The outcome is a sweet, moist, cakey and deliciously fall-spiced blondie. My two small children love them, and I feel great about feeding them this delicious treat!
Now, let me tell you exactly how you can make them.
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The ingredients
This recipe uses simple pantry ingredients you likely already have on hand! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Chickpeas: one can of chickpeas, drained and rinsed, is used in this recipe – and trust me when I say you can’t taste them in this baked good! Any trace of bean is masked by the other ingredients. The beans also really help with a moist texture and help bind the blondies together without the use of eggs – keeping this recipe vegan! I’ve also recipe tested these using white butter beans (or navy beans), and they worked great!
- Almond butter: Adds lovely nutty flavour and further helps with binding in this recipe. I like to use natural smooth almond butter for this recipe. I’ve also recipe tested with peanut butter and it worked great. My kids love both options!
- Canned pumpkin puree: Brings the pumpkin flavour and is another great binder for these blondies, as opposed to egg or a vegan alternative like applesauce. Pumpkin puree is a must for making pumpkin blondies! I’ve also used pumpkin spice to enhance the fall flavour we love; but I find replacing with cinnamon is another great option. If you don’t have canned pumpkin puree you could replace with a very soft cooked sweet potato that’s mashed – I didn’t recipe test this, but I see it a lot as a substitute and imagine it would work very nicely. If you do try, let me know how it goes in the comments.
- Rolled oats: The grain in this recipe – used as opposed to all purpose flour. I love this option for a wholesome blondie!
As you can see, there’s nothing special or strange about these ingredients. You can find them all at a regular grocery store. Certainly everyone can make this recipe, which is why I’ve given it my newbie cook stamp of approval.
How to make vegan pumpkin chickpea blondies:
Making this recipe is so simple and straight-forward, I promise you don’t need to be a master chef to ace this recipe. It is really helpful to use a food processor with the s-shaped blade for this recipe. However, I recipe tested in a standard blender and it worked great! It just required a little more involvement with pushing down the batter to encourage things to blend well.
Here’s what you’ll do,
Watch the how-to video:
Join me on my YouTube Channel, where I teach you just how easy it is to make these pumpkin chickpea blondies!
And there we go! A simple and cozy vegan treat for you to enjoy during the fall months. I think you’re going to love this recipe as much as I do. And if you do make this recipe please let me know in the comments below what you think! I love hearing from you. And of course, tag me on Instagram with the hashtag #twospoons. Nothing makes me happier than to see your recreations.
30-Minute Vegan Pumpkin Chickpea Blondies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 1/2 cups chickpeas (15 oz. can, drained and rinsed)
- 1/2 cup almond butter
- 1/3 cup canned pumpkin puree
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
- 1 tsp pumpkin spice (or cinnamon)
- 1/2 cup semi-sweet vegan chocolate chips
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Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F/180C. In a food processor, add the oats. Pulse until they form a flour-like texture.
- Next, add remaining ingredients: chickpeas, almond butter, canned pumpkin puree, maple syrup, vanilla, baking powder, baking soda, sea salt, and pumpkin spice. Blend to combine. Remove S-shaped blade and add 1/4 cup chocolate chips. Fold into batter.
- Line a square baking pan (I used a 9×9 inch pan / 23cm x 23cm) with parchment paper. Rub the sides with a bit of coconut oil (or oil of preference). Pour batter into baking pan and spread to even. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips.
- Bake blondies for until golden around the edges and a toothpick inserted comes out clean, 25-30 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes before cutting into squares.
Watch The Video
Notes
Approvals
Nutrition
See more step-by-step instructions by visiting the recipe story here!
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I made them early in the morning and they are absolutely one of the most delicious things I’ve ever tasted. I skipped all other meals because I couldn’t stop eating them 😀 The kitchen still has that sweet smell after the baking. Thank you so much for this wonderful recipe!
I’m so happy you loved the recipe! Thanks for the kind review. 🙂
i’m about to embark on making this, but I don’t see anywhere about whether you drain and rinse the chickpeas or whether you use them from the can with all their juice. Can’t wait to try this!
Please drain and rinse the chickpeas before using them.
What else can you use besides almond butter?
You could sub for peanut butter!
These are surprising very good, and are very filling. This is my first time using chickpeas in a recipe like this. Super easy to make, just throw everything into your food processor and mix. When dealing with chickpeas I always (ALWAYS) take the skins off, nobody ever seems to mention that. Thank you for sharing your recipe with all of us.
These are amazing. I have made them countless times for having at home or bringing to a gathering. Everyone always loves them!
This makes me so happy to hear Lauren! It’s still one of my favourites to make for groups too after all these years. 🙂 Thanks for the sweet comment and rating. 🙂
I’m planning on making these but I was wondering how much oat powder do you get once you process the half cup of oats? I usually just buy oat flour since I blended the oats myself once and didn’t like how they came out (I don’t think my food processor is powerful enough to make a good oat flour).
Hi Alex, if you process the oats you should get the same amount blended as you do whole (1/2 cup – more or less). If you’re finding that your food processor is not grinding into a flour as fine as you’d like, you can choose to process them in your blender using the pulse setting. I hope this helps!
I was looking for a recipe that had everything I would have in my pantry. It did not disappoint! Very easy to make for a first time vegan recipe!
I will be making this over and over!! For a healthier option, I only sprinkled chocolate chips on the top.
So so glad that you enjoyed the recipe Kitty! We really love this one too! Thanks for the very kind note. 🙂
Yum. Just made these. They are so good. I love when baking incorporates beans! So funny how they work! Thanks!
I’m so glad that you enjoyed this recipe Kortneii! It’s one of my faves too! Who would have thought that chickpeas could make such tasty sweets? hehe. Thanks for the very kind comment. 🙂
I love these… I make them often because they are so delicious, AND healthy! I do have a question though. Do you double the recipe? In the photo, the blondies look a lot thicker than how mine came out. Thanks!
Hi Sarah! Thanks so much for the kind comment. I’m thrilled to hear that this is a recipe you come back to. We love it too. I did not double the recipe in the photo, but I did use a small square baking dish (which you can see in the recipe video) which is 9×9 inches. However, you could absolutely double the batch if you have a larger baking dish! 🙂
My 15 year old daughter made these tonight and they are to die for!!! So delicious and healthy! The only changes she made were minor: peanut butter instead of almond butter and she added a few tablespoons of hemp hearts. Thanks for the fantastic recipe, Hannah!
Hi Kelly! I am so glad that you and your daughter love these blondies! And how sweet that she likes to bake for you!! The minor adaptations sound delicious! Love how she made the recipe her own. Thanks for the very sweet comment and I hope you come back for more!!