No Bake Cookie Balls (with Chick Peas!)

The other day I put garbanzo beans on the grocery list (also known as chick peas). They were on the list because I was going to roast some up for an easy snack for me to grab in the afternoons, but when my 6 year old said “Ewwww, what are those little butt beans for?” I changed my mind. I was like "What????" But really when you look closely at them there is a little indentation that does in fact look a bit like a bare bottom. He clearly did not think they looked appetizing, but I saw this as a challenge.

Forget that my kids have eaten these beans thousands of time without knowing or caring- I throw them into soups, and make hummus out of them. I usually mix them into most of my curry’s, roast them with various seasoning, and I have even mashed them up into homemade mac and cheese and they have never complained. But I felt like he just threw down at me like Bobby Flay, and I was happy to take it on.

My goal: to make something he considered a treat with these beans.

My best bet was to puree them in a food processor to make them smooth, sticky and virtually invisible to a kindergarteners discerning eye and then mix them with delicious things to lure him in.

The result: these no bake cookie balls that were so good that when I pulled them out as a play date treat all the kids gobbled them up and had no idea they were eating chick peas! Hurray! I promised my friend (whose girls enjoyed them too) that I would share the recipe so I thought I would go ahead and share it with all of you too!

(Keep in mind that this is a treat, it has honey and chocolate chips in it.

But, as far as a cookie or sweet snack, it makes for a pretty great option)

No Bake Cookie Balls

Ingredients

1 can drained and rinsed garbanzo beans (chick peas)

1 ¼ cup oat flour* (or old fashioned oats )

1/3 cup raw honey

½ cup homemade or natural peanut butter (or any nut butter you like)

¼ tsp cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

½ tsp kosher salt

¼ cup chocolate chips

• You don’t have to buy the oat flour- you can make it yourself using old fashioned oats and pulsing them in a food processor until the are a soft flour consistency, but do this first and set it aside so that you can use your food processor for the rest of the recipe which gets a little sticky!

Directions:

-Pulse the rinsed and drained beans in a food processor until smooth.

-Add all ingredients except the chocolate chips and pulse until a dough-like ball forms, stopping to scrape down the sides as necessary.

-Toss in the chocolate chips and pulse a few more times. (I like my chips to break down a bit and blend into the dough because it makes it easier to roll later but if you prefer them whole you can mix them in by hand or only pulse once or twice to distribute them.)

-Scoop them into a large zip close bag, enlist a helper if you have one and smoosh it out into a nice flat sheet (about ½ inch thick) and see, that bag keeps your hands clean while you play with the dough.

-Place the mixture into the refrigerator for at least an hour

-Now you have a choice, you can cut open the bag and use a pizza cutter to cut this into squares and be done with it, or you can roll them into fun little balls instead. I like to cut it first just to make sure I get fairly even sized balls-aim for at least 32 (I made mine smaller and got 48 out of them so a serving was 3 balls instead of 2)

-Eat them up right now or place in an airtight container and keep in the fridge for up to a week.

-You could even freeze them and make them last longer or pull out a few at a time to add to school lunches next month…yikes- it’s coming! I just did my school supply shopping this week so it’s not too early to start thinking about those lunches!

If you make these into about 32 balls, a serving is 2 balls and has approximately:

150 calories,

2g sat fat,

75mg sodium,

19g carbs 9 (2g fiber/9g sugar) and

5g protein

(according to my fitness pal when I entered it)