Brownies are one of my very favourite indulgences and the thing I make at the drop of a hat for virtually every occasion. Unfortunately, the recipe I commonly use, whilst delicious, is packed with the kind of delicious ingredients that probably should be enjoyed less frequently than I like to. Consequently, I have been working on a version tempered with some stuff that nutritionists go mad for. This variety, whilst still containing modest quantities of butter and sugar (which could be lowered further – see note below) also have oats (obvs) and chickpeas, adding in vitamins and fibre.

I’m not going to lie. For my last supper, I wouldn’t choose this over a brownie made with 4 times as much butter and sugar, but honestly, they’re good. I haven’t – for obvious reasons – revealed the chickpea content to any of my family, but they are wolfing them down.

Really, give them a try – conducting your baking in secret, as appropriate – and see how they go down. Although there are a reasonable number of ingredients (nothing fancy), the mix only takes 5 minutes to prepare and bakes in 20, so they’re no great time commitment. I would put them in the fridge if they’re not going to be gone within a couple of days, where they should keep for about 5 days.

Chocolate chickpea brownies

Ingredients

This seems like a long list. For speed or cupboard restrictions, the asterisked ingredients could be left out without major drama. If you leave out the orange juice and yoghurt, add a splash of milk to loosen the very thick mixture.

There isn’t heaps of butter or sugar in this, but if you wanted to, you could reduce each by up to half – it would be less brownie-ish, and more cakey – but still pretty good.

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 large eggs
60g oats – whizzed to flour in a blender
40g cocoa/cacao powder
100g very soft/melted butter, or oil of your choosing
110g brown sugar (I can see no reason why granulated or caster couldn’t be subbed)
2 tsp baking powder
*¼ tsp salt
*½ tsp coffee powder
*1 tsp vanilla extract
*Zest and juice of 1 orange/2 clementines
*2 tbsp plain yoghurt/crème fraîche

Method

This will be very much easier with a food processor, but it could be achieved with a stick blender and a bit of patience. If you have neither of these, then maybe try these 10 minute oat and banana muffins instead.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Line a square tin (or a round one, if that’s all you have) with baking paper, or grease throughly if you don’t have any baking paper.
Whizz the chickpeas and eggs until they are as smooth as possible. It’s definitely worth spending an extra minute on this stage as it makes a big difference to the texture of the finished product.
Add the rest of the ingredients and process until you are left with a smooth, thick batter.
Transfer to the baking tin and smooth the top before baking in the oven for approx 20 mins until the top is set and cracked and the edges are starting to shrink away from the side of the tin. It will remain a bit fudgey in the middle.
Leave to cool in the tin before cutting into squares. Should it be of interest – an exceptionally helpful website has provided me with the following info: