Surprise Ingredients!: 1-Step Zucchini Lemon Hummus and Chocolate Chickpea Cookies

 

So... Remember in grade school when the school cafeteria would throw Upside-Down Day or Breakfast-for-Lunch Fridays?
Surprise!
Instead of the predictable tater tots and chicken nuggets, we'd all line up excitedly for golden pancakes with syrup and sausage links.  For some reason, as we all grinned mischievously at one another, trays in hand, something about it seemed super cool and naughty, like we were getting away with something really wild.  

Well.... without any real intention of being wild and crazy (those days are definitely behind me!), I realize I created a version of Upside-Down Day in my kitchen today (be sure to scroll all the way to the bottom of this post for both recipes).

I wanted to make homemade hummus, since we go through tubs of it at a time, and it's so easy to throw together and store in the fridge.  Not to mention, it's much more affordable than constantly stocking up on those plastic store-bought containers every week. 

I thought I'd experiment a bit and make a version a bit more veggie-focused, less canned/processed bean-centric, and voilà!  This zucchini hummus is amazing!  Totally fresh and vibrant, you honestly don't even know it's any different than the traditional recipe. With tahini, garlic, and lemon, all the usual flavors are still there, and the zucchini purées up just as creamy as cooked chickpeas do, but this is much less fattening than regular hummus.  Any way you look at it, it's a nice alternative and one I will absolutely be making much more of in the future.

1-Step Zucchini Lemon Hummus
Adapted from Kimberly Snyder 
Makes about 2 cups
Printable recipe here

3 medium zucchinis, roughly chopped
1/2 cup tahini
Juice of 1 large lemon
1/2 cup olive oil
3 raw garlic cloves, smashed
1 heaping tsp ground cumin
1 heaping tsp ground coriander
Coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp paprika

Purée all ingredients in a food processor until smooth.  (Seriously, how easy is that??)
Can be kept in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 1 week.

So, what did I do, then, with those chickpeas, you ask?
Well..... I recently was inspired by an online recipe using chickpeas to replace the butter and eggs traditionally used when baking cookies.  I tweaked the recipe a bit, made my own version today, and these are moist, dense, chewy, VEGAN, GLUTEN-FREE and loaded with garbanzo bean protein!

These are SO easy to make, you don't even have to dirty a bowl or wooden spoon -- just throw everything into a food processor, then drop by spoonful onto baking sheets, and in 10 minutes you have ooey- gooey (relatively healthy) cookies straight from the oven.

Enjoy!

Peanut Butter, Chickpea & Chocolate Drop Cookies
Adapted from Texanerin Baking
Makes ~20 cookies
Printable recipe here

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed, if using canned
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-natural peanut butter, smooth or crunchy (I prefer Trader Joe's or Laura Scudder's brands)
1/4 cup honey, maple syrup, or agave nectar 
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Purée all ingredients, except for the chocolate, in a food processor, until well combined, scraping down the edges of the bowl to ensure the chickpeas are thoroughly pureed.
Stir in the chocolate chips until mixed in.  The mixture should be very thick and sticky.
Scoop rounded spoonfuls of dough onto a greased baking sheet, press down slightly, and bake for ~10 minutes.  Allow to cool, and enjoy!

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