Peanut Butter and Jelly Cookie Bars
Have you tried baking with chickpeas before? These Peanut Butter Jelly Chickpea Cookie Bars are a great place to start! They are gluten free, vegan and naturally sweetened.
Alrighty, people! We have a winner here. And by winner, I mean we have none of these Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookie Bars left in the house. Aaand I made them yesterday.
That’s right.
Two revelations there.
One: These are very, very good.
Two: A couple of gluttonous piggies live in this house. 😉
Luckily for us, these are made with real food ingredients and, besides feeling a little sheepish, I don’t feel guilty.
The base of these cookie bars was inspired by the wildly popular Chocolate Chip Chickpea Cookie Bar. That’s right, chickpeas, and if you haven’t tried baking with these little miracles, you are indeed missing out on a full life. 😉
It looks like hummus but bakes up like a dream. A naturally protein packed, gluten free dream that will leave pools of drool on your pillow. Or just drool running down your face if you happen to be daydreaming.
The other inspiration was the most recent chia seed jam recipe, here at the Honour System. A strawberry incarnation that we’ve been spooning up at lightening speeds.
I wanted to pay homage to those heading ‘Back to School’ and thought a PB & J themed treat would be apropos. Even though, due to nut restrictions in schools you probably can’t pack these with your kids but not to worry.
They won’t last long enough to make it into those lunch boxes anyway.
PEANUT BUTTER JELLY CHICKPEA COOKIE BARS
Prep work for these beauties is super easy. Everything except your jam is tossed into the food processor until it’s smooth.
Pour your batter into a parchment lined pan.
Stealing tastes along the way of course. 😉
To get a nice marbled effect with your jam, spoon dollops of it on top and then drag the end of your spoon through the dollops.
So pretty.
After baking and filling the kitchen with the most incredible aroma, out comes this masterpiece.
Move aside Mona Lisa!
These bars were crispy, chewy awesomeness.
Those edges?
I’m dying.
It’s no wonder we destroyed this batch.
You will too.
Trust.
MORE GLUTEN FREE SNACK RECIPES:
Chocolate Chunk Cookie Dough Protein Balls
Originally posted August 27, 2014. Updated August 12, 2019
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I used a Kitchen Aid Food Processor for this recipe.
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Peanut Butter & Jelly Cookie Bars – Vegan & Gluten Free
Ingredients
- 1 can 398ml. chickpeas, rinsed & drained
- ½ cup peanut butter I used a natural chunky variety
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- pinch sea salt
- ½ cup strawberry chia seed jam
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 and line a 9×13 pan with parchment paper
- In a food processor (or high speed blender), add all ingredients, except strawberry jam, and process until batter is smooth. A similar consistency to hummus
- Scoop the batter into the lined pan and smooth it out evenly
- Dollop the jam along the top and using the end of your spoon drag lines through the dollops of jam to create a marbled effect
- Bake for 60 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. This will vary with ovens so, be patient! Wait until the edges are beginning to brown and the middle is set
- Cool for 10 minutes in the pan then transfer to a rack for another 30 minutes for them to set
- Cut into squares and store in a sealed container
Hi, I tried making this today, but the blended mixture was really thick, I couldn’t pour it at all. How should I thin it out?
Hey Jenny! I’ve never had an issue with it being super thick. I do use a drippy, natural style peanut butter. Perhaps that is the problem?
Mine was thick also, however, I added teaspoons of water to the blender until i was happy with the consistency. I’ve just taken them out of the oven, and they seem to be fine. Looking forward to trying them, as they smell amazing. I believe the batter was thicker because my chickpeas were not out of a can, therefore weren’t as soaked. Also, peanut butter was natural but not super runny.
Makes sense that there could be a difference in in the batter if not using canned chickpeas! Thanks for the comment Faith. Super helpful. Have a great week!
Nevermind, just realized that’s a stupid question! 350F it is
I’m about to put these in the oven but just noticed that you don’t mention whether the 350 degrees is F or C. I’m guessing C because you’re in Canada. Please clarify! 350F for an hr seems like way too long….
How much cooked chickpeas would be required?
I used a 398 ml. can. Probably around 1 1/2 cups?
These look so lovely! and that jam….!!
Is the baking soda and baking powder essential or are there substitutes I could use instead?
Thanks! xx
Hey Hayley! These cookies are so surprisingly good. Try then for sure. 🙂 I haven’t baked them without the baking soda/powder so I couldn’t give a great answer. I would imagine using just one or the other should be fine though. Thanks so much!
I really don’t see what the baking soda/powder accomplishes in the recipe because they do not seem to rise at all.
As someone with some really extreme food intolerances (dairy, wheat/gluten, corn (found in nearly all processed commercial foods including salt & oil and including our local tap water), yeast (baking/nutritional/brewer’s)… and that’s the short list) in addition to developing a life-threatening allergy to baking soda (that is also in baking powder) severe enough to require me to keep an Epi-Pen on hand at all times, it is only the baking powder/soda in this recipe I can’t have. Everything else I either have to make from scratch (cooked garbanzos & peanut butter) or I have to use very specific brands that I know are safe for me. So except for the BS/BP addition I was surprised I could have this, especially since most healthier recipes use honey (I’m allergic to that too) but pure maple syrup is the only processed sugar I can have except one brand of apple juice.
I don’t see why the baking soda/powder couldn’t be left out. Many traditional bakers do that for roll-out cookies to purposely help them keep their shape so they can be iced with all sorts of fancy designs or ‘flooding’ the icing method. In general all BS/BP does is help raise the baked goods. These do not seem to have the structure to do that. and if it WAS needed (and the person wasn’t vegan) whipped egg whites works well as a ‘leavening agent’ and I have used it in pancakes (they rose higher than the BS/BP ever did) and a garbanzo cake that even my ‘normal food’ niece raved about.
So in my long-winded way I just wanted to say thank you for this recipe. I’m interested to try it when I get a chance. 😀
I am so happy you’ve found it! I’m not sure that leaving out the baking soda would make a huge difference, you are probably right. They really aren’t the fluffiest of bars, that’s for sure. I’m curious about the whipped egg whites! Please let me know if you try this. I’m hoping it works well for you!
Ok, as I’m beginning to read this, I’m thinking…..I HAVE TO WORK WITH YOU! Again more treats for your co-workers!??!?!! lolz! BUT they didn’t even make it that far, lolz! I totally see why, Sharon AH-Mazing! Damn I need your creativity in the kitchen. I’ll be sharing this recipe with the hubbs, which I’m sure he will WANT to try too! 🙂
Ha! That’s funny. I totally intended on taking these to work, but that obviously didn’t happen. 😉 There’s a batch of muffins going in the oven this afternoon though. Maybe the crew at the office will get a bite or two of those. Maybe. 😉