Your Guilt Free Chocolate Treat

I try to eat clean and sugar free 90% of the time. For the most part I enjoy it, thrive off it even but life is for living and sometimes nothing hits the spot quite like a sweet fix! 

Now normally getting my sugar hit would mean hitting Starbucks and picking up something covered in chocolate and caramel, and /or devouring an entire (large) bar of Green and Blacks chocolate. That was until, I happened across Personal Trainer and fitness blogger Zanna Van Diejk, and her super healthy chocolate chip blondies.

Ok, I know what you’re thinking. How can chocolate chip blondies possibly be healthy? And if I’m telling the truth and they really are that healthy, then they’re probably flavourless, a poor mans (or skinny woman’s) substitute for the real thing. But trust me on this one, these blondies are so deliciously gooey in texture and taste so similar to the real thing that I have managed to fool many a healthy treat doubter from my two year-old son to my 34 year-old brother. The secret to their amazingly cake like texture? Drum roll please…. it’s chickpeas!

So if you’re struggling to rein in your sweet tooth and want a healthy (yet fulfilling) sweet treat substitute that the kids will love, take a leap of faith and try Zanna’s amazing recipe for mouth-wateringly gooey chocolate chip blondies!

Chocolate Chip Blondies by Zanna Van Diejk

‘1 can of chickpeas – a 400g can or 240g drained. Make sure you drain, rinse and thoroughly dry these.

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup oats or oat flour

1/2 cup dark chocolate chips or cacao nibs

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup powdered sweetener (e.g. stevia)

100ml milk (e.g. unsweetened almond milk)

All you have to do is pop all the ingredients except the milk and chocolate chips in a blender/food processor and combine. Then slowly add the milk until the mixture is thick and creamy. Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into a lined tin and bake at 180c/350f for 15-20 minutes. Leave them to cool and set before you slice them!’