"Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

This post is dedicated to my father-in-law. My father-in-law that hates, hates, HATES chickpeas and, especially, hummus. He is not a picky eater in the slightest, but for whatever reason hummus just sets him off. He also is a sugar addict, the kind that makes me feel better about my two boxes of Peeps a day habit. 

A mom friend of mine was raving about this recipe she found on pinterest. Immediately, I thought of my father-in-law. The recipe is a healthy version of cookie dough (the kind my husband eats by the pound if it's around the house), based on ... chickpeas. I can't lie, I had to try it. And ... it was pretty freaking good. Because of the beans and nut butter, it's also very filling so I found myself eating less the truckload I would have wanted to eat of regular dough.


So thank you to Chocolate Covered Katie, who came up with this tasty recipe. I tweaked it a teensy bit. If you are on the paleo bandwagon, this recipe is practically screaming for you to make it right now. Just substitute stevia or whatever non-sugar you like. Me? I used a combo of raw (turbinado) and brown sugars, and natural peanut butter. I want to try it next with cashew butter, I think that would be out of this world.

"Healthy" Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Dip

Ingredients:

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
a couple dashes of salt (I used sea salt)
pinch of baking soda
2 t. vanilla extract
1/4 c. nut butter
1/4 c. milk (non-dairy eaters will obviously want to sub a non-dairy substitute)
3T.-2/3 c. sweeetener (you can use brown sugar, raw sugar, maple sugar, or experiment with stevia-type fake sugars--the amount is to your taste. I used close to the maximum amount because I have burned off my sugar taste buds eating two packs of Peeps a day)
2-3 T. oatmeal or flaxmeal
1/2 c. chocolate chips

Put everything but the chocolate chips into a food processor and process until very smooth. Check the sugar/salt levels, then spoon into a bowl and stir in the chocolate chips. You can eat it straight or serve it with dipping instruments like graham crackers, ginger snaps, Nilla wafers ... you get the idea.