Obsessed by all things Chickpea

After discovering Mark Bittman's flatbread made with chickpea flour, I confess I've become obsessed with all things chickpea. Everywhere I turn, it seems that the whole world has been in on this except me! Vegetarian Times this month has socca wild mushroom stacks that look sinfully tempting. The humble garbanzo is transformed when turned into flour! I ran out and bought a package of Bob's Red Mill Fava/Chickpea flour blend to make the flatbread (also using it as a pizza crust for gluten free pizza). The Fava/Chickpea blend has more carbohydrate than just chickpea flour, which adds up if using several servings for a recipe.

According to my dear friend CalorieKing, 1/3 c. of chickpea flour has 117 calories, 2g fat, 17.5g carbs (3.3g of which are fiber) and 6.8g protein. The Chickpea/Fava blend has 147 calories, 2g fat, 24g carbs (8g of which are fiber) and 8g protein. Not too shabby considering the same amount of whole wheat flour has about 28g carbohydrate.

I was not aware that there was chickpea life beyond hummus. Besides the amazing superpowers of chickpea flour, canned (or homemade) chickpeas can be pureed into desserts! What?! I'm toying with Have Cake, Will Travel's Chickpea Blondie recipe to successfully convert it to sugar free. Made them yesterday with erythritol, stevia and baked peaches and they just didn't turn out...but I forgot the vanilla (note to self: must cross items off recipe after I've added them). I'm determined to make them work!

Chickpeas roasted in the oven to a crunchy snack have been 4-year old approved! Yeah!

By the way, at $.50-$1.00 per can, I usually keep 3 cans on hand in the pantry and then make several glasslock containers full for the freezer from dried beans ($.69/lb.).

This week's Dessert Agenda includes refining chickpea blondies, trying Subversive Peanut Butter Cinnamon Chickpea Fudge from Dude, Where's the Stove and apparently losing the three pounds that I'll have gained from all this baking.