PEANUT BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH BITES

It amazes me how many recipes there are that can be used to sneak nutritious beans into people, especially children. I was never one who liked to eat raw cookie dough but my husband sure did when he was a child. He picked out this recipe and was amazed that chickpeas (garbanzo beans) could taste so good.

You can find the original recipe at “Texan Erin Baking”: Peanut Butter Cookie Dough Bites. The blogger’s original recipe with pictures clearly looks better than mine. The blogger made her cookie dough bites twice the size, used regular chocolate chips which melted nicely and did not have the dough discolored by the dates. If your family is currently eating traditional Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies, even the blogger's original recipe is a healthy improvement. Make whatever changes you can with your diet because even small steps are part of a journey towards better health.

What I did differently:

-Used entire 15.5 oz can chickpeas, rinsed then dried with a clean kitchen towel.

-Used 3/4th of a 3.5oz bar of 72% dark chocolate since what I had on hand. Put chunks in food processor and processed until the chocolate was in small pieces. Removed from processor.

-Soaked pitted dates in water overnight (since mine were a bit dry), squeezed out the water using my hands, and used 1/2 cup packed dates instead of honey or maple syrup.

-Did not add salt

-Made 26 balls